THE RIVER : Official Reviews ( SPOILERS!)

[jo]

The critics official reviews will not come in until after Opening Night ( November 16), but maybe we should already set up the thread for the subject?

Again, there might be mention of the major SPOILER(s), so we may need to be wary of the contents. Although it is likely that official theatre critics will not disclose such surprises in their reviews!


Jo

[JH4HJ]

VARIETY:

The peculiar configuration of the stage at Circle in the Square creates a sense of close-encounter intimacy that is making Hugh Jackman’s fans very happy. So long as they silence their cell phones and don’t try to snap a photo (after a fervent and apparently necessary pre-curtain request made by the understudy), they deserve that bit of joy. Aside from the charismatic star’s intense performance as a lovesick fisherman who is given to poetic laments over the fish (and the woman) who slipped away from him, just about everything else about Jez Butterworth’s strange chamber piece, “The River,” is a downer.

It takes a while for that bad news to sink in, because helmer Ian Rickson’s atmospheric staging of the play (a transfer from the Royal Court) creates an initially entrancing air of mystery. The open-sided setting designed by Ultz depicts the rustic cabin where a character designated The Man (Jackman) has taken a character designated The Woman (Cush Jumbo) for a romantic night of trout fishing.

The lighting (by UK designer Charles Balfour) is subtly seductive, and the ever-inventive sound maven Ian Dickinson (of the Autograph design team), who also did the fancy work on “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” and “Jerusalem,” has invented a symphony of provocative night sounds that sustains the mood of the play from beginning to end, even when the human voices start to grate on the ear.

Things start to go south when the Woman opens her mouth to reveal a shallow, rather silly character who gains no stature from Jumbo’s perky performance. And while Jackman puts heart and soul into Butterworth’s mystical meditations on the spiritual properties of trout fishing (even as he efficiently guts and cooks a very real fish on stage), fishing is still fishing and after a while you feel the urge to throw these fishy speeches back into the water.

Full article


NEW YORK TIMES:
A Reserve So Deep, You Could Drown
Hugh Jackman Stars in ‘The River’ on Broadway

Hugh Jackman isn’t giving anything away these days. And reticence, it turns out, becomes him. Who knew?

. . . This artfully staged production, set in a rural fishing cabin that is one man’s insular kingdom, is guaranteed to hold your attention. But you’re likely to leave it feeling hungry, and not just because it aims to mystify. Be grateful, then, that any pangs of emptiness are counterbalanced by the intriguing heft of Mr. Jackman’s strangely radiant opacity.

Onstage, Mr. Jackman (who is now most famous as the action-film franchise hero Wolverine) has never been anybody’s idea of a withholding performer. Even when hosting award shows, he extends himself to the point of exhaustion, courting audiences with a likable, unstinting brazenness.

Put him in a full-blown musical like “The Boy From Oz,” for which he won the Tony in 2004, and he gives so much of himself you expect him to evaporate. It felt entirely appropriate that his 2011 song-and-dance show “Hugh Jackman: Back on the Broadway” should end with his selling the sweat-soaked shirt off his back (for charity).

But in “The River,” in which he plays a darkly romantic catcher of fish and other fauna, Mr. Jackman has squelched his urge to ingratiate. Fans who fell in love with him as a bubbly entertainer may find themselves thinking, as if on a bewildering second date: “What happened? You were so nice to me the last time.” Then again, distance often makes the heart grow fonder.

Much more here

[JH4HJ]

NBC New York

As The Man, Jackman reaffirms his versatility as a performer. During a heralded sequence in which the venerable awards-show host and sometime-Wolverine guts an actual trout to serve for dinner, I was never certain if he was planning a seduction or … perhaps something else?

It’s an exceptionally understated and enigmatic performance, conveying euphoria in some places—listen to Jackman describe the experience of catching his first fish, at age 7—and, perhaps, scaring the life out of you in others … in much the same way The Man was terrified the first time he felt a snared fish “buckle and shudder” as its life slipped away.

Full article

ABC News (Associated Press) [apparently not sure if his name is Jackman or Jackson - jeez]
Hugh Jackman Stars in Wistful 'The River'

Jackson plays a trout fisherman in a remote cabin who is visited by some of the loves of his life. The script warps time and memory cleverly and is directed by Ian Rickson with a flair for mirroring images, quick dialogue and a respect for stillness, marred only by that fishy stuff.

Muscles rippling in an otherworldly manner, Jackman is ably supported by two strong actresses — Laura Donnelly, who is perfectly languid, sensuous and mysterious, and Cush Jumbo, who nails the defensive insecurity and flirtatiousness of a new, anxious lover. They both add different, complex flavors to the dish.

Jackson himself is earnest and slightly flabbergasted as his character's narrative and memory gradually crack, but lacks any real slipperiness, making him more a victim of circumstance than a man complicit in his past tales. The actor's natural sweetness shines through when what we really want to see is the rogue. The role may get more mileage from a wolf, not a Wolverine.

Full article

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Few stars of anything close to Jackman's stature take risks on new plays preferring canonical victory laps on Broadway. The chance to see the omnisexual yet ever-accessible Jackman up close and personal — and one does — is making this a tough ticket already. But with Jackman hooking an audience who surely would never have found such a difficult play as this on its own, the theater throbs with a very satisfying pulse of discovery, leavened with the odd moment of confusion. This is the very rare play that works better as a star vehicle because it actually furthers the themes of the play.

And, of course, this highly unusual show works because Jackman can find all the muted colors of his man without overwhelming them — he digs out loneliness, sadness, hope, sexual availability. And he has formidable support from the two British co-stars. Jumbo takes no prisoners from the start, raising the human, womanly stakes of what could be an overly melancholy and male drama. Donnelly is a great rush of everything at once. And, as Butterworth surely intends, you don't known whether to mourn her loss or enjoy her presence. But then, you could say that about a lot of lovers.

In London, this play, sans Jackman, played in a very intimate venue. Such intimacy is crucial, but Rickman, whose direction moves like a blade through scales, proves adept at re-creating that feeling in a remarkably immersive Broadway house, packing in the seats, stacking up all the cash-paying fish for Jackman to reel in at will.

