Warm welcome for Jane Fonda, back on Broadway after 46 years

The 71-year-old movie star Jane Fonda received a warm welcome on Monday for her return to Broadway after an absence of 46 years. The first-night audience – which included Renee Zellweger, Dolly Parton and Geoffrey Rush – gave her a standing ovation. And the New York critics, if unkind about the play itself -  33 Variations by Moises Kaufman - were generally impressed by Fonda’s performance.

Fonda (pictured) plays Katherine Brandt, a terminally ill musicologist determined to discover the roots of Ludwig van Beethoven’s obsession with a trivial waltz. Brandt’s troubled relationship with her daughter rounds out the plot as the two struggle with the older woman’s battle against ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Zach Grenier (pictured above with Fonda) plays Beethoven and Samantha Mathis appears as Brandt’s daughter.

Bloomberg’s theatre critic, John Simon, was hugely impressed with Fonda’s first appearance on Broadway since 1963 when she appeared in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude. But he had to admit to being a fan, gushing: "She looks, even from the fifth row, 45 or less and alluring as ever". He went on: “For an actress of Fonda’s age to shoulder it on a Broadway schedule is remarkable. If only the same could be said of the play."

Ben Brantley of the New York Times was equally respectful of the actress – and damning of the play. “Ms. Fonda’s layered crispness is, I regret to add, a contrast to Mr. Kaufman’s often soggy play.” However, “I’m willing to forgive a fair amount in a production that returns Ms. Fonda with such gallantry to the Broadway stage.”

The Guardian’s man in New York, Ed Pilkington, noted that Fonda’s performance was not line perfect. However, "as the play progresses, digging deeper into the themes of obsession and mortality that flow through Brandt and Beethoven, Fonda reminds us how much the theatre has missed in her absence of almost half a century. Her acting is understated - crucial in a play that could be saccharine were it not for its pared down delivery."

Despite the reservations about Kaufman’s play,  "several London producers" have asked Fonda if she would consider reprising the role in a West End production, according to the Daily Telegraph.
 ·