Not every great work of art has broad appeal, and this is one of them. It presents many hurdles, each of which takes out some segment of the potential audience: unlikeable main character, underwritten female lead, hard to follow plot. Then there's the questionable psychology - if this is the tragedy of a selfish man, why should we care?
Those who can overlook these issues find it moving; those who can't, don't. (I am among the former.) It will ever be thus.
The Fiasco production, as an experiment, added a book scene from the original play to flesh out Frank's relationship with his family, and it helped; but I don't know if that's a long-term solution. |