Full article

[JH4HJ]

Huffington Post:

One is impressed and admiring of Jackman's choice of "The River" instead of something less challenging and more obviously commercial. It is a given, at this point in time, that the star will attract sellout audiences to any stage appearance and that most any producer in town will eagerly devise a project to suit his availability. A small-scale, esoteric intellectual play--which will bring him far less remuneration than his 2011 extravaganza Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway--is not what you would expect.

The star makes The River an occasion, certainly, and it is most unlikely that anyone would have considered bringing the play to Broadway if Jackman hadn't raised his hand and asked to play the role. One is left wondering, though, whether this atmospheric mystery might not have been more effective at the Royal Court. Not only because of the smaller space and less-than-100 patrons, but because of the lead performance. Dominic West--whom American audiences are watching just now as the star of the new Showtime series, The Affair--is one of those actors whose demeanor suggests something hidden and tortured, deep inside. Cloak the character of The Man in The River with this sense of unease, and Butterworth's play might seem more mysterious, haunted and chilling.

Chilling is perhaps what most doesn't come across at Circle in the Square. Jackman is one of today's most celebrated performers, who can do just about anything from Wolverine to Oklahoma!; he positively exudes talent. But as The Man in The River, he is neither chilling nor seemingly dangerous. Just a nice, charismatic bloke cooking the fish.

Full article



NEW YORK POST
Hugh Jackman is wasting his time, and ours, in ‘The River’

If “The River” was playing some dinky little theater with a bunch of unknowns, it’d be dismissed as flimsy and gimmicky.

But “The River” is on Broadway, starring the ultra-likable, ultra-bankable Hugh Jackman. Which means it’s attracting both scrutiny and expectations.

Yet the above description still applies: This show is overreaching and underachieving, its hollow pretentiousness even more glaring under the bright Broadway lights.

Playwright Jez Butterworth’s previous effort, the Tony-nominated “Jerusalem,” was overrated, but compared to this, it’s a masterpiece.

At least Ian Rickson’s production — he also directed the London premiere, starring Dominic West (“The Affair”) — looks good.

Ultz’s rustic set and Ian Dickinson’s elaborate sound design make the most of the Circle in the Square’s in-the-round design, taking us to a lived-in cabin by a babbling brook.

This is where the Man (Jackman) has brought his new girlfriend, the Woman (Cush Jumbo), for some nighttime fishing. Somehow, she manages to be unmoved by the Man’s passionate pursuit of sea trout.

He does better with the Other Woman (Laura Donnelly), who appears soon after the first Woman disappears.

Oooh, mysterious!

Full article

[JH4HJ]

WASHINGTON POST
Hugh Jackman, back on Broadway and gone fishing

The 85-minute play falls somewhere between thriller and love story, without being sufficiently filling as either; the plot keeps its numerous secrets so close to the vest that it never manages to tantalize, and its characters are too cold to develop feelings for. Jackman’s character, identified only as The Man, is a robust fishing enthusiast who can’t seem to land the woman of his dreams — if such a woman exists. The story goes that The Man, when he was still The Boy, let the first fish he ever caught get away. And now, smart, beautiful women wriggle out of his grasp for more mysterious and possibly creepier reasons. Well, two women at least, designated on this occasion as The Woman (Cush Jumbo) and The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly).

. . . In point of fact, the most absorbing moments of “The River” occur when the conversation subsides and Jackman spends several wordless minutes listening to music as he guts, washes and seasons an actual trout. With the actor’s deft application of knife skills, the interlude offers the evening’s only mouth-watering preparation.

Full article

Philadelphia Inquirer [... and now, a few words from someone who seems to genuinely LIKE it!]
Posted: Sunday, November 16, 2014, 10:43 PM
By Toby Zinmann -nFor the Inquirer

My first thought as I sit down to write this is that I need to see this play again. And not only because it's deliberately ambiguous but also because it's great theater: great writing, great acting, great production.

Jez Butterworth, the author of the astounding success, Jerusalem, wrote The River in 2012, where it became a major event in London, starring Damien West. The River, the playwright declares, is the "hardest play I've ever written." The New York production stars Hugh Jackman who declares the role "the most exciting thing I've ever done"--this from Wolverine, this from Jean Valjean.

This intimate play demands radical quiet from the audience and gets it; there are long stretches with no dialogue while somebody lights candles or opens a bottle of wine or prepares a fish for cooking. And there are long monologues about catching fish, about childhood memories that seem both beautiful and somehow dire. Butterworth's language is sometimes poetic— the Yeats poem, "The Song of the Wandering Aengus" included in the program may provide the best gloss on the play—and specific: a box is wrapped not just in a handkerchief, not just in a green handkerchief, but in a "bottle green handkerchief." But mostly, the dialogue is naturalistic and sometimes funny, making the tense excitement it creates surprising. Jackman's performance is both commanding and modest; no star turns here but acting, seemingly raw but highly polished, that rivets our attention.

The basic plot seems to be a romance: The Man has invited The Woman (Cush Jumbo) to his cabin in the woods; he is obsessed with trout fishing, and on this dark night, when there is no moon, the trout are running. He persuades her to come to the river, loses her in the dark, returns frantic to the cabin to call the police, only to have The Woman walk in the door. But wait; it's not the same woman (Laura Donnelly).

And that's all I can tell you about the plot without spoiling the reveals; it grows more suggestive as it accumulates mysterious objects and mysterious sightings. Ian Rickson who directed in London as well, used the odd stage space and even odder events without crossing any boundary into the deliberately spooky: it all remains entirely plausible.

The superb set designed by Ultz suggests both cozy warmth and unnerving isolation, effects supported by Ian Dickinson's sound design (is it raining? Is the river so nearby? Is the sudden silence significant?).

All this contributes to the narrative allure of myth: a bowl of self-reflecting water and the resonant line, "I have no choice," give us something bigger and more powerful than mere psychology.

That's all of it, but here's the link

[foxie]

Very mixed reviews. Hmm we need our reviews!

[mamaleh]

Here's a synopsis of the major reviews:
www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-Roundup-THE-RIVER-Opens-on-Broadway--Updating-Live-20141116

Ellen

[jo]

deadline.com/2014/11/the-river-review-hugh-jackman-broadway-1201285906/#respond

J. Gerrard is now Chief Exec Editor and Head of the Theatre section for Deadline.com

Smoldering Hugh Jackman Adds Cabin Fever To Broadway’s Mysterious ‘The River’: Review



by Jeremy Gerard

November 17, 2014 5:45am

UPDATE, Monday AM with Butterworth film credits.



