“But by the end, every cast member has created a detailed and intimate portrait. And the final scene between Ms. McCann (so memorable as Mr. Stephens’s Harper Regan) and Mr. Wilson is beautiful – and devastating.”
— Ben Brantley / New York Times
“Ms. McCann, an Atlantic mainstay (“Harper Regan”), gives one of her strongest performances as the harried Hazel. Her flinty edges notwithstanding — her brusque rebuff of Daniel when he tries to apologize for having jabbed her stomach with a toy brings gasps — Hazel gradually gains complicating layers. Ms. McCann’s fierce blue eyes can flash with steely menace when Richard begins undermining her authority, but Hazel’s increasing sense of being an embattled, misunderstood figure in her own home is movingly conveyed.”
— Charles Isherwood / New York Times
“McCann (who is reunited here with her Harper Regan director) gives a stunningly dynamic performance. She’s a harried mother whose contempt for the younger Irishwoman newly arrived at her doorstep is barely masked by a perfunctory British cordiality. She quickly lets down her guard of politeness. Within the first few days of Annie’s employment, she witnesses Hazel berate and brush off her hyperactive and downright weird son. (At such a young age, Kelemen has already mastered the art of the creepy stare.)”
— Theater Mania
“McCann is superb as Hazel, completely capturing a headstrong woman who’s being driven to absolute weaknesses by circumstances beyond her control. So solid, so forthright, in the opening scene, McCann lets Hazel slowly disintegrate as her entire belief system collapses around her. And when Hazel has nothing left but rage, McCann brandishes it with an electrifying force that proves this is someone who’s willing and able to go down fighting. She lets us see every minute detail of this extraordinarily ordinary person.”
— Matt Murray / Talkin' Broadway
“Beautiful! Sharp and melancholy. Gaye Taylor Upchurch’s geometrically precise production features a stunning central performance by Mary McCann. Nothing she has done previously prepared me for the blazing conviction and centeredness of this performance.”
— Ben Brantley / New York Times
“Mary McCann is luminous! Excellent ensemble cast.”
— Jennifer Farr / Associated Press
“Superb! A splendid cast of 11 makes each stop on Harper’s journey of self-discovery a gem.”
— Wilborn Hampton / Huffington Post
“Ms. McCann, a founding member of the Atlantic is quite a bit more. In the nearly 20 years I’ve followed her work, I’ve always thought of her as a fine, eminently reliable actress. But nothing she has done previously prepared me for the blazing conviction and centeredness of this performance.”
— Robert Simonson / Playbill
“The acting in this production — not only from Mr. Russell Beale but also from every one of his eight supporting cast members — is first-rate. The Atlantic Theater veteran Mary McCann, as the mystery woman whom Jimmy keeps trying to reach on the phone, has the heaviest lifting to do, but she has the muscles for it and doesn’t show the effort.”
— Ben Brantley / New York Times
“Mary McCann as Jimmy’s shattered wife is exceptionally moving.”
— Rome Toree / NY1
“Best of the company is Atlantic veteran Mary McCann.”
— Jeremy Gerard / AP
“Played expertly by Mary McCann.”
— Daily News
“The Atlantic Theater Company has done the industry a favor by importing “Bluebird,” Simon Stephens’ strangely fascinating 1998 play about a London cabdriver and the intimate if unsolicited exchanges he has with his fares. Now the industry should acknowledge the favor by putting the show into commercial production. Nothing quite prepares us for the extended scene at the end of the play when the now-vulnerable Jimmy finally connects with Clare (Mary McCann), the woman he’s been calling all night. Brilliantly matched with the heartbreaking McCann in this poignant scene, Beale finally lets us know what it’s like to drive a cab through living hell.”
— Marilyn Stasio / Variety
“Played by Mary McCann, an Atlantic veteran who generally appears in its plays in smaller roles but with this performance proves she deserves star status. She reveals at least as many layers as Beale with but a fraction of his stage time, slowly progressing from a care-worn incredulity to despondent anger to a kind of uncomfortable contentment. McCann’s method of attack is the opposite of Beale’s: She keeps Clare’s rage simmering beneath the surface and doesn’t dare to release it in any but the tiniest bursts, a luxury Jimmy has long since forsaken. Yet it’s precisely right for Clare: She’s been trying to conduct all her affairs free of Jimmy, but can’t escape the memory of him or what he took from her; on some level, anger is all she knows.”
— Talkin' Broadway
“Williams plays Joyce as a sweet woman awakening to her own opinions, which smartly contrasts with McCann’s coiled energy. When the two share scenes, they spark like firecrackers, adding heat to the intellectual quest.”
— Variety
“McCann gives Phyllis an approachable stridency that justifies every mood swing, every disappointment, and every expression of love as well-meaning, unquenchable hope.”
— Talkin' Broadway
“Devastatingly funny. And the work is truly blessed by its actresses, Felicity Huffman, Mary McCann and Rebecca Pidgeon, all of whom have memorably worked with Mr. Mamet (Ms. Pidgeon is also his wife) and give impeccably disciplined comic performances here. And Ms. McCann’s Catherine is a lovely, earthy foil to the others’ affectations, while still finding sport in the parody elements of the folk-wisdom-spouting servant.”
— Ben Brantley / New York Times
“But without those scenes, we wouldn’t have the chance to see Mr. Cake reincarnated as a sniffy, short-tempered restaurant host, or the peerless Elizabeth Marvel as a drawlingly hostile, combative conversationalist who is so classically a New York type that she might have stepped straight off the subway. With these performers rounded out by Atlantic stalwarts like Jordan Lage and Mary McCann, Mr. Coen has a dream team for his maiden foray into New York theater.”
— Ben Brantley / New York Times
“The nine expert performers who can make mountains out of their molehill-sized roles. Slotnick’s disintegrating Nelson, McCann’s curt typist in the first scene and argumentative date in the third.”
— Talkin' Broadway
“And Atlantic member Mary McCann gives the most serene performance as Munro’s watching-from-the-sidelines wife.”
— Talkin' Broadway
“As the mother, Mary McCann inhabited her character seamlessly. Without making her one-sided, McCann bravely explored the darker side of her character where another actress might have softened the part to make her more sympathetic.”
