Richard’s ‘Love’ play opens well!

So, the Love Love Love play that I won’t be able to go see myself (weep!) opened officially last week in New York! There are some lovely shots from the curtain call…

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And some shots from the after party event…

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Is it me or does that jacket seem short? Not sure I like that or the way the tie looks with that shirt and jacket, but hey, the man can’t always be perfect… What I do like, love even, are beautiful profile shots of Richard…

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And the first reviews are in, the big ones are collected here on Playbill. Most of them are good too! My summary:

• According to Deadline Richard Armitage is “annoyingly disarming”;
• Entertainment Weekly hates the play but concedes that “Armitage and Ryan even make their energetic egotists pretty likable”;
• The Guardian says that Richard makes “a captivating New York debut” and says “Armitage uses his grin and long, bendy limbs to show how Kenneth often sidesteps responsibility”, giving the play 4 stars;
• The Hollywood Reporter loves the play too: “Superb acting enlivens this scathing theatrical examination of the baby boomer generation” and thinks Richard is excellent;
• NBC New York likes it too and says about Richard, “Armitage is charming as a slacker just a shade more self-aware than his wife”;
• The New York Times likes the play too and has dedicated a whole paragraph on Richard: “Mr. Armitage is just as good, capturing the passivity of a man who both resents and enjoys being led by a streamlined bulldozer. Best known as the mighty Thorin Oakenshield in the “Hobbit” movies, this English actor was also the best John Proctor I have ever seen, in Yael Farber’s production of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” at the Old Vic in London. Here he tones down his natural intensity to remind us that the seemingly soft, spineless and charming can be as damaging, in their way, as two-fisted bullies.”;
• Time Out New York also gives the play 4 stars and says: “Armitage, a fantasy-film icon from his lead role in the Hobbit trilogy, is superb as the charming yet craven Kenneth.”;
• Variety seems to give more of a summary than a review, allthough at the beginning they do say it’s a “snappy satire” and the play gives”searing insight” and is “mocking wit in a flawless production”. That’s good, right?
• The Vulture apparently hates it, finds the characters are like “cardboard people” and says of Richard, “Ryan and Armitage, though never convincingly any age but their own, give deft comic performances that resist as long as possible the material’s push toward overstatement.” So, at least the actors aren’t half bad according to them…
• The Washington Post likes it too and says, “Richard Armitage is joyfully boyish” and “Armitage sheds some of the charm as Ken becomes a clueless dad, awkwardly trying to communicate with his children while blithely ignoring signals of deep trouble.”
• The Wrap really likes it too and says of Richard, “Armitage (…) is utterly convincing at each age in each act” and “Armitage makes his New York stage debut, and he’s spectacular.”

So, out of these 11 reviews, only 2 didn’t like the play and even they had some positive things to say about Richard. To me, this sounds like a very successful New York theatre debut! Well done, Richard! I’d say the “Congratulations Roundabout –  Love Love Love” billboard you can see in the picture below (from Richard’s Instagram at the opening night after party venue) is well deserved.

Now, if only there’s a way I could see this play as well, through live streaming or ‘Digital Theatre’ or winning the lottery to pay for plane fare & hotel or something, I would be completely happy!