What you want to know is this: Hugh Jackman is electrifying in The River, a concentrated, mysterious fish tale of a play. Seeing him onstage in one of Broadway’s most intimate theaters confers a sense of privilege upon the audience something akin to having Mick Jagger show up at your cocktail party just to shoot the breeze. You may not believe your luck.

Forget the fact that he is too old by a decade or more to be playing a bachelor whose secluded cabin in the woods above a riverbank appears to be date bait for attractive younger women. That fact merely adds another layer of meaning (or confusion, depending on your receptiveness to such matters) to Jez Butterworth’s new play, a hairpin turn away from his last Broadway outing, the sensationally funny, wildly overpopulated, anti-capitalist rant Jerusalem. (He’s also the now extremely pro-capitalist action-film polymath whose credits include James Bond movies and Edge Of Tomorrow, along with the James Brown biopic Get On Up.)


What the two plays have in common is a central character of irresistible charisma (performed in the earlier work by Mark Rylance) and complicated, possibly unnerving motivations. Here, Jackman’s character is simply called The Man, and Butterworth has him reveal everything we need to know about him in the opening scene — even before we register the significance of what we’re witnessing.

“Quick! Come here. Don’t miss this. Quickly,” says The Woman (Cush Jumbo, an exotic beauty with intelligence flashing from her sultry eyes), emerging, presumably from the unseen bedroom, and staring out the window of the bare-bones rustic set by Ultz. “You are missing the most incredible thing.”

Enter The Man in full fishing regalia, counting off the gear he’s packed or missing: torch, reel, spare reel, along with the arcane names of various flies.

The Woman is awestruck by the sunset, insisting that he share this with her. He’s preoccupied with the task at hand and insists off-handedly that all sunsets are the same, which he demonstrates, when challenged by her to describe it, by reeling off the particulars in exquisite detail: “August. Low cloud. Blood red as far as the headland turning to lilac-blue wisps above the bluff. Trails of apricot, feathering out through blue, dark blue, and aquamarine to an iris ring of obsidian and above that the Evening Star.”

He hasn’t once actually looked out the window, and Jackman – buff, intense, yet incapable of being anything other than affable – is at once bemused, annoyed and a little smug. “It’s little moments like that which make it special, isn’t it?” The Woman retorts slyly, just shy of disappointedly.

Disappointment will come in greater measure, however, as late night seeps into early morning and a planned hike to catch the silver sea trout that have waited for the new moon to begin their run evolves into a darker tale.

Suddenly The Man is alone in the room, dialing emergency services to report The Woman missing, she having disappeared during their expedition. Or has she? Suddenly he’s expertly gutting and prepping a fat sea trout she’s caught for their romantic repast. But wait — this is not The Woman at all. It’s The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly, quicker on the uptick than The Woman), and maybe she wasn’t lost at all.

Though The River unfolds over the course of a single weekend, it braids several encounters into one replicated event, like that spectacular yet ordinary sunset. Is The Man a cad, a lucky bloke, a sinister force?

Damned if I know, or if any of us knows by the end of the one-act’s 90 minutes’ running time. But we have been drawn by these compelling performances, under the astute direction of Butterworth’s frequent collaborator, Ian Rickson, into a strange dimension where happenstance and experience intermingle, which seems a lot like life. To paraphrase Robert Hunter, what a short strange trip it’s been.

[ADMIN]

Nov 17, 2014 6:27:16 GMT -5 foxie said:

Very mixed reviews. Hmm we need our reviews!

Foxie - I deleted all your duplicate posts, including the ones requesting deletion.

@ ALL - Under the little "gear" icon (up/right corner) there is an option to DELETE your own posts.
[N.B. You can not delete other people's posts, only your own.]

[jo]

www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/nov/17/the-river-review-hugh-jackman-jez-butterworth?CMP=twt_gu

The River review – Hugh Jackman brings brooding splendour to Broadway


Circle in the Square, New York
Jackman reels in the audience but there’s plenty more to savour in Jez Butterworth’s moody, elegiac and fishy

4 of 5 stars

Alexis Soloski
theguardian.com, Monday 17 November 2014 11.53 GMT


Hugh Jackman in The River at Circle in the Square, New York
A fine catch … Hugh Jackman in Jez Butterworth’s The River at Circle in the Square, New York. Photograph: Richard Termine/AP


Does a man like Hugh Jackman really need to bother with rods and reels and knots and all that nonsense? Surely any sensible fish would fling itself into his net, lured by sheer charisma alone.

Yes, some of the audience at Jez Butterworth’s The River, enjoying its American premiere at Broadway’s Circle in the Square, had bought tickets because they’d enjoyed Butterworth’s last play, the triumphant Jerusalem. Others because they’d read reviews of the play’s debut upstairs at the Royal Court. But many were there for Jackman, playing an outdoorsman.

And why not? Even waders cannot diminish his brooding splendour. Circle in the Square is among the most intimate of Broadway houses and owing to Ian Rickson’s staging configurations, those in the front rows with poor impulse control are close enough to fondle a sculpted calf, maybe even graze a celebrated knee.

Of course, there are reasons beyond a superstar physique to enjoy Butterworth’s moody, Möbius strip of a play, even as it seems a far more minor work than Jerusalem or even Mojo. (It’s more in the mode of the plays in between.) A bit of a love story, a bit of a ghost story, and a bit of a puzzler, it’s an atmospheric and elegiac piece, structured more like a fugue than a drama.

As the play opens, The Woman (Cush Jumbo) is trilling WB Yeats’s The Song of Wandering Aengus (this play’s answer to William Blake’s Jerusalem) and trying to extricate herself from a fishing expedition. The Man has brought her to his remote, hypermasculine cabin (not a comfortable chair in the place) for the running of the sea trout. She’d rather stay home and read To the Lighthouse. Apparently she’s just gotten to the good part.

In the next scene, The Man, returned from his moonlight angling, is desperately phoning the police. While fishing, the woman has vanished. But just as he reaches the station, his date returns: The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly). Is this an earlier scene? Or have we suddenly skipped ahead months and years? Or has the river accomplished some sort of riparian transformation? As the play goes on, these women disappear and reappear. A sharp knife for gutting fish and a blunt instrument used to club them lend a pervading sense of threat.

