Critics are raving about Kate Mulgrew's performance as Oscar®-winning screen legend Katharine Hepburn in "Tea at Five." The one-woman show based on Hepburn's life was written by Matthew Lombardo and is directed by John Tillinger. It is currently running off-Broadway in New York at the Promenade Theater. The show was previously mounted in Connecticut and Ohio.

Variety's Charles Isherwood writes that "Tea at Five" is "an affectionate portrait that depicts Hepburn meeting life's challenges ..." And while he calls the play itself "polished if unsurprising" and "skillfully constructed and thoroughly workmanlike," he has nothing but praise for Mulgrew ("Kathryn Janeway"): "Kate Mulgrew's remarkable performance infuses it with crisp, appealing life, not to mention eerie verisimilitude." He goes on to say that, "Mulgrew is not just a skilled impersonator, but an actress of real sensitivities: On the rare occasions when the text allows it to, her performance moves beyond entertaining mimicry into a deeper kind of emotional identification that allows us to forget the voyeuristic aspects of the evening and experience it on a richer, more satisfying level."

The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck agrees. "'Tea at Five' is ultimately more effective as a showcase for Mulgrew's transformative abilities than as a solo bio-drama," he writes.

Isherwood notes that Mulgrew's eerily accurate re-creation of Hepburn's various mannerisms is especially impressive. "[T]he interest is primarily held by watching Mulgrew unveil more aspects of her remarkable simulacrum of the star — a breathtakingly correct angling of the head here, the cat-that-ate-the-canary sparkle in the eye there," he writes.

Scheck also praises Mulgrew's portrayal of Hepburn. "Mulgrew does an excellent job of re-creating [Hepburn] both physically and vocally..." he writes, later adding, "[S]he successfully captures the particular combination of masculine strength and feminine vulnerability that made Hepburn one of the most fascinating and beloved actresses of all time."

For more information or tickets, visit the "Tea at Five" Web site.

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