Happy Days (TFANA)
Closed 1h 40m
Happy Days (TFANA)
77%
77%
(56 Ratings)
Positive
80%
Mixed
13%
Negative
7%
Members say
Great acting, Slow, Masterful, Absorbing, Thought-provoking

About the Show

Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest ('Hannah and Her Sisters,' 'Bullets Over Broadway') stars in Samuel Beckett‘s absurdist comic classic about a woman buried up to her waist and sinking into the earth.

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Critic Reviews (23)

The New York Times
May 4th, 2017

"Life is terrible and yet, as played with ineffable gentleness by Wiest, whose alto flute of a voice has never seemed so gay and vulnerable, Winnie is no whiner...She finds laughs not only in the words but also in the gaps between...Great performances don’t on their own make definitive revivals. It’s not that there is anything notably wrong with Bundy’s dutiful staging...To the extent the production supports and frames Wiest so she can excel, it need not be better than it is. But it could be."
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Time Out New York
May 5th, 2017

"The affecting revival at TFANA welcomes such sadness: In Wiest’s beautifully limpid performance, moments of bitter self-awareness pass like clouds over Winnie’s determined sunniness, enriching the play’s absurdism with plangent notes of deep feeling (including real hurt at Willie’s inattention). This 'Happy Days' fills you with a desire to comfort its heroine, but also with the knowledge that such comfort could only be cold."
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The Wall Street Journal
May 4th, 2017

“Rigorously faithful to Beckett except perhaps for its scenery…This production’s realism made the situation’s grotesqueries all the more horrifying and the dramatic challenge all the greater…Ms. Wiest heroically carries the play on her shoulders and brow—sometimes breaking into fury, sometimes visibly working herself into happiness…Yet, in Ms. Wiest’s powerful performance, there are times we come to doubt those smiles…A vein of unease runs through Ms. Wiest’s portrayal.”
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Theatermania
May 4th, 2017

"Dianne Wiest is now re-creating her marvelous performance, full of humor and pathos...Director James Bundy lets Beckett's frequent stage pauses play themselves out, sometimes for a tad too long. Still, Wiest's humorous and poignant Winnie is one for the ages...It's the somber tone of this production that distinguishes it...Despite their infrequent interaction, Wiest and Conroy succeed in creating endearing chemistry onstage in marvelous moments of theater magic."
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Lighting & Sound America
May 8th, 2017

"I've seen all sorts of actresses take on the role of Winnie, but none have made the character quite as purposeful as Dianne Wiest...The deft, utterly natural way that Wiest handles these bits of business are, I submit, the key to this production...It's fascinating to see how Bundy and his star deliver a characterization that feels both classically Beckett and yet its own distinct creation."
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TheaterScene.net
May 13th, 2017

"All I can say is, move over Ruth White. Although you haven't been displaced in my heart and mind, the TFANA's Winnie, Dianne Wiest, reigns supreme. Her vivid, varied and touching performance in this endurance test of a play is so rich and ripe with detail that I pity any other actress I see in the part."
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CurtainUp
May 5th, 2017

"Under the assured direction of James Bundy, Wiest lends a determinedly naturalistic interpretation to Beckett's lines...She finds immense poignancy and much that's poetic beneath the surface banality of the text. But 'Happy Days' is anti-naturalistic; and, in this instance, the straightforward, unadorned quality of Wiest's performance leaves money on the table...With so much in Wiest's performance that's remarkable, it may be ungrateful to concentrate on what's missing."
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Theater Pizzazz
May 15th, 2017

"Even buried up to her neck in dirt, Dianne Wiest can act circles around most other thespians...'Happy Days' is a challenge in that it doesn’t weather the test of time as well as Beckett’s better known works...It’s allegorical, to be sure, but, oddly enough, lacks roots...No matter, for this is a Wiest workshop, or showcase if you will (craftily helmed by director James Bundy) and that’s more than enough. It’s an absolute treat to watch her work through Winnie’s difficulties."
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