Rather than offering practical explanations or clear timelines, The River keeps returning and reconfiguring the same handful of subjects and themes – love, truth, loss, fish. There’s also a brief cookery demonstration. Some will find this frustrating, even the cookery part. (That fish looks delicious. Why can’t Jackman share?) But if you can live with ambiguity – and with Jackman’s doughty faith in his own charm – you may find The River’s insistence on ambiguity strangely vitalising. Just when you think you’ve closed in a solution, it slips through your fingers and swims effortlessly away.

[jo]

www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/theater/hugh-jackman-stars-in-the-river-on-broadway.html?_r=0

Theater | Theater Review

A Reserve So Deep, You Could Drown

Hugh Jackman Stars in ‘The River’ on Broadway


By BEN BRANTLEY
NOV. 16, 2014




Photo
Hugh Jackman in Jez Butterworth’s play "The River" at the Circle in the Square Theater. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times



Hugh Jackman isn’t giving anything away these days. And reticence, it turns out, becomes him. Who knew?

In Jez Butterworth’s “The River,” the poetic tease of a drama that opened Sunday night at the Circle in the Square Theater, Mr. Jackman conveys an impression of mightily self-contained silence, even when he’s talking like Wordsworth on a bender. And in banking his fires so compellingly, he ascends with assurance to a new level as a stage actor.

I make no comparable claims for Mr. Butterworth’s short and elliptical play, previously staged in London at the Royal Court Theater and his first since the mighty “Jerusalem” K.O.’d New York in 2011. That heaving portrait of a belief-starved Britain was an audacious symphony of words, ideas and characters you hated to love.

“The River” is conducted in a more minor key, and is also a more minor effort. Like “Jerusalem,” this cryptic tale of a man and a woman (or women — maybe) magnifies the seemingly ordinary to mythic proportions, while honorably refusing to stoop to easy explanations. The director Ian Rickson, who brought such clarity and vitality to “Jerusalem,” lends the same care and polish to the far more shadowy “River.”

This artfully staged production, set in a rural fishing cabin that is one man’s insular kingdom, is guaranteed to hold your attention. But you’re likely to leave it feeling hungry, and not just because it aims to mystify. Be grateful, then, that any pangs of emptiness are counterbalanced by the intriguing heft of Mr. Jackman’s strangely radiant opacity.

Onstage, Mr. Jackman (who is now most famous as the action-film franchise hero Wolverine) has never been anybody’s idea of a withholding performer. Even when hosting award shows, he extends himself to the point of exhaustion, courting audiences with a likable, unstinting brazenness.

Put him in a full-blown musical like “The Boy From Oz,” for which he won the Tony in 2004, and he gives so much of himself you expect him to evaporate. It felt entirely appropriate that his 2011 song-and-dance show “Hugh Jackman: Back on the Broadway” should end with his selling the sweat-soaked shirt off his back (for charity).



A midcareer stretch: Hugh Jackman, right, and Jez Butterworth, author of “The River,” in which Mr. Jackman stars.




But in “The River,” in which he plays a darkly romantic catcher of fish and other fauna, Mr. Jackman has squelched his urge to ingratiate. Fans who fell in love with him as a bubbly entertainer may find themselves thinking, as if on a bewildering second date: “What happened? You were so nice to me the last time.” Then again, distance often makes the heart grow fonder.



An insular kingdom: Cush Jumbo and Hugh Jackman in “The River” at Circle in the Square. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times


Such a state of tantalized perplexity would seem to be the lot of the female characters in “The River,” who are played with grace and conviction by Cush Jumbo and Laura Donnelly. They are identified in the program as the Woman and the Other Woman, while Mr. Jackman’s character is known only as the Man.

If you want to stop reading now — and possibly turn in your previously purchased tickets — I do understand. Plays with characters called Man and Woman usually give me the hives. But, hey, Edward Albee gets away with it. And there is method in Mr. Butterworth’s refusal to name names.


And this is where things get sticky for a reviewer. Practically anything I might say about the plot from now on would be a spoiler, that heinous crime of critical indiscretion. And while after seeing “The River,” you may feel shortchanged when you realize what it’s all been about, not knowing in advance is essential to your enjoyment of it.

But here I go, treading as lightly as possible. We are in a cabin in the woods that, as designed by Ultz, is a spare and distinctly masculine place. It would appear to be owned, in every sense of the word, by Mr. Jackman’s Man, who has been coming here since he was a little boy. The lake-bordering land that surrounds the cabin is the place from which the Man practices (and preaches) the religion of trout fishing.


The delicate art of landing fish has inspired many a writer — Ernest Hemingway, John McPhee, Richard Brautigan, Ian Frazier — to wax lyrical and philosophical. If our Man in “The River” doesn’t quite belong in that august company, it’s not for want of trying.

He talks at luxurious and metaphoric length about fishing as an ineffable and transcendental experience, and when he’s stumped for words, he lets other writers (the poet Ted Hughes, the third-century Roman writer Aelian) speak for him. He is trying to convince the Woman, a first-time visitor to his sylvan paradise, to share his passion; it is also possible that he is warning her in some subliminal way about what he’s up to.

There, I’ve said too much already, darn it, and probably presumed too much, too. For all its flights of cosmic rhetoric, “The River” is firmly grounded in the very familiar dynamic of a man and a woman, newly acquainted and mutually attracted, trying to figure each other out. Some stretches of dialogue, out of context, might even be mistaken for scenes from a by-the-book romantic comedy.

That banality is deliberate, I think. As a playwright, Mr. Butterworth is using his own bait-and-switch tactics, luring us into feeling comfortable with what we know and then plunging us into uncertainty. That’s life, he seems to be saying. That’s love, too. Well, if love exists, and according to the Man — and the Woman (or do I mean the Other Woman) ....

Ouch! (I just bit my tongue.) Let’s talk in more general terms, shall we? I think it’s safe to say that the effectiveness of “The River” depends on our awareness that we are physically in the room — even held captive — with the tense people onstage.


The small (by Broadway standards) Circle in the Square, with its three-sided stage, contributes to this feeling. So does the expert, immersive lighting (by Charles Balfour) and sound design (Ian Dickinson for Autograph, with prettily creepy music by Stephen Warbeck).

