Seeing "The Kite Runner" Dramatized Made Me Understand Why I Dislike The Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    Last Saturday, David and I, plus our neighbor Michael, were treated by him to a matinee of "The Kite Runner."  It is playing through October at The Little Theatre on West 44th Street.  Who am I to turn down free theater, but the prospect initially sounded distasteful.  "The Kite Runner" is the only book I have read twice, other than Zadie Smith's "White Teeth," and still disliked.  Which is why I never bothered seeing the 2007 movie adaptation.

                                       Oh, let me make one thing clear.  Like "Yentl" on Broadway, the way this show has been advertised made me think it was a musical.  It is not.  It is a theatrical adaptation, with the lead actor onstage most of the evening, narrating action, and participating, enacting both child and adult roles, in Matthew Spangler's adaptation.

                                         This is a fine company of actors, under Giles Croft's direction, and there are two breakout performances--by Amir Arison as Amir, and Eric Sirakian as both Amir's childhood friend Hassan, in Act One, and Hassan's son Sohrab in Act Two.  The most emotionally challenging and wrenching performance I have seen on Broadway, since Celia Keenan-Bolger played Laura in "The Glass Menagerie," back in 2013.  Acting as almost counterparts to Amir are Faran Tahir, as his father, and Azita Ghanizada as Soroya, his wife.  They provide balance and ballast to Amir's character, which is why I have a problem with the story.

                                           Whatever their flaws, both father and wife have integrity.  Amir has none.  For ninety-nine per cent of this story the audience is asked to sympathize with someone who has no integrity, betraying people, especially his childhood friend, Hassan, time and again.  I could summon no compassion for him on either book or stage, good as Arison's performance was.

                                                It would be like sitting through "The Miracle Worker," up to the point where the water passes through Helen's fingers, and the house bell is rung.  After which, Helen would begin fully spouting "The Gettysburg Address."  It just would not make any sense.

                                                  Neither does Amir's so-called redemption.  With all having gone before, I just cannot buy it.  His wife has more balls than he.

                                                    Maybe I am too judgmental.   Or maybe there is something in my past, which I cannot see, that prevents me from reaching out to Amir at the end, as most readers and audiences seem to.

                                                       "The Kite Runner" is well crafted and well-acted theater. On that it has merit.  But its demands on the individual for understanding Amir's plight, leaves me cold.

                                                            For that, I urge you to avoid it.  Same with Joan Didion and Sylvia Plath.

                                                            Captial D for depressing, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!