3.25/5starsan interesting take on Ovid's "Metamorphoses" but obviously I want to SEE this play because reading it I didn't feel like I got a good idea on how Zimmerman would portray it on stage, or the tone of the play seeing as some parts were serious and sad and others were quirky and funny.

I've seen this play twice, both beautifully staged/designed/blocked but reading it was lackluster. Maybe I was seduced by the visuals. The most interesting parts of the reading were the descriptions of the staging and directions, that and the Orpheus and Eurydice section (which included both Ovid's and Rilke's versions of the story). Most of the modernized retellings didn't particularly add to or grow off of the original story and the narration had a tendency to fall into simplistic explanations...

Beautiful, funny, and poignant. A good read.

Great adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Zimmerman's play watches better than it reads, though some of her poetry is indeed beautiful. Being a puppetry and movement based director, her scripts largely serve as accompaniments to her productions and reading them one is acutely aware of the lack of dialogue and character interaction, and the overwhelm of exposition. She re-tells Ovid's stories well, if perhaps not terribly interestingly, the one exception being her comparison of the traditional Orpheus myth with Rilke's re-telling of it.

Metamorphoses is my all-time favorite play. Hands down. This play is beautifully composed and breathes new life into Ovid's work. Mary Zimmerman does not use all of the stories from the original, but does an excellent job of re-imagining several of the tales. As an aside, if you are ever so lucky as to see the play - please do. I was fortunate enough to see it when it was directed by Ms. Zimmerman and it was absolutely amazing. There was not a dry eye in the house. This is an incredibly touching...

Having seen and read this play several times, I'm always torn because much of it is in a way too easy, but so much more of it is just not done justice on a piece of paper. I've come down a lot off my Mary Zimmerman obsession, but the ending is truly beautiful on stage:Walking down the street at night, when you’re all alone, you can still hear, stirring in the intermingled branches of the trees above, the ardent prayer of Baucis and Philemon.They whisper: Let me die the moment my love dies.They w...

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a masterpiece of imagination and verve, and most certainly breadth. It features dozens of stories and hundreds of characters. Translating this to the stage is certainly a daunting task requiring a very selective choice of the stories and a strong theme to hold them together. I fail to see either in Zimmerman’s play. Little seems to hold the stories together. And the story of Psyche and Eros is not in Ovid’s poem, nor does it feature a metamorphosis. (Though I guess it is

Metamorphoses contains many plays relating to Greek gos such as Zeus and Eros. Each play has different theme and I always learned new techniques from them. For example, in my writing arts class, our teacher taucht us on how the conversation between two chracters seems to be realistic. When my group made a play, it did not sound normal like the play in metamorphoses. I also learned that each play contains 100s of themes. In Eros and Psyche, we listed about 30 themes in a little amount of time and...

This is an interesting retelling of many Greek mythological tales. I was given the play to read as a suggestion for a possible replacement for the The Odyssey with 9th graders. While I think it would be appropriate for AP seniors, it is NOT appropriate as a text for 9th graders. Many of the tales are not familiar to the casual mythology reader, and the story containing incest is something I KNOW parents of 9th graders would not appreciate.I would like to see a production of the play performed so...

The history and interweaving stories of Who's Who among the Greek gods and goddesses...this play has it ALL as you follow the journey through ancient times. And there's a full-blown battle with Poseidon, god of the sea. Have you ever seen a full size water battle on stage--complete with ships and an ocean/swimming pool in the orchestra pit? I highly recommend it. If you ever have the chance to see this I hope you leap at it. And bring rain gear.

I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit I cried almost as much reading this play as I did when I first watched it. Zimmerman makes the mythic manageable, and her mastery of the genre combined with the play's optimism and faith in the power of love make Metamorphoses one of the most powerful and important contemporary plays I've ever seen.

I saw this play performed at KU when I was in the one theatre class I took and I was mesmerized. Reading the play held up for me but it was partially because certain scenes and phrases sent me back to how it was staged. But even without seeing the play, the prose is gorgeous and haunting in many places and it's wonderful meditation on stories, myth, and life.

A beautiful play that reimagines some of Ovid's popular myths. Although it can be hard to picture at times when you're reading it, due to the unique staging and the large pool of water required, it is still striking, even when being read. I have never seen a production of the play but after reading the play, it is definitely on my list to keep an eye out for productions near me.

I saw this play in NYC back when it had first opened. Spectacular. Having now had the time to read it (twice), my opinion has not lessened, only deepened. Would that I could direct this on stage someday. Ah, perchance to dream....

Thanks Lil Anne.

Really fascinating look of Ovid's tales! Really enjoyed it :)

3.5 enthusiastic stars

Still my favorite play.

I remember really liking how weird this play was. Old myths so interestingly set in modern time.

Didn't expect it to be more than a blueprint for performance, which is what it felt like in general, but I was surprised by the emotional power of the ending, even on the page.

A heartwarming and heartbreaking play of mythos and origin stories. The ending made me cry.

Great play of Greek stories told with a pool of water.

Such a beautiful work. I've seen others of hers and visually she always stuns!

Maybe this is really moving when seen staged. The text itself is absolutely dead, though.

Wow wow wow.

pomona 💗🍏 🍎 🍐 🍊 🍋 💗🍌 🍉 🍇 🍓🍈 🍒 🍑💗 the ending um made me cry. thank u so much

not that i care about star ratings as you all know, but i do feel like i gave this an """"extra star"""" because of the necessary inadequacy of this play as a read experience. what makes this play necessary, what gives it the right to exist, is that it activates one of the most crucial aspects of ovid's metamorphoses that remains dormant as a poem—the bodies! when you get right down to it, when you want to reduce the metamorphoses in the most prosaic way possible, it's a poem about Weird Things

2nd QUARTERSiti Hajar Mohd. KhairiMetamorphoses: A Playby Mary Zimmerman 120 pagesNorth Western University Press. $14.99isbn13: 9780810119802(Ages 14 & up)Midas and the Golden Touch, Alcyone and Ceyx, Narcissus, Orpheus & his lyre and Vertumnus & Pomona are just the many stories retold in this book but with a modern twist. Written in play-format, Mary Zimmerman retells the Greek myths and transforms the stories with a more modern understanding. The title "Metamorphoses" is connected in all stori...

I enjoyed the series of vignetes. Clever cosmogony. Fun play. Oh Midas, you rich man. Midas reminds me of one question containing Midas' name in the exams Asenath let me help grade. Alcyone and Ceyx--With mercy from the gods, you two are reunited and transformed as seabirds, and fly together toward the horizon. I like the visual. Hunger and curse of the insatiable appetite. My favorite quote. "The godless are always hungry." Orpheus and Eurydice--Eurydice returns to the Underworld unknowing to O...