But most important to our sense of voluntary entrapment is the authority of Mr. Jackman’s Man, who is both the monarch and prisoner of this woodland domain. The Man may be a puzzle (and an irritant), but there’s no denying that he is always — palpably and excitingly — present, whether gutting a freshly caught fish or struggling in the dark with a cellphone to call the police.

Describing his first encounter as a child with the fish of his dreams, the Man spews forth a lot of highfalutin language and then exclaims, with a raw sincerity that overrides all skepticism, “I was there and I felt it.” That about sums up the understated power of Mr. Jackman’s performance, which opens the shutters just enough on a closed facade to keep us guessing, to keep us hooked.




The River

By Jez Butterworth; directed by Ian Rickson; designed by Ultz; lighting by Charles Balfour; sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph; music by Stephen Warbeck; production manager, Aurora Productions; production stage manager, Michael J. Passaro; general manager, United States, Bespoke Theatricals; general manager, Britain, Sonia Friedman Productions; associate producers, JFL Theatricals and 1001 Nights. A Royal Court Theater production, presented by Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson, Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Colin Callender, Scott Landis and Tuchin Bartner Productions. At the Circle in the Square Theater, 1633 Broadway, at 50th Street, 212-239-6200, theriveronbroadway.com. Through Jan. 25. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes.

WITH: Hugh Jackman (the Man), Laura Donnelly (the Other Woman) and Cush Jumbo (the Woman).

[jo]

I am reprinting the full review by CHRIS JONES of The Chicago Tribune ( from the summary first posted by Valerie) because this is as close as I hope and expect from the play and the performances once I get to see it starting next week --

Broadway review: 'The River,' starring Hugh Jackman

Chris Jones
Chicago Tribune

cjones5​@chicagotribune.com



In The River, Hugh Jackman reels his Broadway audience into a slippery mystery.
November 16, 2014, 1:17 PM




NEW YORK - Anyone who has had more than one lover — or been with someone who has been so lucky — has confronted the same dangerous moment..

We all have passions. Perhaps a special place at a resonant time of day, such as sunset over some cherished water. We all have favorite things to do — say, fishing. At some point in our lives, we take a new lover for a maiden voyage to this place, or to do this favorite thing for the first time, and we suddenly recall the precise moment when the first, maybe better lover, now lost, was so introduced.

This can be painful if you are the one feeling that deja vu. It can be sheer agony if you're the new lover who suddenly realizes you will never be the only one.

In his enigmatic, mysterious, profound and intensely intimate new play "The River" — which opened Sunday night at Circle in the Square on Broadway, with that hunk of an Australian fishhook Hugh Jackman in the starring role — the English playwright Jez Butterworth writes about many things, including, with striking eloquence, the age-old sensual dance between a fisherman and his slippery but tactile prey. In this case it's sea trout, which can be caught in great profusion if you happen to catch them running on the one moonlit night when risk stirs in their fishy guts.


The sea trout, much discussed in this play, start in a river and are forced out to the sea, only to return, like a playwright tainted by Broadway, or an actor transformed by being Wolverine, bigger, stronger and more dangerous. And thus more satisfying to catch.

"The River," a hit at London's Royal Court Theatre and directed on Broadway by Ian Rickson, its artistic director, is set in a rural fishing shack ideally suited for that hunt.


But this is also a love shack. At the beginning of the 85-minute play, The Man, Jackman's otherwise nameless character, has brought a woman (played by the unrelenting Cush Jumbo) to experience this thrill. She appears to be his new girlfriend and acts with the insecurity thereof. The pair are intimate, clearly, and excited by each other, absolutely, but also unsure. They slither around a little — he nervously spouts bucolic and elemental poetry, she talks too quickly, too much. But after a few minutes, we see the man in a panic, calling the police. The Woman has gone missing. Down by the river.

She returns. Or does she? For when the door opens and the scene continues, it is a different lover, The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly) who enters. The two women are distinctly, demonstrably different. The Man just carries on where he left off, unfazed. The new woman, who seems to be the old woman, is more sure of herself, more of a sensualist, and she reveals a juicy joie de vivre, which Donnelly embodies with delicious excitement. She has felt the thrill of the trout fisherman's act, in all its fullness.

But who is she? Is she dead, or otherwise lost? Are we just going back in time? Has this other woman been to the sea and returned? Or drowned? And what happened to the first woman? Gone to sea?

All of those questions remain in play throughout a drama that is intended to be mysterious and that operates in that crossover section of life and death wherein the Irish playwright Conor McPherson so determinedly resides. To reveal any more of the plot would be ruinous to an experience dependent on revelation. The play seems to allow for myriad interpretations and, most certainly, is tough to unlock on any single viewing. But Butterworth is most certainly writing about what happens when love turns into a succession of lovers, and about loss, about passion, about killing, gutting, eating something that just was living.

Few stars of anything close to Jackman's stature take risks on new plays preferring canonical victory laps on Broadway. The chance to see the omnisexual yet ever-accessible Jackman up close and personal — and one does — is making this a tough ticket already. But with Jackman hooking an audience who surely would never have found such a difficult play as this on its own, the theater throbs with a very satisfying pulse of discovery, leavened with the odd moment of confusion. This is the very rare play that works better as a star vehicle because it actually furthers the themes of the play.

And, of course, this highly unusual show works because Jackman can find all the muted colors of his man without overwhelming them — he digs out loneliness, sadness, hope, sexual availability. And he has formidable support from the two British co-stars. Jumbo takes no prisoners from the start, raising the human, womanly stakes of what could be an overly melancholy and male drama. Donnelly is a great rush of everything at once. And, as Butterworth surely intends, you don't known whether to mourn her loss or enjoy her presence. But then, you could say that about a lot of lovers.

In London, this play, sans Jackman, played in a very intimate venue. Such intimacy is crucial, but Rickson, whose direction moves like a blade through scales, proves adept at re-creating that feeling in a remarkably immersive Broadway house, packing in the seats, stacking up all the cash-paying fish for Jackman to reel in at will.

"The River" plays on Broadway at the Circle in the Square, 1633 Broadway; 212-239-6200 or theriveronbroadway.com.

[e-mail]

I am excited to be already finding these kinds of feelings by just reading the playscript -- I hope to get a more brilliant eyeopener when I finally get to see it staged!

I will likely let out not just a silent sigh ( see thread on theatre etiquette in a Jackman show) but a well-deserved ovation!


