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REVIEWS

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston.

"Had we never heard the Monica moniker, the Huntington's first-class production of Moises Kaufman's imaginative and provocative play about the dandiest dandy of them all would still be, well, dandy. . . In many ways the Huntington production is preferable to the highly acclaimed off-Broadway original. Instead of the more horizontal Beardsley-like set that Kaufman used in New York, Bloom has given the play more room to breathe . . . this production of 'Gross Indecency' is unmissable."

--Ed Siegel, Boston Globe

Donald Carrier as Oscar Wilde in GROSS INDECENCY by Moises Kaufman, directed by Michael Bloom, Huntington Theatre Company. (click for full size image)

 

Sight Unseen by Donald Margulies, Manhattan Theatre Club and the Orpheum Theatre, New York.

"[T]he evening is almost always absorbing, especially as superbly acted by its cast of four in Michael Bloom's flawless production . . . That these scenes more or less work anyway is a tribute to Mr. Bloom's production: the shortcuts that eventually crop up in the script are camouflaged by the designer James Youman's evocation of a Brooklyn boy's bedroom, Michael Roth's shimmering incidental music and, most especially, the acting of the two principal players."

--Frank Rich, New York Times

"[A]s I watched it I remember thinking how good Michael Bloom's direction was, and about how the play's ability to affect us derives from disclosures of where things started and where they went."

--Mimi Kramer, New Yorker

"[Margulies] is helped by Michael Bloom's staging, full of sinister rubatos; nervous-making lighting by Donald Holder; no-frill but great-skill scenery by James Youmans; and remarkable acting.'

Sight Unseen, South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California

"[U]nder Michael Bloom's carefully measured direction, getting from there to here is always an absorbing journey."

--Sylvie Drake, Los Angeles Times

Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Kansas City.

"'Major Barbara' . . . is a class act-smoothly directed, extremely well-acted, handsomely mounted. That the Rep's staging of the George Bernard Shaw classic seems refreshing and even novel says something about the questionable programming and dubious creative decisions that too often are the norm in Kansas City. If this show, the first of producing artistic director Peter Altman's tenure, is typical of the quality we can now expect from Missouri Rep, then the bar has definitely been raised.

Director Michael Bloom's staging is creative and full of small surprises, many of them delightful. This is not an obvious comedy, and much of the humor is subtly rooted in the characters and relationships. The biggest laughs are provided when Shaw's characters echo his own withering views of politics, religion, poverty, crime and war."

--Robert Trussell, Kansas City Star

Jennifer Roberts and J. Paul Boehmer in MAJOR BARBARA, directed by Michael Bloom, Missouri Repertory Theatre (click for full image)..

Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies, Humana Festival of New American Plays, Actors Theater of Louisville, Kentucky

"The play [is] expertly staged by Michael Bloom and acted with appealing ease and sincerity by Linda Purl, Adam Grupper, Devora Millman and David Byron . . . ."

--Peter Marks, New York Times

The Guardsman by Ferenc Molnar, trans. By Frank Marcus. Williamstown Theater Festival, Williamstown, Massachusetts

"The Williamstown casting is a glory unto itself, and probably a rival to the famous 1924 production, which marked the first time the Lunts acted together . . . The season's not yet very old, but I'm ready to say that the Marcus-Molnar-Bloom-Reeve-Twomey collaboration will likely turn out to be the single most engaging production of the summer. 'The Guardsman' is wonderful, just wonderful."

--Kevin Kelly, Boston Globe

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams Theater Cocoon, Tokyo

"The latest revival of Tennessee Williams' 'The Glass Menagerie' at the Shibuya Theater Cocoon is a nostalgic reverie enlivened with some fine comedic turns and some chilling moments.

Like the other recent TPT experiments, it's yet another successful combination of a Japanese cast with a foreign director and a classic text. American director Michael Bloom has coaxed four excellent performances from his cast and turned out some memorable effects with Iwao Takahashi's recordings of Michael Roth's music and the ubiquitous Yuji Sawada's brilliantly evocative lighting . . . Bloom's staging is sensitive and poignant, with just the right amount of humor . . . One can only hope that American and European directors keep raising Japanese theatrical standards until homegrown talents can take over."

--Richard Jeffery, Asahi Evening News

Private Lives by Noel Coward, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland

"Director Michael Bloom goes for more psychological realism, all without missing a comic beat. All four main characters have become life-size, neither star turns nor cartoons. The result is less grandly stylish than some productions, but very funny and true."

--Marianne Evett, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Mariette Hartley and Kate Goehring in MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION, direceted by Michael Bloom, Huntington Theatre Company (click for full size image).

The Day Room by Don DeLillo, American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA

"DeLillo's 'Day Room' is fizzy and funny."

--John Engstrom, Boston Globe

"Michael Bloom's direction of this American Repertory Theatre/New Stages world premiere shows us enough of the darkness under the laughter to unsettle us. There are cannily crafted portrayals by Thomas Derrah . . . and Jeremy Geidt."

--Arthur Friedman, The Boston Herald

On Tour:

"In Michael Bloom's production, under Richard Riddell's antiseptically bleached-out lighting, the ART cast crackled with a fierce and plausible energy."

--Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle

"Credit director Michael Bloom with rooting out the play's nascent theatricality and laying a floor for all this content."

--Welton Jones, San Diego Union

"Director Michael Bloom has seen to fine acting in both [acts]." --Dan Sullivan, Los Angeles Times

Road to Nirvana by Arthur Kopit, American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA

"Arthur Kopit's 'Road to Nirvana' is Hollywood gossip with a triple whammy. Gruffly announcing itself as scurrilous talk, it rapidly escalates into a dirty joke-funny enough to make you hoarse-then into an outsize legend before finally, rounding itself off as the equivalent of a modern morality play . . . Michael Bloom's direction is wonderful."

--Kevin Kelly, Boston Globe

The Writing Game by David Lodge, American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts

"Under Michael Bloom's upbeat direction, a strong ART cast plays every comic note right on key."

--Arthur Friedman, Boston Herald

Linda Purl, Michael York, and Robert Foxworth in NORA, directed by Michael Bloom, Williamstown Theatre Festival (click for full image).

Soulful Scream of a Chosen Son by Ned Eisenberg, Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays, Harold Prince Theater, Philadelphia

"Rob Morrow is so excitingly right as to give the production a strong claim to attention . . . The director, Michael Bloom, has given the drama a sustained vitality."

--William B. Collins, Philadelphia Inquirer

Never in My Lifetime by Shirley Gee, Hartman Theater Company, Stamford, CT

"Michael Bloom, has . . . carefully chosen his cast and . . . brought his actors together into a closely knit family. There are touching performances by, among others, Elizabeth Berridge, Anne Marie Bobby, Aideen O'Kelly. . . and, especially, by Ms. Downey and Mr. O'Leary."

--Mel Gussow, New York Times

Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn, Alley Theater, Houston, TX

"The farce is very well realized in this production. In his Alley directorial debut, Michael Bloom shows a flair for physical comedy, keeping the pace brisk and the timing sharp. He finds the right key for Ayckbourn, midway between knockabout and naturalism. This suits the content of zany happenings amid mundane reality."

--Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle

Wit by Margaret Edson, State Theater Company, Austin, TX

"With [Megan] Cole, [the Seattle-based actor who created the role] leading the way,' Wit' triumphs at [the] State. Ranks among the two or three most effective plays ever presented [at the State].

--Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman