Review Roundup: Ralph Fiennes Stars In STRAIGHT LINE CRAZY At The Shed

The Shed presents David Hare's Straight Line Crazy, through December 18. Read reviews for the production below!

Following an acclaimed run this spring at The Bridge Theatre in London, Straight Line Crazy delves into the questionable legacy of Robert Moses and his enduring impact on New York. The play presents an imagined retelling of the arc of Moses's controversial career in two decisive moments: his rise to power in the late 1920s and the public outcry against the corrosive effects of that power in the mid-1950s.

For 40 uninterrupted years, Robert Moses was considered the most powerful man in New York as he envisioned and built public works whose aftereffects determine how New Yorkers experience the city to this day. Hare's play exposes Moses's iron will, which exploited weaknesses in the state and city governments as he worked to remake public space. Though never elected to political office, he manipulated those who were through a mix of guile, charm, and intimidation. Motivated at first by a determination to improve the lives of New York City's working class, he created new parks, new bridges, and 627 miles of expressway to connect the people to the great outdoors. However, Moses often achieved these public works at the expense of disempowered New Yorkers, particularly people of color, living in the way of and near his projects. In the 1950s, groups of citizens began to organize against his schemes and the prioritization of cars over public transportation, campaigning for a very different idea of what a city should be.

Jesse Green, The New York Times: The play is still a pleasure, and Moses is still in the doghouse. The man who, in Hare's formulation, thinks cars are the "can opener" to the tin that is America would not recognize a Manhattan that after decades of discussion is soon to institute congestion pricing. If the efficiency of the brute is often superior to the fecklessness of democracy in getting things done, it is not always as lasting - which is reason enough to see "Straight Line Crazy." In the midst of what feels right now like the losing fight of progressivism, it's worth peeking at the devil, with fear and envy and a little schadenfreude.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap: Nicholas Hytner and Jamie Armitage's blunt direction emphasizes the incongruities implicit in the situations in which the actors find themselves trapped. They and Hare are slightly less boxed in during the big confrontation between Moses and Smith. Unlike all the scenes with subordinates, these two characters carry equal weight. In the role of the governor, Webb delivers a remarkable impersonation of Eli Wallach whenever that actor wasn't impersonating a Mexican bandit. His governor is both folksy and tough, and Webb uses the one trait to enhance the other.

Steven Suskin, New York Stage Review: The nine-week engagement through December 18 appear to already be virtually sold out. Let us hope that the play and Fiennes are headed for Broadway. As with last season's excellent The Lehman Trilogy-another superb, New York-centered saga created by our friends overseas-theatergoers are advised to be ready to pounce at the first announcement of available seats for Straight Line Crazy.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: It takes a certain amount of confidence, though perhaps not to the point of hubris, to bring David Hare's play to New York, where Robert Moses, an urban planner and master builder who at one point had 13 different job titles simultaneously, is much better known. Fiennes is frankly the main reason to see "Straight Line Crazy." The set is sparse, mostly maps and charts and a few bland models upstage; the dozen supporting cast members are fine but few of them get much to do, and the observations and insights about Moses and New York City history (some of which are debatable) are rarely news for New Yorkers who already know about Moses. And there are many of us who do, for a slew of reasons:

Jackson McHenry, Vulture: Throughout the play, you're left with the impression that the characters are describing events that would have made for better theater in and of themselves. We hear about Moses's wheeling and dealing over power lunches, his complex relationship with his first wife and her mental health, yet the action we see is static. The play gets closest to having a pulse whenever Danny Webb strolls in, champing a cigar and swearing like a sailor as Governor Al Smith. The writing remains broad, but he and Moses have some actual negotiation to do onstage, some action to push forward, rather than abstract ideas to sit around discussing.

Brian Scott Lipton, Theatre Pizzazz: In the end, Hare exposes Moses as a classist and a racist, which explains in large part why his projects only involved the building of roads (since rich white folks could afford cars) and blatantly ignored mass transit. Still, even faced with the truth clearly laid out on a floor map (part of Bob Crowley's simple but effective set), Moses neither accepts this conclusion, nor sees his own motivations clearly. Was he "straight line crazy" or just "crazy?" The answer, as ever, remains unclear.

Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide: On Straight Line Crazy's poster art, a pensive Ralph Fiennes towers above a diminutive New York skyline, in character as the notorious city planner Robert Moses. The image is an apt representation of the production. One can always count on Fiennes to deliver a riveting performance, but it's not quite enough to make David Hare's flat play as indelible as its subject matter.