Were Critics Sweet on Off-Broadway's Mr. Marmalade?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
William Stevenson in his Broadway.com Review: "I don't mean to be cruel to Noah Haidle, the relatively unknown author of Mr. Marmalade, but it's hard to fathom why the Roundabout Theatre Company decided to stage this play. It's equally hard to imagine why Six Feet Under alum Michael C. Hall decided to appear in it. Despite the efforts of the cast and director Michael Greif, Mr. Marmalade is a dull comedy about a child's unusual imaginary life…. The subject matter, and to some extent Allen Moyer's cheery set, brings to mind the inventively entertaining Pee-wee's Playhouse, which celebrated rather than critiqued children's use of their imagination. Like, Paul Reubens' TV show, Mr. Marmalade is all about pretending. The difference is that the show was fun and fast-paced while this play is tedious and sluggish. It runs only 90 minutes, but it feels considerably longer. I felt like pretending that it was a Saturday-morning TV show and leaving after 30 minutes."
Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: "In Mr. Marmalade, Mr. Haidle, a playwright new to off-Broadway, aims to unsettle and delight in equal measure. The play conjures in bright Crayola colors the precociously adult mindscape of little Lucy played by the adult actress Mamie Gummer, a pigtailed New Jersey tot whose fantasy companion comes accessorized with personal assistant, bipolar disorder and cocaine problem. But Mr. Marmalade, which stars Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under fame as the sinister title character, never truly capitalizes on its provocative conceit. Mr. Haidle chooses instead to draw us a scary but ultimately hollow cartoon."
Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "Some plays are good, some plays are bad, and some plays are just irritating as hell. The last is definitely true of Mr. Marmalade… A viciously dark comedy depicting the troubled inner lives of pre-pubescent children, this play by Noah Haidle substitutes shock for insight, vulgarity for wit… The play's premise, while imaginative and provocative, is both unconvincing and highly repetitive in its execution, with playwright Haidle unable to provide more than one-note variations on his theme. And his attempts at stylization, such as the cutesy titles that preface each scene, have a tendency to backfire, as evidenced by the spontaneous burst of applause from the relieved audience when they were informed that they were about to witness "The final scene in the play."
David Rooney of Variety: "Undoubtedly, there's much to be written about the surprising complexity of adult issues absorbed by children, and about the ways in which dysfunction is processed by an infant's mind. But Haidle shines light on neither small-fry nor grownup perspectives. In order for the central idea to work, some foundation in truth and plausibility would seem necessary. Instead, the 27-year-old playwright offers shallow, sitcommy provocation that fails to inch under the skin."
Linda Winder of Newsday: "The charismatic, rangy, utterly remarkable actress [Mamie Gummer] playing Lucy, age 4, at the vortex of this 90-minute fantasy is the daughter of Meryl Streep. For much of Noal Haidle's occasionally haunting, more often tiresome grownup-childhood nightmare, she wears a white tutu over soft cuddly little-girl pajamas…. Drugs, battered women and Greek tragedy are tossed into the same air as comments on the health-care system and the seductions of "playing doctor." The device wears out its welcome before Haidle runs out of ideas. When all seems pointless, however, there is purpose in watching Gummer glow."