Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Guare, John (Vol. 14) - Stanley Kauffmann

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STANLEY KAUFFMANN

In the current crop of overpraised young American playwrights John Guare is one of the few with readily discernible talent. It was discernible even in his disappointing House of Blue Leaves…. His early short plays like Muzeeka had imaginative release and exuberant humor, but nothing of his that I have seen, including his screenplay for the Milos Forman film Taking Off, came close to satisfying.

So it continues with his [Rich and Famous]…. It consists of the fantasies of a young playwright on the night of the first preview of his first produced play, after writing 843 previous scripts. (pp. 28-9)

A great deal of Guare's dialogue is sharp and resourceful. He wrote several songs, music and lyrics, that are pleasant and clever. Some of the set-pieces … are show-stoppers, patently manufactured but nonetheless effective. But I'm left again with the feeling that what Guare needs is a sympathetic...

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1. Introduction
2. Edith Oliver
3. Harold Clurman
4. Stanley Kauffmann
5. Edith Oliver
6. Brendan Gill
7. Terry Curtis Fox
8. John Simon
9. Martin Gottfried
10. Copyright