"Mr. Sher has made sure that every movement, every perfectly cast face, every stage picture and costume tells the story so precisely that it would do so even without words...Very effective; Mr. Sorkin apparently trusted that the actors, working with Mr. Sher, would fill in the blanks, and they do...It’s what happens in the gap between the old and new storytelling styles, as Mr. Sorkin tries to kill two mockingbirds with one stone, that gives me pause."
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"The play’s ambivalent approach to Atticus is satisfying but also sometimes glib...And despite Sorkin’s best efforts every righteous decision engenders new potential critiques...Yet the effort is commendable, and the execution is exemplary. The elegant production is stately but not stodgy...If Sorkin’s adaptation lacks the subtlety and plain-spokenness of Lee’s novel, it has moments of old-fashioned power and others of surprising tenderness."
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"Sorkin has written a new play, and it’s characteristically taut and nimble, fluid and funny, with plenty to meditate on and argue about. Its goal is to speak audibly about 2018 and—sometimes poignantly, sometimes more heavy-handedly—it succeeds...Sher and his designers have created a shifting, breathing, gorgeously orchestrated world, and while the top-billed Daniels is indeed lighting up the stage as the story’s iconic lawyer, every member of the ensemble shines alongside him."
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"The drama has been reworked so that the court case against Robinson is the frame for the whole play...The wrinkle is that Sorkin is very obviously worried about Trump, and about what the current political dispensation means for white folks of all political and ethical stripes...’To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a showcase for the competing liberal views of the races, depicting them in a kind of tortured but ever-improving dance.”
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"A grotesque caricature of Lee’s novel, one at which anyone who loved 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as a child will take offense—as well they should...Mr. Sorkin has taken Atticus Finch and turned him into a naïve fool...In addition to perverting its spirit, Mr. Sorkin has done an inept job of putting it on the stage...Save for Adam Guettel’s homespun incidental music and a handful of strong performances, nothing about this 'Mockingbird' is any good at all."
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"The set-up is a Sorkin masterstroke, perfectly executed by director Bartlett Sher, a dreamy gambit that justifies every liberty this simultaneously revisionist and faithful 'Mockingbird' will take over the next two hours-plus...To my mind, only Frederick Weller’s evil Bob Ewell tosses the pitch too wide, and Sorkin deserves much of the blame there."
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"The ever-likable Daniels, whose casting was genius, gives a strong and searching performance as Atticus Finch...The rest of the large and very fine cast perform their parts with all their hearts, under Sher’s impeccably fine-tuned direction...More faithful than not to its source...The designers have done a beautiful job of conjuring that era without smothering the narrative...This play belongs to Atticus Finch. He holds the stage and he wins our love."
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"It's to Sorkin's credit that he lets the contemporary parallels emerge naturally, without hitting us over the head, in a transfixing act of theatrical storytelling graced by exceptional ensemble acting. Perhaps the most notable achievement of this thoughtful adaptation and makes us hang on every word as if experiencing the story for the first time...Even the riskiest choices pay off...This is theatrical storytelling so assured and involving it's hard to imagine anyone not being mesmerized."
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