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  • Claire Danes Shines In “Dry Powder”, The Play Itself Is Underwhelming

    Claire Danes, if the reviews are to be believed, saves the clunking new play by Sarah Burgess, Dry Powder.

    The play centers around Claire Danes as a cold-hearted corporate executive, Jenny, and her nemesis and colleague, Seth, played by John Krasinski.

    Claire Danes’ and Krasinski’s characters each come up with a way to save their company from a PR nightmare brought on by a round of layoffs and a simultaneous extravagant engagement party thrown by their boss.

    Claire Danes’ Jenny wants to buy, shell and sell a new company for profit, PR be damned. Krasinski’s wants to put effort into the new company and deal with the PR fiasco by keep the company local, keeping all of the employees and growing it.

    According to one New York Post reviewer, “Happily, Claire Danes (Homeland), John Krasinski (The Office) and Hank Azaria (probably best known for voicing Moe, Apu and Chief Wiggum on The Simpsons) don’t embarrass themselves in Dry Powder — and there’s nowhere to hide, since the show’s staged in the round.”

    The reviewer added, “Sarah Burgess’ play, on the other hand, doesn’t quite rise to the level of its deluxe cast and director (Thomas Kail, of Hamilton).”

    The play was simply, well, meh. That is, if most reviews are accurate of such a subjective thing.

    One read, “Most people, I’d think, have already heard plenty about private-equity investors who live the high life while buying up companies and firing workers to cut costs.”

    It went on, “That’s the territory trod by Sarah Burgess’s play, which opened Tuesday night at the Public Theater. It’s well-acted and not uninteresting in its detailing of high-finance deals, but you keep wondering: Why are you telling me this again?”

    After explaining the plot and characters in a little more depth, the review ends, “The play’s impact, though, can be measured by its climax. Everything has been leading up to the Big Decision: Whose plan will Rick choose? When the answer comes, it’s worth a shrug. Nothing has been established that makes the outcome matter.”

    Ouch.

    Would you still like to see Claire Danes on stage, even though the reviews aren’t spectacular?

  • Claire Danes: Reviews For New Play “Dry Powder” Praise Her Performance As Cold Business Woman

    Claire Danes has taken some leave from Homeland to go on stage as Jenny, a cold-hearted business woman, in Dry Powder.

    In the play, Claire Danes‘ character battles Seth, played by John Krasinski, on how to right the PR issues their company is having after their boss throws himself a lavish engagement party right after massive layoffs.

    Reviews for Dry Powder are in, and it seems Claire Danes impressed with her stage skills more than the play itself.

    A review in The New York Post read, “Happily, Claire Danes (Homeland), John Krasinski (The Office) and Hank Azaria (probably best known for voicing Moe, Apu and Chief Wiggum on The Simpsons) don’t embarrass themselves in Dry Powder — and there’s nowhere to hide, since the show’s staged in the round.”

    It continued, “Sarah Burgess’ play, on the other hand, doesn’t quite rise to the level of its deluxe cast and director (Thomas Kail, of Hamilton).

    One from Variety said of Claire Danes’ performance and character, “Seth’s office rival, Jenny (Danes, in a stunning portrait of a brainy ice goddess), suffers none of Seth’s ethical conflicts because she has no ethics. Crunching numbers is Jenny’s life.”

    It went on to say, “Like some kind of gorgeous robot in her power suit and knife-cut blond hair, she instinctively calculates the precise worth of a company — and then assesses the exact percentage points of profit her firm would realize if they bought and flipped it.”

    Claire Danes clearly impressed on stage, but likely won’t give up being on the screen just yet. In fact, just days ago she spoke of how much she loved doing TV.

    Claire Danes said, “Television is fun too because we’re riding this train on tracks that are being laid and, you know, nobody really knows where it’s going to go, even the writers are not entirely certain.”

    She continued, “And so, it’s terrifying and really thrilling and I’m as hungry for the next script as, you know, an audience is going to be for the next installment, you know, the next episode. We’re all kind of biting our nails.”

    What is your favorite Claire Danes role?