He did okay in the Times:
“Mr. Bierko steps into Preston's long shadow with remarkable assurance. At times he seems to be patterning his gestures and inflections too closely on his famous predecessor. But he has a gleaming impishness of his own, never so evident as when he is hoodwinking a group of officious councilmen by turning them into a mellifluous barbershop quartet (charmingly embodied by Michael-Leon Wooley, Jack Doyle, John Sloman and Blake Hammond).
Preston's anchoring, reassuring humanity, which always hinted at the latent good guy beneath the scam artist, doesn't come as naturally to Mr. Bierko, who sometimes registers as so glisteningly smooth that you wonder if there's anyone home beneath the veneer. Yet in the show's last scenes, in which Harold realizes his love for Marian, something substantial, a mix of sensuality and shame, suddenly shines through. A little more of that throughout, and Mr. Bierko will have a first-class performance.”
In addition to a Tony nomination, he received noms for the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and the Drama League. He was the winner of The Theater World Award. It didn’t make him a star but he ascended to the starring role in another (if famous flop) a year later. |
