When Harry Met Sally...The saddest thing about When Harry Met Sally, intelligently adapted from Nora Ephron's sparkling screenplay by Marcy Kahan and spryly directed by Loveday Ingram, is that it tries so hard to look like a movie. The designer Ultz has come up with a long, shallow box design in minimalist white, with back-projections of snow and falling autumn leaves. Between scenes, screens cover the stage to show filmed footage of old couples talking about how they met, exactly as in the movie. There are even split-screen devices and a recorded jazzy soundtrack by Ben and Jamie Cullum. The whole thing seems strangely pointless... But the story, following its likeable Manhattan characters through 13 years, from first meeting, when they find each other obnoxious, through platonic friendship, to the eventual recognition of love, is funny and touching, and Kahan wisely retains all Ephron's best gags...
The Daily Telegraph
...Unlike their stage predecessors, (Alyson Hannigan, Luke Perry,) the new leads know how to deliver a comic line and get bigger laughs. Molly Ringwald brings a quirky energy to Sally's fastidious nature that suggests she would fake an orgasm in a diner to make a point. Landes hints that Harry may well have a dark side...
The Times |
