(Jonathan Girling wrote the evocative music.) That a story about the struggles of Afghans over the course of nearly three decades is on Broadway is a feat in itself, as is the cast of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent.Ĭhunks of dialogue are spoken in a Farsi dialect (all credit to the cultural adviser and script consultant Humaira Ghilzai) and much of the underscoring features the tuneful plinks and thumps of the tabla player Salar Nader, a steady presence on one side of the stage and one of the production’s gems. Legitimacy is always a tricky question when it comes to productions about people of color. William Simpson’s projection design provides a dose of whimsy, however, the watercolor renderings of a kite-filled sky or a pomegranate tree lending a fanciful storybook quality to the script. He is no longer the novel’s sociopathic neo-Nazi, but more of an antagonist from an after-school special - with a shaky accent. Then there’s the phlegm-inducing serving of cheese, when Amir finds himself in 1981 San Francisco: Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” plays as characters in gaudy ’80s duds traipse across the stage throwing out random decade-appropriate nouns like “Prince,” “Pac-Man” and “Darth Vader.”įor “The Kite Runner” to work, the boys’ nemesis needs to be formidable, but Spangler’s script diminishes Assef (Amir Malaklou), the childhood bully. But Croft’s mechanical direction often plays up the pathos, as when a character dies too dramatically, or in a scene where Amir prays for a loved one to be spared. Gasps of surprise from the audience signaled the sudden shock of real-world horror.Īgain, part of that isn’t negotiable, since the emotionally pandering novel is the show’s DNA. Onstage the play shuffles along, and it’s hard to stay invested in this unpalatable hero with Hassan in the rearview mirror.įor those who haven’t read “The Kite Runner” or seen the 2007 film, I won’t spoil the violent scene that causes the rift between the two friends, but it’s one that feels jarring in what otherwise reads like a tidy parable. It’s easier in the novel to ride the twists and turns of Amir’s journey, even as he leaves Hassan behind in the first third of the story. He recites his opening lines with the stiffness of a child delivering a book report, and never totally eases into the role. Under Giles Croft’s direction, Arison’s Broadway debut proves spotty. For the Broadway engagement, producers turned to Arison, an Off Broadway regular who had a supporting role for nearly a decade on NBC’s “The Blacklist.” “The Kite Runner” was first staged in 2007 at San Jose State University, and went on to play throughout England, eventually on the West End. After finding love and a successful career, Amir eventually returns to his homeland to redeem himself from his past transgressions. Hassan never truly leaves Amir, though he carries the guilt to America, to which he and Baba escape after Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan ushers in the vicious regime of the Taliban. When Amir fails to stop an act of violence against Hassan, the boys’ friendship is irreparably damaged. A Photographer’s Journal: A look at 20 years of war in Afghanistan, chronicled through one Times photographer’s lens.Face to Face: A Times reporter who served as a Marine in Afghanistan returned to interview a Taliban commander he once fought.On Patrol: A group of Times journalists spent 12 days with a Taliban police unit in Kabul.Our reporter and photographer witnessed it. Inside the Fall of Kabul: In the summer of 2021, the Taliban took the Afghan capital with a speed that shocked the world.
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