Jo

[mamaleh]

I was glad to see Conor McPherson referenced. I am a big fan of his works, especially THE WEIR, SHINING CITY (who can ever forget that gasp-inducing final visual?) and most particularly THE SEAFARER. Yet I think THE RIVER owes a bit more to Pinter than McPherson. This may or may not be the ideal vehicle for HJ, depending on personal preferences, but I love how Brantley and Jones zero in on the depth of Hugh's performance. And I fully agree that the play is "tough to unlock on any single viewing," which is what I've been writing on theater boards. Thanks for posting these reviews, Jo.

Ellen

[jo]

Few stars of anything close to Jackman's stature take risks on new plays preferring canonical victory laps on Broadway. The chance to see the omnisexual yet ever-accessible Jackman up close and personal — and one does — is making this a tough ticket already. But with Jackman hooking an audience who surely would never have found such a difficult play as this on its own, the theater throbs with a very satisfying pulse of discovery, leavened with the odd moment of confusion. This is the very rare play that works better as a star vehicle because it actually furthers the themes of the play.

What a tribute to Hugh! Someone on ATC wrote that it was a very brave thing for Hugh to accept this role and that he should be applauded for his resolve to focus on new work, which could further be enhanced by future revivals. Earlier someone else on ATC said that Hugh Jackman is very relevant to the theatre because he supports new work! And some said that Denzel and Bradley C should be so- minded ! Denzel has appeared in Julius Caesar, Fences, Raisin in the Sun, while Bradley has tackled revival roles in Three Days of Rain and Elephant Man.

I thought the last comment about the need for a star to make this work better is quite thought-provoking! Is it the stage presence or the rare "it factor" that makes a star ( and I am referring not to celebrities, but to a truly gifted and uniquely appealing talent) vastly different from other presumably competent actors who look like most everyone, for the persona of The Man to be more easily understood or appreciated? I am anticipating discovering how Hugh deals with such an enigmatic role!

Jo

[jo]

A striking and soon-to-be iconic image and the best quotes ( courtesy of Ben Brantley et al) from THE RIVER -- on its official site :

www.theriveronbroadway.com/


This is a reproduction but the original image is much more striking.






The clips they chose from the reviews for the Official Site of THE RIVER

"HUGH JACKMAN ASCENDS TO A NEW LEVEL as a stage actor. His performance opens the shutters just enough to keep us guessing, to keep us hooked.” –Ben Brantley, The New York Times


"★★★★! ELECTRIFYING! An exceptional piece of stage writing by Jez Butterworth.” –Time Out New York


“HUGH JACKMAN IS POWERFUL and MYSTERIOUS. Passionately staged by Ian Rickson, THE RIVER is a POETIC, LUSTY PUZZLE destined to keep theatergoers arguing about its meaning all the way home, if not ALL SEASON.” –Linda Winer, Newsday


“HAUNTING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING and RIVETING.” –Jesse Green, New York Magazine


“Hugh Jackman, Cush Jumbo and Laura Donnelly are SMASHING.” –Adam Green, Vogue


"ENIGMATIC, PROFOUND & INTENSELY INTIMATE." –Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

[jo]

Here's the review from TIME OUT NY ( the magazine offered in most hotel rooms, for tourists looking for entertainment and other stuff in NYC) -- written by David Cote ( who recently chastised some of THE RIVER playgoers for theatre behavior) -- it seems the distraction did not leave him a sour impression about the play at all


www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-river

The River
.
Time Out rating: 4 of 5 stars



Time Out says

Posted: Fri Nov 14 2014

The River. Circle in the Square (see Broadway). By Jez Butterworth. Directed by Ian Rickson. With Hugh Jackman, Cush Jumbo, Laura Donnelly. Running time: 1hr 25mins. No intermission.

The River. Circle in the Square (see Broadway). By Jez Butterworth. Directed by Ian Rickson. With Hugh Jackman, Cush Jumbo, Laura Donnelly. Running time: 1hr 25mins. No intermission.

The River: In brief

Hugh Jackman may not be singing and dancing, but we still can't wait to see his new gig on Broadway. The charismatic Aussie stars in a mysterious new piece by Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem) about a fisherman in a remote cabin and the two women (Cush Jumbo, Laura Donnelly) he entertains there. Ian Rickson directs.

The River: Theater review by David Cote

Jez Butterworth’s elliptical chamber drama is a mystery play in the purest sense: no answers, no closure. As Hugh Jackman (identified only as the Man) interacts with Cush Jumbo (the Woman) and Laura Donnelly (the Other Woman), you may worry over the gals’ well-being: Is Jackman playing a serial womanizer—or something more sinister? Next moment, your heart goes out to the lonely guy, connected more to the stream outside his cabin than his appealing houseguests. Then there’s the fact that the ladies switch places midscene with the Man, making the action seem both continuous and fractured. Crime thriller? Erotic memoir? Ghost story? Yes and no.

Wriggling slickly through all these categories, The River is a metaphysical piece, despite visceral business (the Man guts and cooks a trout). The language often grows heightened, with arialike monologues about water, fish, the weather and furious lovemaking (“It was beyond hunger, beyond need—like this giant rolling fiery roaring ball with me in the middle of it”).

The symbols have defiant heft: Is the Man fishing for love, as well as sport? When he boasts that his lures are totally artificial, is he talking about courtship rituals? And when he shows each woman a rock that holds special meaning for him, should we notice that it’s heart-shaped? Even if you’re allergic to cryptic allegory, there’s no denying Butterworth is a splendid writer—drunk on English nature poetry, reflexively funny, digging electrifying lines straight out of the dirt and his characters’ skins.

His constant collaborator, director Ian Rickson, builds the right tone of suspenseful wonder and vague dread. Designer Ultz’s set, a long cabin traverse with cobwebs dangling from rafters and glittering in Charles Balfour’s spectral lighting, is augmented by Ian Dickinson’s evocative woodland sounds penetrating from beyond.

For those turned on to Butterworth by 2011’s Jerusalem, the new work clearly continues his fascination with self-destructive outsiders in pastoral isolation. The River may lack the Rabelaisian exuberance of Jerusalem but offers more intimacy and outright strangeness. Those attending simply to ogle Jackman (buff and charismatic as always) get an extra treat, if they can appreciate it: a movie star facing an acting challenge in an exceptional piece of stage writing. So it doesn’t make literal sense—let it wash over you, and you may get hooked.—Theater review by David Cote

THE BOTTOM LINE Jackman strays from his comfort zone in this weird meditation on love and loss.

