The American Dream: And the Zoo Story

Rating:
Summary: Albee's Earliest
Review: An unqualified genius with language, Edward Albee has a fair claim to being the USA's most important living playwright, though most would give the nod to Arthur Miller. *The Zoo Story* and *The American Dream* are among Albee's first plays, and both dabble in the absurdism that defines his work. The plays are very different from each other: *The Zoo Story* is a more serious play that builds slowly toward the inevitable, while *The American Dream* is more of a nonsense-farce, with echoes of Ionesco and Becket. But the logic of *The Zoo Story* and the comic brevity of *The American Dream* make these plays much easier to get a handle on than his later *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf* and *A Delicate Balance*. In fact, both plays have a spiffy economy that Albee's work seemed to lose until his recent masterpiece, *Three Tall Women*.

Anyone interested in American theater should study Albee, and these plays are a good introduction. Also (unlike most of Albee's plays) these plays could be performed by student or beginning actors.

Rating:
Summary: The Zoo Story (Can I possibly add one more star?)
Review: I am in the middle of directing The Zoo Story for a high school educational production for a drama class. Through analyzing it, I have really gotten an understanding of how true this is on how people interact w/ eachother. It is similar with the Cable Guy, how a guy gets to know ALL about another and within moments, is in a life or death combat with him! It's an amazing piece and horribly disturbing. One of my favorites! You would not regret getting this...even if the Zoo Story takes up 25% of the book. (It's still GREAT)

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I saw "The American Dream" as an undergraduate--you must SEE as well as read this play. It's truly hilarious.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I saw this play done by a small group of high school students the past year and it is perhaps one of the best plays I've ever seen. Edward Albee has mastered the art of Absurdest.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny
Review: The American Dream is a hilarious satire of an old woman and her long suffering husband. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories of "the theater of the absurd"

Rating:
Summary: Not to be read for entertainment
Review: The American Dream is another of Albee's many commentaries on our society. Albee saw that in every one of us there exists an ideal, the American dream. While this dream is different for us all, Albee felt that all of us simply expect our American dream to come true. This play examines the anarchy that can result from the realization that life just doesn't work the way we all imagine it can. Albee's goal is to make us all more aware of the way we think, so that we may alter it to be more correct and fulfilled. This play is not for a reader looking for entertainment. The lack of humanity in the play makes it a very abstract piece, obviously aimed at conveying a point rather than a story.

Rating:
Summary: Not to be read for entertainment
Review: The American Dream is another of Albee's many commentaries on our society. Albee saw that in every one of us there exists an ideal, the American dream. While this dream is different for us all, Albee felt that all of us simply expect our American dream to come true. This play examines the anarchy that can result from the realization that life just doesn't work the way we all imagine it can. Albee's goal is to make us all more aware of the way we think, so that we may alter it to be more correct and fulfilled. This play is not for a reader looking for entertainment. The lack of humanity in the play makes it a very abstract piece, obviously aimed at conveying a point rather than a story.

Rating:
Summary: 1st plays I ever enjoyed reading
Review: The Zoo Story is the 1st play I've ever just read, versus watched, that I really enjoyed. In fact the Zoo Story is my favorite play of all time. The American Dream comes right behind it with its zany charaters that ends up telling us a moral story. How brillant can one be?

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE IT!
Review: THE ZOO STORY IS THE BEST PLAY EVER WRITTEN!

Rating:
Summary: before you die read this book
Review: There is no way to justly describe this play, it is hilarious! While reading it on your own is enjoyable, its even more fun to grab some friends and read it out loud in a park. Get really into it and don't mind the people stopping to stare at you, remember you're in a zoo!