Did Theater Critics Welcome Mark Twain's Broadway Return?

Hal Holbrook has been playing Samuel Langhorne Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain for many decades, first bringing Mark Twain Tonight! to Broadway in 1966, returning in 1977 and touring all over the world with the piece. Now the show has come back to the Great White Way for a limited three-week engagement at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Did critics welcome the Broadway return?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Ron Lasko in his Broadway.com Review: "To say that Hal Holbrook has mastered the character of Mark Twain is an understatement… What makes Mark Twain Tonight! truly noteworthy is Holbrook's approach. According to the program, he has assembled more than 16 hours of material. At each performance, he randomly selects two hours worth of material, giving the evening an exciting hint of improvisation… Though I was never bored, I would have been quite content to leave at intermission and would have been fully satisfied with the experience. Others around me, presumably fans of either Twain and/or Holbrook were hanging on every word. It is a testament to the marriage of great writing and great acting."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "In the performance I saw, Mr. Holbrook's Twain felt as politically of-the-moment as, say, Al Franken and Bill Maher, though considerably less obnoxious… Mr. Holbrook's timing, though honed over decades, never feels mechanical. Seemingly wayward repetitiveness and surely a few of the politician-baiting lines could be jettisoned for different material only adds to the uncanny aura of naturalness. And while he may come close to canonizing Twain as an oracle for the ages, Mr. Holbrook also hints at an old poser's insatiable hunger for admiration."

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "Wearing a vintage three-piece white suit and smoking a cigar--his Act 2 entrance, prefaced by a puff of smoke from the wings, is highly amusing--Holbrook infuses this solo turn with a droll delivery and comic timing that has obviously been honed by his marathon run in the role. The two-hour plus performance can also be considered a triumph of memory, considering the actor's age. The show could probably benefit from some pruning--a lengthy passage from Mark Twain Tonight! is a genuine piece of theatrical history and a sterling example of a theatrical genre that in lesser hands has been far too frequently abused."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Holbrook's Twain was never about mere physical impersonation. All those years ago, Holbrook saw that in addition to Huck and Jim and Tom and Aunt Polly, Twain created a wily, caustic, meditative and ultimately serene character called Mark Twain. That's what he makes us experience so magically, so powerfully."

David Rooney of Variety: "This venerable theatrical institution has become sadly institutional itself, a show admirable for its erudition and committed performance but otherwise quaint and unengaging. Inevitably for a theater piece culled randomly and spontaneously each night from 16 hours of mentally archived material, Holbrook's show is a crapshoot bound to yield more on some occasions than others. With just one perf under his belt in this engagement before New York press were invited, the octogenarian delivered a somewhat stale show that belabored its contemporary relevance, airing Twain's ruminations on politics, religion and the decline of the human intellect but revealing too little about the man himself. The famous folksy raconteur certainly comes to life, and there's no denying Holbrook's thorough immersion in the crusty character…"

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "If Mark Twain were alive today, he'd probably have his own blog where he could spout cantankerous opinions on politics, religion and just about every controversial subject in-between. Instead, Twain has had something much better: actor Hal Holbrook... There's a haphazard quality to the presentation of the material, though, a meandering that could benefit from a director to give the show some shape. No one is credited here. Yet that randomness shouldn't deter you from seeing Mark Twain Tonight! Holbrook's Twain is still a masterful--and unique--creation."

Gordon Cox of Newsday: "Mark Twain Tonight! has snuck into the Brooks Atkinson for a quick monthlong engagement, and it's a stately, gentle production--not exactly riveting, but comfy and durable as an old boot…. On Tuesday, Holbrook regaled us with a few speeches that had remarkably topical resonance, given that the writer has been dead for 95 years."