ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Theater , Video , David Ives , Nina Arianda , Broadway , Comedy , Entertainment News 5 10 1 0React Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyTheater: Yes, Nina Arianda Is All That In "Venus In Fur" VENUS IN FUR *** out of **** MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB AT SAMUEL J.</p><p> FRIEDMAN Actress Nina Arianda is the red-hot center of this new Broadway comedy, so let's start with playwright DavidIves.</p><p> Ives has worked steadily and often brilliantly sincemaking his NYC debut in 1972 with Canvas .</p><p> He reached a peak in the early 1990s with the popular string of one-acts All In The Timing.</p><p> His work has been rich and varied: script doctoring, children's books, adaptations of the classics, original works, one acts, musicals and of course his welcome presence on the Encores! series ofrevivals.</p><p> But ives has flowered in the last three years and reached new heights.</p><p> His New Jerusalem -- an insightful drama about Spinoza -- was the best play of 2008 and will achieve the wide recognition it deserves whenthe right production comes along.</p><p> Venus In Fur will forever be linked to the launching of Arianda's career (and will garner her another Tony nomination, without a doubt).</p><p> It is the biggest hit in the Classic StageCompany' s history (they've also been on fire with one very good show after another).</p><p> And Ives recently premiered The School For Lies at CSC; it's his version of Moliere's The Misanthrope and it's absolutely dazzling.</p><p> If we don't get to see that cast and that show again soon, it will be a travesty. (His adaptationThe Heir Apparent in DC this September has received strong notices as well.) It's a notable run of consistent excellence for Ives.</p><p> FOLLOW US Going Back To 'Titanic'PHOTOS: Celebs Entertain In The Thanksgiving...</p><p> Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Catwalk to the...PHOTOS: Dancing With The Stars Cast Reunites!EDITION: U.S.</p><p> November 24, 2011 Bloody New Look From Angelina Jolie The Weirdest Commercial You'll See Thanksgiving Weekend! What Are They Eating For Thanksgiving? Like 63 Posted: 11/10/11 01:53 PM ET SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storyGet Entertainment Alerts Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIESCONNECT FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORELike 51KMovies Rihanna Television The Oscars Game Changers 2011 More Log inStill, it must be said that the two-hander Venus In Fur is the least of this batch.</p><p> In it, Vanda (Arianda) arrives late for an audition, soaking wet, cursing up a storm and astoundingly wrong for the role Thomas (Hugh Dancy) is trying to cast.</p><p> He's desperately seeking an actress who can play the sophisticated and witty young woman in a drama about sex and domination based on the classic German novel Venus InFurs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.</p><p> When you realize Sacher-Masoch gave masochism its name, you can imagine what sort of book it might be.</p><p> Vonda bulldozes Thomas into letting her audition and the fun begins.</p><p> The ever-shifting power relationship between the two is dizzying: Vonda wants the part so the director Thomas has control over her.</p><p> But the roles they're reading involve a man who is desperate to become the sex slave of a beautifuland sophisticated woman.</p><p> Thomas is in an unhappy relationship but engaged to be married.</p><p> Vondateases and flirts and drives him to distraction.</p><p> Her performance of the part is astounding yet when she dares to criticize a passage as degrading to women Thomas explodes and puts her back in her place.</p><p> Back and forth, from script and audition to discussion and flirtation, past to present, master or mistress to slave -- it's a delight to watch these actors have such a blast with this conceit.</p><p> The emotional high point is a scene when Thomas is lying on a divan and Vonda is behind him like a therapist, quietly and devastatingly detailing his dull and unrewarding existence.</p><p> This tamped-down man needs shaking up, waking up and we want Vonda to do it.</p><p> But that's not exactly what the show intended, I think.</p><p> Hugh Dancy replaced Wes Bentley, who played Thomas in the CSC production.</p><p> Dancy unquestionably delivers a more nuanced and interesting performance but in an odd way this does the play no good since it highlights some of the work's flaws.</p><p> In Bentley's blunt, direct interpretation, Thomas is...how to putthis?...a dick.</p><p> Thomas is an unregenerate jerk who is dismissive of Vonda and women in general.</p><p> He deserves, indeed demands his comeuppance.</p><p> But with Dancy creating a fuller character, Thomas isn't so cut and dried.</p><p> When Vonda criticizes a scene, Thomas lashes out at her, but this seems more likedefensiveness over a weakness in his play, not the boorish behavior of a lout.</p><p> This leads us to the finale.</p><p> Throughout the show, we've been asking, who is this woman? She comes in off the street squawking and chattering but in the blink of an eye embodies an upper-class woman fromthe late 1800s to perfection.</p><p> She's off book (that is, performing the role without consulting the script) almost the entire time, even though she claims to have just glanced at the script on her way to the audition.</p><p> Plus, she seems to know a disconcerting amount about Thomas and his private life.</p><p> Four or fivelikely scenarios spring to mind but the show lands on by far the least interesting and satisfying one.</p><p> It's a deflating climax that weakens everything that came before.</p><p> But don't let that stop you from going.</p><p> Because what came before is Dancy dueling with Arianda and she is indeed a presence to be reckoned with.</p><p> Arianda dominates the stage with the quicksilver changes called for.</p><p> You want to burst into applause again and again throughout the show as she pulls off one marvelousturn after another.</p><p> Bouncing in a chair across the stage in delight, curling her legs around Dancy, revealing layer and layer of intelligence and ferocity just as Vonda takes off layer and layer of clothing, Arianda is simply delightful.</p><p> Even though you've been told again and again how remarkable she is, herMOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Watch No News: Study Loyal Dog Refuses To Leave Owner's Grave, Goes Week Without Food Charlie Angus What if They Declared an Emergency and No One Came? 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