Acting Reviews
“Ezra Barnes and Veanne Cox have captured just the right style and sparkling wit to get the most out of all of Noel Coward’s delicious lines in the play. What’s even better, with the grand piano being present, the actors also get to play and sing together. They both sound terrific.”
“EZRA BARNES plays Elyot brilliantly; he is a joy to watch.”
“Barnes is charming, mischievous, wistful and suave, which is exactly right for the character of Elyot. He tosses off some rather clever dialogue with energy and brio and makes Elyot and Amanda’s relationship real, focused and heartfelt.”
“The show feels much more like the invasion of privacy that perhaps Coward
intended than any onstage version could likely manage.”
Elyot & Amanda: All Alone (from Noel Coward’s Private Lives), Playhouse on Park, directed by Sean Harris, co-starring Veanne Cox
“As professor and director of the lab, Barnes is imposing and,
perhaps, has the most surprising character arc.”
Queen by Madhuri Shekar, Geva Theatre Center, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh, with Marina Shay
“Barnes turns in a strong and believable performance as the “good guy”
who ultimately has little conscience about viciously
stinging those who oppose his will.”
Queen by Madhuri Shekar, Geva Theatre Center, directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh,
with Nikhaar Kishnani & Marina Shay
“This surrealistic and satirical fantasia inspired by Donald Trump showcases Ezra Barnes’ terrific non-impression performance.
The bright spot is the 15-minute segment “Without Precedent.” It’s the title of Trump’s imaginary HBO comedy special and is the highlight of Ezra Barnes’ performance...Barnes does not attempt to replicate his vocal or physical mannerisms. Instead with his slim physique and mellow voice Barnes is more like Fred Rogers on speed...Holding a microphone and wandering around the stage and into the audience Barnes goes off on free associative riffs with the force and cadences of a polished comedian."
Transparent Falsehood, Ars Nova, directed by Richard Caliban
“The talented Ezra Barnes, who plays Trump, doesn’t give us a full caricature. And yet, this is one of the most chilling, disturbing and—somehow—spot-on characterizations of the president you’ll likely see. It’s as though Barnes and director Richard Caliban—throwing off the expected cosmetic trappings of the Trump reality-show persona—have found the grotesquerie in Donald J.’s inner life."
Falsehood by Gil Kofman, directed by Richard Caliban, with Wyatt Fenner as Barron
“The shining light in the production was its casting of Ezra Barnes as Trump...Barnes crackles with an earnest, natural gusto."
As Donald J. Trump in Transparent Falsehood by Gil Kofman, directed by Richard Caliban, Ars Nova
“Trenchant, magnificently acted…an unshakeable Ezra Barnes”
“Fraser Grace’s taut meditation on guilt and power…
an excellent cast…”
Breakfast With Mugabe, Signature Center & Theatre Row
with Michael Rogers, Che Ayende, Roslyn Coleman & Ezra Barnes. photo: Joseph Henry Ritter
“Scrupulously acted by a strong ensemble.”
“The electrifying four person cast sizzles and explodes with emotion.”
Breakfast With Mugabe, Signature Center & Theatre Row with Michael Rogers, & Ezra Barnes.
photo: Joseph Henry Ritter
“The actors are all outstanding, with the main kudos going to Ezra Barnes as the independently minded, principled psychiatrist, Andrew Peric…”
“A stellar ensemble cast.”
Breakfast With Mugabe, Signature Center & Theatre Row with Roslyn Coleman and
Ezra Barnes.
photo: Joseph Henry Ritter
“Peric, the incessantly estimable doctor played by Ezra Barnes,
is undoubtedly the star of the show.”
“Ezra Barnes as Dr. Peric, using a believable colonialist British accent,
is a perfect foil for Mr. Rogers.”
Ezra Barnes in Breakfast With Mugabe, Signature Center & Theatre Row. photo: Joseph Henry Ritter
"Ezra Barnes commands the stage...equally comfortable in the role of provocateur,
lush, and Casanova."
"Resembling a combination of Kevin Kline and Kyle MacLachlan, Ezra Barnes fully embodies this extravagant, larger-than-life character. Just to watch him demonstrate how to give a proper onstage bow is almost a show in itself."
Barnes wisely resists any temptation to create a caricature of the figure, instead imbuing his Barrymore
with just the right amount of unreserved confidence and cynical authority."
