"A Doll's House Part 2" @ Artists Rep

Somewhere, I had gotten the completely mistaken impression that "A Doll's House: Part 2" was merely an update of Henrik Ibsen's original, into 1950s America. I have no idea where I got that idea, but it was part of the reason I heeded the "Spoiler Alert" heading of the essay in the playbill examining the meaning of both plays. In reality, the "Spoiler Alert" only really applies to the second-half of the essay, dealing with the modern sequel. The first-half is actually quite helpful in providing much-needed background information. As I did not possess this information until immediately before beginning this review I tended to inadvertently ignore some of the finer details of the plot (which made little sense at times), and focus instead on the jarringly intense performance of Artist's Rep Ensemble Member Michael Mendelson, and the minor role, but stellar performance of the ever-engaging Vana O'Brien. If either of those two things appeal to the more seasoned readers of this blog, who know the truth of my praise of their previous work, they may well be able to enjoy the piece on the strength of the performances alone. For everyone else, I'd recommend reading the playbill at the very least, and Ibsen's original if possible.