Follow David Cote on Twitter: @davidcote

[jo]

www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/the-river-review-a-powerful-mysterious-hugh-jackman-1.9618375

'The River' review: A powerful, mysterious Hugh Jackman

Updated November 16, 2014 8:29 PM
By LINDA WINER [e-mail]

Hugh Jackman as The Man, Laura Donnelly as Hugh Jackman as The Man, Laura Donnelly as The Other Woman in "The River," a new play by Jez Butterworth, directed by Ian Rickson, at Circle in the Square Theatre. Photo Credit: Richard Termine



REVIEW

BOTTOM LINE: Mysterious drama, powerful Jackman.

WHEN/WHERE: Circle in the Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway, Manhattan


There is something poignant and daring about Hugh Jackman as he triumphantly challenges both his action-movie and flamboyant-Broadway fan bases in "The River."

This is Jez Butterworth's taut 85-minute mystery about a sensitive he-man who brings a woman -- or is it women? -- to his isolated cabin to fly fish on the one moonless night a year when the wild sea trout are running. The three-character drama is emotionally exposed and intensely inconclusive -- a poetic, lusty puzzle that rivets one moment, exasperates another, and is destined to keep theatergoers arguing about its meaning all the way home, if not all season.

It is delicately and passionately staged by Ian Rickson on a narrow runway that keeps the audience close enough to flinch as Jackman, called The Man in the program, guts a big fish and lavishes it with olive oil. The plot is a minefield of spoilers, twists and curves that are best left undisclosed here.

Suffice it to say that Jackman, with his feral-sweet face and biceps that appear to have their own biceps, makes us care about a seeker with romantic, mystical ideas about luring and hooking beautiful creatures and a man/nature bond that sets the bar awfully high for his relationships with women.

It is possible to bristle that Butterworth ("Jerusalem") thinks that women are interchangeable. It may be just as possible that, for all the quoting of Ted Hughes and ballad singing to W.B. Yeats, the British playwright could just be saying that dating gets disillusioning when you have to keep repeating the same stories to make women love you.

But let's not linger on this. On the very positive side, Butterfield creates women who, besides being gorgeous, are strong, independent and opinionated. Cush Jumbo, identified as The Woman, plays the quirky one who first claims she doesn't want to go fishing because the Virginia Woolf book she's reading "is just getting good." Laura Donnelly, the only remaining actor from the play's 2012 premiere in a 90-seat theater at London's Royal Court, actually plays ridiculously stoned without being ridiculous as the seemingly more conventional Other Woman. Not incidentally, much is made about the fish she brings home being female.

But truth is as slippery here as the first trout The Man almost caught in a life-changing moment when he was 7 (and presumably called The Boy). "Like catching a lightning bolt," is one of many ways he describes the thrill.

But what is real? Is anything ever not a lie? Butterfield writes profoundly about the feeling of love. His observations -- the water is "gin clear" -- transcend nature clichés and nature's cruelty lurks outside as well as in. Also, the theater configuration means we watch Jackman's butt at times when we would rather see his face. Or maybe that's just me.

[hughmanity]

Ok so I think I'm done with BWW.  Just how do they rank the reviews they post in the review section??  TONY, Guardian and Newsday, for example, I thought were pretty close to raves and they each only scored an 8?  NYT, which was pretty darn positive, only gets a 7??  What gives?  (glad I have a place to vent!)

[foxie]

Ending feb 8 now

[njr]

Nov 19, 2014 14:49:01 GMT -5 foxie said:

Ending feb 8 now

Is that earlier or later than originally?

Nancy

[mamaleh]

That's a 2-week extension.

Ellen

[foxie]

Sort of means to me it must be pretty much sold out!

[mamaleh]

From the usually poisonous pen of critic John Simon--infamous for reviewing actors' faces and bodies rather than their skills--formerly of New York magazine and Bloomberg News, now of the Westchester Online Guardian and Yonkers Tribune. Oh, how the nasty hath fallen:

"If the couples in Albee have no last names, the trio in Jez Butterworth’s “The River” lack even first ones. They are just The Man, The Woman and The Other Woman, although the last-named may be only a fantasy. Not much happens, but there is a mild final jolt, which critics are asked not to reveal. I myself would be perfectly happy not to reveal the entire play. This is the kind of piece where you feel that whatever essentials might be intended definitely remain unrevealed. It would seem to be about fishing and womanizing, in both of which the Man indulges.

It is presumably about those things, but it would be even nicer if there were some compelling connection between the two. Man and Woman are shown in a cottage overlooking a river, which we do not see. It emerges that the Man was turned on to fly fishing at an early age by an uncle who also encouraged his future womanizing. It further emerges that the Woman, too, was at fishing at an early age, and has now caught a big one.

One important fish, long ago, got away; the current one will be carved, cooked and served for dinner. There is a rather long, wordless scene in which the Man performs some elaborate slicing of fish, vegetables, and what have you, and deftly preparing an elaborate dinner. Hugh Jackman (the Man) does this with the expertise of a great chef. The point is either to give him that culinary accolade, or to make a short-breathed play longer by whatever means.

The play is mostly talk, narrative, and a bit of poetry reading. The biggest moment is when the Woman goes into the unseen bathroom for a shower, but out come both she and the Other Woman, barefoot and presumably showered. In another climactic bit, a cell phone has difficulties functioning. In still another, wine is drunk and love declared. Not much going on, but who cares, as long as there is Hugh Jackman. For women and gays in the audience this is audibly sufficient.

But, truth be told, Jackman is a star who can actually act, and even uses his arms expressively. Indeed, he can act up a storm and even utter a shattering shout. “The River” isn’t just so much water under the bridge; it is proof that heartthrob Hugh can do serious acting. Jackman is supported by two attractive and talented actresses, Cush Jumbo (I didn’t make that up) and Laura Donnelly, and is cogently directed by Ian Rickson. There is an evocative set by Ultz, smart lighting by Charles Balfour, and some highly suggestive music by Stephen Warbeck. In fact, nothing is lacking except a better play."

- OK, at least he does cite Hugh's acting prowess. One point for sassy Simon. His mention of a "shattering shout" makes me think he caught a very early preview that included a roar of frustration from The Man that is no longer included.