"Ezra Barnes’ Barrymore truly was phenomenal, knock-down, drag-out hysterical as the alcoholic, sword-wielding swine...he successfully managed to overact without overacting!"
"He even looks good in tights!"
John Barrymore in I Hate Hamlet, Playhouse on Park, Vince Tycer, Director. Photo by Rich Wagner
"...exquisite revival of Martin Duberman’s 1963 play...this haunting, intimate portrait of endurance, suffering and, rarely, triumph...given an outstanding production by Charles Maryan on a bare stage with six extraordinary actors playing everyone from abused slaves to Thomas Jefferson."
In White America by Martin Duberman, New Federal Theatre, directed by Charles Maryan.
“Ezra Barnes is the brilliant interpreter of Thomas Jefferson. His physicalization of the man is superb as he struts and poses and looks like a five-dollar bill come to life. He has one of the best moments in the play as he breaks down having come to an understanding that his motives may not have been the purest when dealing with his 600 slaves and his mistress Sally Hemings.”
The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord with Michael Sean McGuinness and Rik Walter. Chester Theatre Company, directed by Byam Stevens. Photo by Richard Teller.
“The delightful Ezra Barnes can switch from a crotchety old grandfather in one scene to a kid at a birthday party in another to a thoughtful psychiatrist, with only minimal costume changes and employing different ways of speaking and carrying himself onstage.”
The Dining Room, with Susan Slotoroff, Jay William Thomas, Susan Haefner & Ezra Barnes, Playhouse on Park
The Miser’ comes to Brooklyn’s Grand Prospect Hall
as Harpagon, in The Miser, Brave New World Rep.
“Ezra Barnes as Mahler is quite sympathetic as the everyman who tries his best to
pursue two things he thinks he wants.”
“…Mr. Barnes’s monologue about being Jewish, which he delivers with appropriate vexation…”
Final Analysis, Signature Center, with Elizabeth Jasicki, photo by John Quilty
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“Ezra Barnes captures the coolness of Dov, a hardened Israeli Mossad agent.”
“…a solid, well-turned out and penetrating performance by Ezra Barnes...”
“An expert cast…And Dov, as splendidly created by Barnes? His kindness, his gentleness, his sympathy, all tools of his trade, feel less like lies when he has achieved his goals. It’s a dirty job and he loves it.”
Ezra Barnes and Amy Griffin in The English Bride, 59e59 Theater, photo: Credit-Bob-Eberle
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“Barnes finds the cool aloofness in Dov as well as the confidence of someone
used to the upper hand.”
Ezra Barnes and Michael Gabriel Goodfriend in The English Bride, 59e59 Theater, photo: Credit-Bob-Eberle
"Ezra Barnes is effective as the doctor, first appalled
then slowly seduced by 'B'."
Cool Blues, New Federal Theater, Cool Blues, New Federal Theater
"As the 100-minute drama progresses under David Shookhoff's taut
direction, we'll see that both MIchael Rogers as Mugabe and Ezra Barnes
as Peric are up to the challenge of a head-to-head
clash of alpha
males."
Breakfast with Mugabe, Centenary Stage Company
"The cast is uniformly excellent in what are very difficult roles...the
confident, quietly commanding characterization of Andrew Peric by Ezra Barnes..."
Breakfast with Mugabe, Centenary Stage Company
"...the acting is beyond superb. Ezra Barnes is wonderful as Dr. Peric..."
Breakfast with Mugabe, Centenary Stage Company
“Sordelet has cast his production with dazzling insight and shrewd instinct...
Ezra Barnes' Escalus finds nuance and a character-driven integrity
that reaches well past the obvious..."
Romeo & Juliet, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
“Barnes is superb as Peric, modulating his moral outrage
for the sake of dispassionate analysis.”
Breakfast With Mugabe, Quantaum Theater, (U.S. premiere)
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“From the moment "Breakfast with Mugabe" begins, you can feel the tension. Director Karla Boos keeps her cast in restless motion as they prowl and stalk the set. Ezra Barnes portrays Peric, the psychiatrist, with a clarity of conflict.”
Breakfast With Mugabe, Quantaum Theater, (U.S. premiere)
“Mockingbird lives or dies with its Atticus Finch, a role made indelible by Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning film turn. Ezra Barnes inhabited Atticus with a pitch-perfect blend of decency and decorum, strength and constraint; he revealed a man who was unyielding but never unfeeling.”
