Helen Mirren, The Audience - Helen Mirren performance as Queen Elizabeth for the Broadway version of "The Audience" has been accused of having been changed to make it easier for Americans to understand, according to the Daily Mail.
In the first reviews of the play, although decidedly mixed, Mirren has been described critics as putting 'topspin' on her lines in order to emphasize comedic elements.
According to one reviewer, Helen Mirren's "The Audience" performance was "cuddly." Others also targeted American actress Judith Ivey's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, saying she was "more sassy Texan than icy Iron Lady."
"The Audience" transferred to New York after its run in London's West End had become a hit. Helen Mirren's "The Audience" performance in London had reportedly won her an Olivier award for Best Actress.
"The Audience" charts the Queen's life through a imagined conversations between her and the 12 Prime Ministers during her 62-year reign.
British fans loved the play, as well as Dame Helen's performance, which then became one of the theatre events of the year.
Upon reaching America however, the play which opened Sunday night, reportedly received varied reviews in the New York press.
When the play opened in 2013 in London, Helen Mirren's "The Audience" performance was hailed by The New York Times as "admirably centered and engaged performance." However, this time it was more critical.
Reviewer Ben Brantley picked on the first scene, where Dame Helen tells John Major (played by Dylan Barker), "For the most part, I've found my ministers to be very human. All too human."
"Ms Mirren is putting more topspin on such statements than she did when "The Audience" opened in London two years ago," Brantley wrote of Helen Mirren's "The Audience" performance.
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune's critic says that the show "treads lightly on the whole Diana affair - too lightly, to my mind" in his otherwise positive review.
"The play might be a fragmented portrait but it's nonetheless a full-bodied one, in which Mirren does a graceful jeté across the years from the savvy diplomatic novice to the shrewd veteran observer," wrote David Rooney's The Hollywood Reporter.
Meanwhile, The Guardian begs to differ saying that the concern that American audiences wouldn't understand the play is misguided. Helen Mirren's "The Audience" performance was also called "excellent. She's vulnerable and zealous as the very young queen, whom Dakin Matthews's Winston Churchill puts in her place even as she puts him in his, and then a bit more waspish and even a little wicked as she ages 60 years."
The New York Post follows suit, giving the play three stars out of four, and calling Mirren "absolutely terrific."
"It's always obvious who the real ruler is when it comes to Broadway. Mirren's crown is safe," wrote Elisabeth Vincentelli.
Meanwhile, asked whether or not US theatregoers would get the play, Mirren said in a recent interview with Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, "Well, we just don't know."
Held at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Sunday (March 8) in New York City, "The Audience" was attended by Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, supporting Mirren. They appeared absolutely dapper posing for photographs at the Broadway opening night, reported Just Jared.
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