Ellen

[jo]

Wow - what a review!

I'm glad that I just found this now -- the review from Talkin' Broadway ( home of ALL THAT CHAT)-- his appreciation is dovetailing with my evolving impression of the play and the performances!

Broadway Reviews
The River

Theatre Review by Matthew Murray - November 16, 2014

The Royal Court Theatre Production of The River by Jez Butterworth. Directed by Ian Rickson. Design by Ultz. Lighting design by Charles Balfour. Sound design by Ian Dickinson for Autograph. Composed by Stephen Warbeck. Cast: Hugh Jackman, Laura Donnelly, Cush Jumbo.
Theatre: Circle in the Square, 1633 Broadway between Broadway and 8th Avenue - at 50th Street
Running Time: 80 minutes, with no intermission
Schedule: Limited engagement through January 25, 2015.
Tues at 7, Wed at 2 and 7, Thur at 7, Fri at 8, Sat at 2 and 8, Sun at 3.
Tickets: Telecharge


Sometimes the most intriguing mystery is revealed in a place where there’s no mystery at all. This is certainly the case with The River, which just opened at the Circle in the Square. Jez Butterworth’s 2012 play, here seen in a remounting of Ian Rickson’s Royal Court Theatre production, is powered by a premise that’s provocative primarily because each of the three characters onstage refuses to mention it. And that would be the most newsworthy part of this play that needs no outside help if not for the smaller matter of casting its central role with one of the most unexpected of actors: Hugh Jackman.

Not that the producers wanting Jackman is a surprise, mind you. It’s not tough to imagine the movie-megastar, who despite headlining the X-Men franchise may be even more acclaimed in theatre circles for his arresting charisma and ability to flit effortlessly between splashy musicals (Oklahoma! in London in 1998, The Boy From Oz here in 2003) and trenchant drama (A Steady Rain, 2009), being the first name on everyone’s list. He has a way, after all, of not only supercharging publicity and box office receipts, but living up to the hype that precedes him.

But when it was announced that he was returning to Broadway for the first time in three years in what sounded like a bewilderingly gentle three-hander, you couldn’t help but think there had to be something special enough about this play to warrant his attention. As it turns out, there is. And if it’s not exactly evident what Jackman brings to his role that another top-tier actor might not, he has no trouble with its challenges — and those of the core conceit that ensure what could be a potentially derivative snoozer turns into an enigma you genuinely care about unwrapping.

Again, however, we run into the problem of not being able to say too much about what it is for fear of spoiling the uncertainty that makes it all work. What can be said without too much damage is that the action is set in a cozy, secluded fishing shack (Ultz is credited with the set and costume design, which manages to be both dreary and inviting), where an unnamed man (Jackman) has brought an unnamed woman (Cush Jumbo). They seem to be pretty intimate acquaintances, too, and you’d have no questions whatsoever about the nature of their partnership if not for the unsettling presence of a third woman (Laura Donnelly), who fits into the same schematic just a little too neatly.


Everything else unfolds as we get to know the women and how they’re connected to the man, and it’s in the exploration of the various relationships that the play truly lives. You have to look past much discussion about fishing — how to do it, how best to do it, who’s better at it than who else, and so on — which is inevitable given the setting, and Butterworth could perhaps dwell on those conversations less. (The plays less than 90 minutes, so it’s not as though he’s pressed for time.) But the subtle but forceful development of the personalities that occurs as a result tells us a great deal about how each person perceives love and its associated responsibilities, and the deeper we wade into that, the more absorbing The River becomes.

What’s soon addressed is that no one falls into or out of love the right way — assuming there is a right way — and that the most carefully considered plans can easily go awry. The promises the man makes to each of the women, and the fallout that results from them, are in touching in their essential innocence, which is no small achievement given how not innocent about anything the man clearly is. Yet he keeps making the same choices, and often the same mistakes, because his dream of perfection doesn’t die even if it sometimes changes names and faces.

What at first may look like a weakness with the writing then becomes a key strength: the women, who aren’t always well defined on their own, become strikingly specific in light of the overall arc of the man’s life and the part each has played in it. No, much of the time you’re not sure what that part is — but you find out when you need to, and Butterworth keeps upping the ante and increasing the tension right through the final scene, when the cyclicity of events delivers a stunning, completely satisfying payoff.

Rickson, who was last represented on Broadway in 2011 with Butterworth’s Jerusalem, can’t stage around all of the somewhat static earlier scenes, and there are times the level of intensity of the interactions could be pushed still further. But Rickson improves later, and becomes quite powerful indeed once the man and his women become fully embroiled in their situation. Regardless, Donnelly and Jumbo are outstanding throughout, the former bringing a cautious optimism and the latter a grudging world-weariness that instantly identify their characters within this world; they’re totally different performers giving totally different performances, but you understand perfectly how they intertwine within the man’s life.

Jackman plows through with his usual brio — he couldn’t turn off his innate electricity if he wanted to — and he’s easily believable as a charming juggler of women. But Jackman layers beneath this a sadness, even a dread, that tempers its impact; this is a man who feels more than he’ll ever admit, so the externalities are ultimately meaningless. He’s defined by what he’s had and what he’s lost, and Jackman injects this into every line with either woman. As you begin to realize he knows more than he’s willing to tell, you see how Jackman is letting that reluctance seep into even the moments when pure honesty would be the best policy.

The man’s laboring toward his own redemption, and fighting against his own failings, is compelling fuel, and Jackman ignites it beautifully. There are times, mostly in the silences (one scene where he’s preparing a fish for dinner comes to mind), that he comes across as a bit too polished, which tugs at the credibility of him wanting to escape to so remote an area when the going gets serious. But even that adds more complexity: This man, who outwardly appears to have it all, can be a victim of circumstance, just like the rest of us.

That’s much of what Butterworth is saying: [/that no one is immune from consequences, whether accidental or traditionally tragic, and no one is able to absolutely resist the allure of fairy tales — they keep us alive and keep us going just when we may most want to give up. For many, Jackman will be a good reason to see The River, but it’s pointed and poignant enough on its own to be well worth the trip.

[hughmanity]

Here is a very complimentary review that was posted online today.   whatchareading.com/river/   
(sorry-I don't know how to embed!). Worth reading.