To Kill A Mockingbird, Brave New World, Brooklyn, New York
Dear Ezra,
We loved it--and you--completely. It was wonderful. The entire experience, of course, and the piece itself, the wonderful way (I had forgotten) that the play knits its morals against racism and lynching into solid middle class values (a strategy that's been forgotten by the left). But just as theatre, too, it was fabulous. Great performances. You were magnificent. Thank you so much.
All the best,
– Chuck Mee (playwright)
To Kill A Mockingbird, Brave New World, Brooklyn, New York
“Director Keith Baker has a small miracle in his cast...Ezra Barnes plays the unflappable
Phileas Fogg with cool assurance...”
Ezra Barnes is a cucumber-cool Phileas Fogg, tall and stern
but with a big heart that conceals its size.
Around the World in 80 Days, Bristol Riverside Theatre
“a wonderfully unruffled Ezra Barnes”
Around the World in 80 Days, Bristol Riverside Theatre
“Walt Whitman’s words, first penned in 1856, only gain more poignancy with each passing generation that reads Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, feeling it was written especially for them...The show begins with Whitman, played with splendid serenity by Ezra Barnes, reciting the 26-stanza long poem aboard the ferry, as a soliloquy.”
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, Brave New World
“Sophisticated, riveting storytelling doesn't get any better than Far and Wide, the current offering at the Mint Theater Company. This is, believe it or not, the New York premiere of a play written by Arthur Schnitzler nearly a century ago; how this smart and fascinating drama—the theatrical equivalent of a compulsive page-turner—got away is a mystery. It's here now, though, elegantly adapted and staged by Jonathan Bank... Don't miss it: it's the most compelling new play in town... Kudos, too, to Ezra Barnes as Mauer, who gives us a surprisingly dense mass of complexity as the doctor,... Far and Wide ranks among the very best work this company has done, once again proving the value of a good story, well told, in the theatre.”
Far And Wide, Mint Theater Company
“...this production by the Mint Theater offers us the pleasures of discovering a classic in its wisdom and humanity... Most interesting among the cast is Freidrich's best friend, the physician Dr. Mauer (Ezra Barnes), who provides the play's moral ballast as the couple's flirtatious games spiral out of control... the acting measures up to this flawless adaptation (by Jonathan Banks) of a timeless play about love, lifelessness, and human pain.”
Far And Wide, Mint Theater Company
“...Ezra Barnes brings the right mix of yearning and disgust to the role of
Doctor Mauer...”
Far And Wide, Mint Theater Company
“...Particularly effective is Ezra Barnes in the role of the friendly family doctor (the only character with integrity)...”
Far And Wide, Mint Theater Company, with Hans Tester
“Director Edward Keith Baker draws standout performances from a stellar cast...Back from portraying Phileas Fogg in “Around the World in 80 Days,” Ezra Barnes makes a splash as another kind of Englishman, one who has a dreidel to keep him warm as he fights for the rights of Christmas ghosts.”
The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bristol Riverside Theater
“a strong performance by Barnes as Prospero... played majestically...”
The Tempest, Shakespeare on the Sound
“Barnes is an excellent Higgins...he creates a character that despite all his self-delusions and thoughtlessness evokes our interest, if not our sympathy.”
“As our present Professor Higgins, Ezra Barnes is very much his own interpreter, not merely trying to imitate Harrison. Barnes has a strong stage presence and a dominating voice, used to good advantage in numbers such as the tender “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”
“Barnes’ soliloquies (particularly ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face’) are very musical...His phrasing and timing contain wondrous insights.”
My Fair Lady, Weston Playhouse
“The acting ensemble, some of whom appeared in the London or New York productions, handle the demands of Wilde’s language and the play’s more serious emotions with equal finesse. Ezra Barnes and Kathleen McCall play Robert and Gertrude with a combination of conviction and confusion that makes them very human.”
An Ideal Husband, Pioneer Theatre Company
“Artistic Director Ezra Barnes has a field day with the verse, as well as business,
as the dissembling Hortensio...”
The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare on the Sound
“...it appears that in spite of the play’s years of popularity many in the audience were kept guessing about the identity of the murderer. The reason? Many of the actors keep their roles fresh and interesting, avoiding the well-worn choices of previous performances in the genre...Barnes and Mahony-Bennett are refreshing and realistic as the newlyweds caught in a frightful situation in their initial outing as the manor’s innkeepers...”
The Mousetrap, Cincinnati Playhouse
