"'Snow in Midsummer's' greatest highlight is its visuals, particularly Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew's lighting, which is consistently evocative. But overall, too much flab — including a subplot about a shady doctor, a couple characters whose exact purpose is confusing, and multiple mom reveals — muddies what has the potential to be a tight and compelling murder mystery."
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"For 'Snow in Midsummer,' her contemporary adaptation of the classic Chinese work, however, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig has not only added modern elements and themes to the plot ... but also reconfigured it as a supernatural murder mystery. The result, at least as presented by Classic Stage Company in the shaky New York premiere production opening tonight, is admirable but diffuse."
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Too melodramatic and unconvincing to succeed, Snow in Midsummer exerts the lurid interest of a crime scene, but real engagement is undermined by ponderous pacing and an unearned air of solemnity. Whatever statement Cowhig is trying to make is obscured by a parade of melodramatic events. Its big takeaway? Beware of ghosts.
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"Directed at a fever pitch by Zi Alikhan, Cowhig's play, however, lacks the edge-of-the-seat suspense one hopes for and anticipates. Instead of offering apprehension and eeriness, the production is frenetic and loud. The actors seem to be in constant motion, and tension is jettisoned through ear-splitting screams and angry shouting"
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"If you knew nothing about 'Snow in Midsummer' when you walked into the Classic Stage Company theater — not having read the press release earlier, I didn’t know a thing — it’s a fair bet only a few minutes would pass before you’d suspect that Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s play is based on a long-revered Chinese myth or legend."
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"Cowhig’s adaptation embellishes the play’s original structure, working into her version a wide swath of social commentary relevant to very modern issues of gentrification, gender equality, homosexuality, sexual assault, poverty, stolen children, greed, black-market organ harvesting and climate change. That’s a lot to pack into a work in the guise of a murder mystery with supernatural overtones."
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"The play is something of a soap opera. But thanks to some impassioned performances, sharp direction by Zi Alikhan, and a script that leans heavily into ancient Chinese beliefs regarding death and the afterlife, the production is never less than gripping."
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"There’s an ongoing lament through 'Snow in Midsummer' that all the living plants of the town have dried up and crumbled in the drought. But the production as a whole still feels a little like a forest choked with underbrush–the trees are strong and powerful, but it’s hard to see them."
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