China Doll Is Fragile Indeed

Please note this performance of China Doll occurred during the show's previews, during which time the production may still be working through several teething issues ahead of its official opening night.

Best bit: The final curtain

Any boring bits: The parts when Al Pacino is on the phone, which is the majority of the play

Who would like it: Pacino and Mamet fans will pay homage. Be warned the stars don't shine in this one

Who wouldn't like it: Ironically if you are a Pacino fan this could be the worst show to watch as it tarnishes the magic you've held so dearly

Morning after effect: Really hoping to sit with Mamet or Pacino someday to discuss this piece

Verdict: One star for Al Pacino, out of pure respect performance for his work elsewhere

China Doll would have been more enjoyable had it included a complimentary soup. Yes, Al Pacino is disappointing as Mickey Ross. He's obviously the biggest draw card to this show, and no doubt the elderly fans, who make up 70 percent of the audience, have been ardent followers of Al Pacino's career, and were hoping to see the star shine under Broadway lights.

Pacino is no stranger to the stages of New York City - he's a two time Obie Award winner (Why is a Crooked Letter, and The Indian Wants the Bronx) with his Broadway debut (Does A Tiger Wear a Neck-tie?) earning him his first of two Tony awards. Pacino and Mamet have also worked together before in the 1980s on a play which received critical success (American Buffalo) and in 2013 they reunited with Pacino playing Shelley Levine in the award-winning Glengarry Glen Ross. And now this year they bring us China Doll, a two hander written specifically for Pacino.

It can be argued that David Mamet did not give Pacino much to work with regarding story and character. So the question is, Why? Why was a play written where we watch one self indulgent character talk for two hours on the phone, and why would Pacino do it? Having starred in more than 45 films and received multiple industry awards and nominations, there is no doubt he is powerful on screen. We know he is not only talented but well respected amongst his peers, he even received the National Merit of Arts from President Obama. So why… China Doll?

China Doll was written by David Mamet, who won the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross. He has written a dozen Broadway plays, and the recent adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance, a two-time Academy Award nominee (The Verdict, Wag the Dog), has a long list of film credits as writer and director, and co-founded New York's Atlantic Theater Company in 1985, of which he is still a member. One has to believe that with this much experience behind the play, a message was trying to be sent. We watch a crooked wealthy man plot his move via several phone calls and fly off with his money-hungry foreign woman... but I failed to see the message. Or perhaps that is the message… that there is no message, so get rich and woman will want you, but you ultimately fail? Or work hard and then the system will nail you anyway? It felt dated and derogatory.

As a two hander it was cringe-worthy watching Christopher Denham (Carson), who plays Pacino's assistant. This character was written to merely move Al Pacino from one phone call to the next. The characters we learn of through the arduous phone calls are never seen and the relationships never described; therefore, there is no emotional attachment to any of them. Carson's final, and much anticipated rise results in a beating from a model airplane, the same airplane which we see him struggling to carry across the stage earlier on in the play, but the elderly Mickey Ross lifts with ease.

Director Pam MacKinnon won a Tony and Drama Desk Award for her direction in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and an Obie Award for Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park, which also received a Tony and Lortel nomination. She is an alumna of the Drama League, the Women's Project and Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Labs.. Sadly, China Doll does not show off her directorial talents and the staging was uncreative in driving a force to give the weak script some more impact.

The show is scheduled to run through January 31st, and I suggest you do the same - run.

Reviewed by Nicola Quinn

Tuesday 27th October 2015
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York City
Find me on Twitter: @newyorktheatre

View our show pages for more information about China Doll, Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.