The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play) reception was enthusiastic, critical reception was mixed. Frank Rich in "New York Times" reported dull passages piling up as "dead weight", while John Simon in the "New York Magazine" felt that the work was a "middlebrow enterprise" doing "scant justice" to the novel. In contrast Mel Gussow, again in "The New York Times", noted that ""Nicholas Nickleby" remains true to Dickens – many of the lines are taken directly from the novel, dialogue as well as narration – and to first principles of theater" when describing the RSC's recast production in 1986. Playwright and reviewer Thomas Hischak, writing in retrospect
Nicholas Nickleby (1912 film) love. Madeline's invalid father, however, asks Madeline to marry the elderly miser Arthur Glide, which she sadly agrees to. Glide tells Ralph of his success, Nicholas learns via Newman Noggs that Madeline will be forced into the loveless marriage. Nicholas bursts into the wedding ceremony to disrupt the proceedings, and Madeline's father dies while protesting his intrusion. Madeline faints, and is carried off by Nicholas. He returns her to Miss LaCreevy's where she revives. A title card then reveals that some months later, quoting Dickens, "never was such a dinner-since the world began" The Cheerybles are showing toasting Madeline and