Were Critics Dazzled by the Roundabout's The Constant Wife?

The second offering of the new season, W. Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife, starring Kate Burton and Lynn Redgrave, had its official bow at the American Airlines Theatre on June 16. Did critics think the Roundabout Theatre Company production of the play, directed by Mark Brokaw, was constantly entertaining?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Edward Karam in his Broadway.com Review: "No more persuasive evidence could be presented that W. Somerset Maugham is a neglected master of high comedy who belongs in the company of Ocsar Wilde and Noel Coward than Mark Brokaw's sumptuous revival of The Constant Wife at the Roundabout Theatre… This comedy of manners revels in long sentences, subordinate clauses, and punctilious grammar, and the cast navigates it all with great aplomb, keeping the emotional truth to the fore. Burton conveys resilience and common sense along with a glowing sexuality. Kathryn Meisle, who looks like a young Glynis Johns, is scattered and endearing as the dim Marie-Louise. Michael Cumpsty is a fine bourgeois husband, and John Dossett as the stoically lovelorn suitor embodies virile decency under a veneer of dullness."

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: "A jaunty, efficient Kate Burton undertakes the role of Constance for the stylish new Roundabout Theater Company production, directed by Mark Brokaw, which opened last night at the American Airlines Theater. Ms. Burton is not a star on the order of Barrymore, Cornell or Bergman, of course--who today is? That's a small pity, since a shot of high-voltage glamour would probably help disguise signs of decay in Maugham's play, which is merely an elaborate comic trifle, all glittering surface shellacking an emotional void. But Ms. Burton's brisk professionalism--her crystalline elocution and assured British accent, her robust but never vulgar sense of comedy--will do fine, thank you, until they start manufacturing the likes of Cornell and Barrymore again."

Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "Brokaw's production--saddled with a Chinoiserie decor by Allen Moyer as ugly as it is unlikely--is deft and clever. It is smart enough to bring the play home, despite ghastly overacting from Cumpsty, an all-too-stolid Dossett and a frantic Conlee. Redgrave plays Mrs. Culver as a Lady Bracknell-in-waiting, offering an astonishing display of mannered virtuosity and flawless comic style. But the gem is Burton's Constance. Rarely off-stage during the entire play, she gives a layered, magical performance that effortlessly surpasses the text supporting it."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "The play goes well beyond the confines of what we consider 'drawing-room comedy.' It is stimulating as well as enormously entertaining. Its title role is a gem, and, under Mark Brokaw's splendid direction, Kate Burton performs it dazzlingly."

David Rooney of Variety: "Unlike those of his contemporary Noel Coward, W. Somerset Maugham's plays are infrequently staged on Broadway. That unfamiliarity, plus the chance to appreciate deliciously witty work from Kate Burton and Lynn Redgrave, make the Roundabout's plushly upholstered revival of The Constant Wife an enjoyable distraction… Much of the talky play involves lengthy stretches of the title character expounding on the game of marriage, as she views it, while the others sit or stand around in stunned silence. Despite the challenge of injecting energy into such scenes, director Mark Brokaw is a nimble guide to the proceedings, keeping the speech fairly loose."

Elysa Gardner of USA Today: "Burton's latest witty, wily woman is rather an elegant pragmatist and a perfect foil for the self-righteous society gals and foolish but innocuous hypocrites who pop up in Maugham's satire of highbrow domesticity. That crew includes Constance's more traditional but also practical mum, whom Lynn Redgrave sprinkles with a salty drollness that ensures mother-daughter confrontations are never dull. Michael Cumpsty captures the unfaithful husband's buffoonery with his usual vigor and grace, though as his mistress, Kathryn Meisle overdoes the frazzled-floozy shtick.."

Linda Winer of Newsday: "Director Brokaw, a specialist in modern plays with more substance than froth, moves everyone around without incident, but with too much forced jollity. A grand period stylist, unfortunately, he is not. But what a kick to encounter such a play and such a playwright… The shocker is a delightful absence of sentimentality that suggests something small by Oscar Wilde or Noël Coward. Enid Graham, as Constance's sister, arrives full of moral outrage and familial concern to tell all about the affair. Redgrave, the only cast member who seems entirely easy with an English accent, manages to bring likability to the motherly support of wandering husbands and homebody wives. Kathryn Meisle has a nice frisky quality as the friend who has betrayed her own husband and her alleged buddy. John Dossett is dashing, but not too dashing."