Los Angeles Times
- Recommended
"...Fonda may overplay Katherine's crisp authoritarianism, and her Cosmo covergirl styling crazily suggests that musicologists have the same disposable income as Hollywood royalty. But she offers a moving, vanity-free depiction of her character's physical descent. And the spiritual enlightenment that follows, bringing her all sorts of epiphanies into Beethoven's work and the precious value of her daughter's love, seems natural even when it has an all-too familiar dramatic inevitability."
Variety
- Recommended
"...In Moises Kaufman's "33 Variations," Fonda's indomitability invests dying musicologist Dr. Katherine Brandt with true grit and transcendent grace. With Kaufman's fluid helming shifting us excitingly between the 19th century and our own, the play remains what it was in La Jolla in 2007 (with a different Katherine) and later in Gotham: a potent family drama wrapped inside a fascinating historical mystery."
LA Weekly
- Somewhat Recommended
"... Except for Grenier's slightly cartoonish Beethoven, enabled by the slightly less cartoonish portrayal of his caretaker, Anton Schindler (Grant James Varjas), so far so good. However, it's the play's dramatic crux, making it a star vehicle for Fonda, that undoes the event; for Brandt has Lou Gehrig's disease, a somewhat strained attempt to add the stakes of dwindling time to her search, to parallel her own mortality with that of Beethoven, to infuse the drama with gratuitous morbidity and to give Fonda the opportunity to physically implode before our eyes, which she does with stirring conviction and technique. But this play isn't Margaret Edson's Wit, and its thematic focus isn't mortality, and how one has lived; it's primarily about the relationship between mediocrity and excellence in music and in life, and Brandt's disease crashes into that like an uninvited drug dealer at a masked ball."
Backstage
- Highly Recommended
"...For the most part, Kaufman achieves an agreeable balance of wry character comedy and thoughtful drama, though some of the 19th century scenes favor a farcical style that feels out of place. His script would benefit from considerable trimming of the period scenes, particularly in the second act. Nonetheless, Zach Grenier offers a terrific portrayal of the crazed Beethoven, and Amendolia and Grant James Varjas as Beethoven's harried assistant offer credible turns."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...While nothing will alter my opinion that the Ahmanson is just too big a space for a play that is this intimate, thereby giving the impression that the play is far more epic than it really is, it is still serious work that deserves a hearing, and this is pretty much as good as commercial theater gets."
The Hollywood Reporter
- Highly Recommended
"...This is mostly the same cast that did the play on Broadway two years ago, and to an actor they are superb. Grant James Varjas is amusing as Beethoven's semi-trusted associate Anton Schindler, while Greg Keller is similarly amusing as the male nurse to whom Clara is attracted. Susan Kellermann is properly Teutonic as the dutiful but helpful archive librarian who assists Brandt in Bonn. This is an archive we become visually familiar with through Derek McLane's brilliant set design."
StageHappenings.com
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Any chance to see the great Jane Fonda act is a happy time, indeed. And she picked well for herself the lead role in Venezuela's talented writer/director, Moisés Kaufman's 33 VARIATIONS, an interesting, if sadly uneven play about Beethoven. While full of promise, early on, the play turned out less-than-grand. Its promise doesn't pan out, unfortunately, but the idea behind it is intriguing, nonetheless."
Examiner
- Highly Recommended
"...In the end, you may be convinced, or not. But in any case, 33 Variations is an entertaining and engaging production-well written and well directed by the inventive Michael Kaufman, beautifully enhanced by pianist Diane Walsh, and elegantly performed by the vibrant Jane Fonda. Old lady indeed!"
Buzzine
- Highly Recommended
"...Her performance was crisp and controlled, as is her familiar voice, but the passion comes through as the obsessed woman who, facing death, refusing self-pity or regret, focuses instead on a project which consumes her as her body deteriorates. Moises Kaufman gives her an opportunity in the final scenes to rise from her almost frozen state–a woman barely able to speak, to return in fantasy to her younger, vibrant self–a chance for us to see the two selves and the scope of her performance."
CurtainUp
- Recommended
"...The play, fascinating if overlong, explores a number of themes. There's the familiar parent/child conflict, the mystery of why Beethoven composed 33 variations of an undistinguished waltz by Anton Diabelli (Don Amerdolia), the humorous love story between Clara and Nurse Mike (Greg Keller) -and finally, the dialogue between Anton Schindler (Grant James Varjas) and his employer, the crusty ferocious brilliant Beethoven."
Socal
- Highly Recommended
"...This theater gem was written and directed by Moisés Kaufman. Although you may not leave the theater humming a Beethoven work, you will leave knowing you have just experience something special."
OC Register
- Highly Recommended
"...Everyone came on Wednesday night to see Fonda, of course; her last Broadway appearance was in "Strange Interlude" in 1963. I've always found Fonda's regal and distant bearing a bit limiting, but it suits this role well. With her stentorian alto voice and graceful yet commanding physicality, she captures Katherine's forcefulness and piercing intellect. And Fonda poignantly shows us both Katherine's physical disintegration as the disease takes hold and her character's heroic refusal to let it change her course."
Broadway World
- Highly Recommended
"...Deeply engaging, endlessly enthralling and melodiously mesmerizing, Kaufman's work is a sensational night of theatre."
