Harry Potter Star Meets Critics

Tonight’s the night that Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe meets the critics. It is the opening night of Equus, and once again we will have our live review update scorecard in full swing. Visit us throughout the night for a Broadway.tv celebration of Daniel Radcliffe’s Broadway opening. The show is about to begin tonight, and we’ll be here. Check back to this spot  through the night for updates on Daniel Radcliffe’s opening night on Broadway…and to see what the mighty New York Theater Critics make of the star on Broadway. According to Erin Carson from AP celebs on hand include:  Lili Taylor, Judith Light, Glenn Close, Dominic Cooper, Haley Joel Osment and James Lipton, host of Bravo’s “Inside the Actor’s Studio.”

Review clips in real time, and it is all only here on Broadway.tv. Can’t be here live, then enjoy our Daniel Radcliffe Harry Potter Gallery, right here. Let the critics weigh in:

“Radcliffe’s Alan is compelling proof that there is life after wizardry: he quells and quakes, adores horses and provokes humans with equal proficiency and looks great disrobed. Ditto for Anna Camp, fine actress and pert looker, who plays Jill, the girl who tries to seduce Alan, with disastrous results.” -John Simon, Bloomberg 

“His (Radcliffe’s) acting, beautifully understated and withdrawn, has just the right manner for this horribly mixed-up adolescent, at the prey of a wayward religiosity and a twisted sexuality cemented together with suburban hypocrisy.” -Clive Barnes, New York Post

“London critics complained during the revival’s West End run that Radcliffe lacked vocal control, but time in the role and an extra year-and-a-half of maturity may have helped. His delivery here is as confident and compelling as his febrile physicality — whether fully clothed and wary or naked and defenseless.”- David Rooney, Variety

“Bolstered by co-star Richard Griffiths’ easy expertise, Radcliffe peels away the emotional levels of the tormented yet ultimately touching stableboy, Alan Strang, with skill and unmistakable stage presence.” -Michael Sommers, Star-Ledger

“Playing Alan Strang, the tormented 17-year-old who commits the horrific crime of blinding six horses, the young actor displays a confident physical presence — all too necessary, considering the length of his Act 2 nude scene — and intensity. But he doesn’t quite manage to fully plumb the disturbed depths of the character, as Peter Firth did so brilliantly in the original production and 1977 film version.” -Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

“Radcliffe, the big draw in this revival, demonstrates that he’s moved beyond his “Harry Potter” adolescence into a serious theater career. Playing a deeply neurotic, desperate teen with no prospects, he stays focused on his therapist, moving from terrified indifference to deep respect.” -Elizabeth Zimmer, Metro

“Daniel Radcliffe’s fresh and moving Broadway debut in Peter Shaffer’s “Equus” reveals at least two things about the handsome teenage movie star known throughout the world as Harry Potter. He has some promising stage-acting chops. And he’s a brave young man.” -Chris Jones, Theater Loop 

“The young wizard has chosen wisely. Making his Broadway debut in Thea Sharrock’s oddly arid revival of Peter Shaffer’s “Equus,” which opened Thursday night at the Broadhurst Theater, the 19-year-old film star Daniel Radcliffe steps into a mothball-preserved, off-the-rack part and wears it like a tailor’s delight - that is, a natural fit that allows room to stretch.” -Ben Brantley, New York Times

“The first Broadway revival of Equus opened Thursday, a production that played last year in London with Radcliffe and Griffiths, by now old colleagues from Harry Potter films - as the title character and the odious Uncle Vernon, respectively. On stage, they work together beautifully as the tormented boy and the personally scarred doctor, like the clasped but knotty fingers of two hands, folded.” -Howard Shapiro, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Both actors reprise roles they played last year in London, and their scenes together demand your attention, unlike the doc’s lengthy monologues. They anchor Thea Sharrock’s otherwise uneven and gimmicky production. There’s more dry-ice mist than in a monster movie, and as blocks are forever being shoved around the stage, it’s as if the set was inspired by a sectional sofa.” -Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News

“In general, however, Mr. Radcliffe accentuates the strains of evasion and scorn common to all adolescents without slighting the deeper veins of unrest. And even though Mr. Griffiths falls back on rumpled-academic shtick here and there - with much rubbing of the eyes and scratching of the head as he ruminates - he also gives Dysart a welcome burst of energy whenever his assumptions are jostled.” -Eric Grode, New York Sun

“The good and bad news about the new Broadway revival of Equus with Daniel Radcliffe is that the actor is aging a lot more gracefully than the play.” -USA TODAY

“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe, I’m happy to report, is not merely the stunt casting gimmick you might have expected. Making his stage debut, the 19-year-old movie star works some fine acting magic in the central role of Alan Strang, a seemingly gentle stable boy who viciously blinds six horses in his care.” -Roma Torre, NY1 News

“Radcliffe is a shockingly good serious actor, and delivers what is perhaps the best celebrity Broadway debut in recent memory. He manages to capture Alan’s internal and external conflicts convincingly and checks his “celebrity” at the door to become one of the ensemble. It’s a shame that he’s not served very well by Sharrock’s production.” -David Gordon, Hofstra Chronicle

Radcliffe highlights the surmounting pain and agony behind his character’s confessional monologues, including his orgasmic horseback ride, the humiliation of his first failed sexual experience, and the infamous climax where he takes a metal spike and vengefully blinds the horses. -Matt Windman, am New York

The screen star of all those Harry Potter movies brings a disarming vulnerability and touching desperation to the role of Alan Strang, the tormented stable boy who blinds horses in “Equus,” Peter Shaffer’s hit of more than three decades ago.–Michael Kuchwara, AP

-Broadway.tv, Broadway Magazine

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Broadway Blog, Broadway Features, Broadway Magazine, Broadway News, Broadway Opening Night. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.