Airline Highway NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (32)
See it if you try to see all of Steppenwolf's shows, or are a fan of Julie White.
Don't see it if you're not in the mood for a slow, ponderous night in the theater.
See it if You like underdogs, outcasts and dysfunctional families watch this
Don't see it if You don't like eccentric types or are looking for something with a cut & dry moral
See it if you enjoy watching a group of misfit characters relate with one another.
Don't see it if you don't like straight plays.
See it if you enjoy a story focused on a non-traditional community
Don't see it if you want a classic
See it if you like non-traditional plays.
Don't see it if don't like to see the life of people on the fringes of society.
See it if You like modern stories of outsiders banding together or you love Julie White.
Don't see it if You don't like character driven works. It didn't quite manage to grab me like I had hoped.
See it if you want to see a rag tag group of addict/user transients turn into a family who make their home at a worn down, cheap motel
Don't see it if you want to see any kind of social reality with this uneven script; no character development; hints of underage sex with a minor
See it if you have an MTC subscription.
Don't see it if you prefer plots to soliloquies. Too ambitious.
Critic Reviews (45)
"D'Amour has done some good work since Chicago...'Airline Highway' does not go for the jugular nor rage with the anger that some in New Orleans legitimately feel...it feels very much like the work of a hometown writer, whose first impulse is affection and surely not cold-eyed analysis. This still is a play that breathes the New Orleans air and, to his credit, Mantello offers a sophisticated reading of those rhythms, jagged and unpredictable, somnolent and then crackling with energy."
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"Hungry for clichés? 'Airline Highway' is chock full of them...overstuffed and unfocused...The play doesn’t know what to do with itself...There’s one fabulous, unexpected scene at the end — Miss Ruby’s address to her troops. Gorgeously lit and hauntingly poetic, it makes you angry for the show’s missed opportunities."
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"D’Amour’s writing can be incredibly on-the-nose. Her affection and lack of judgment for the seedy characters within is truly felt. Their aimlessness might translate literally to some audiences while the refreshing lack of melodrama might entice others...Director Joe Mantello has wisely retained most of his first-rate Steppenwolf cast. They make 'Airline Highway' more than worth a one-night stay."
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"'Airline Highway' presents a lively, detailed portrait of a lower class community in the South. But nice as it is to have a wide assortment of colorful characters, the focus too often drifts away from the central players of the plot. It ends with many of the conflicts unresolved."
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"If you're familiar with the large ensemble plays of Lanford Wilson, you'll find comparisons to 'Airline Highway.' There are also echoes of Tennessee Williams. If 'Airline Highway' doesn't rise to the level of those lauded works, MTC is giving this play a splendid production...'Airline Highway' takes its place among a host of existential works. Extremely thoughtful and poetic, it provides perspective but little new insight on a world that one character describes as 'no B.S., no pretending, no exit.'"
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"Its shifting the lens down the social and class scale results in a fascinating collage of personalities on the brink...D'Amour's writing otherwise strains against its own obviousness...Once you've heard a little, you'll want to learn more, but you won't get to know pretty much anyone sufficiently well enough."
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"Playwright Lisa D’Amour’s script is a slow road to nowhere...Veteran director Joe Mantello does his best to breathe life into the production, skillfully staging the actors across Pask’s fine multi-level set, and firing up a rousing party scene at the start of act two. But in a landscape made infamous by Tennessee Williams, this tale is oddly lacking in poetry.”
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"'Airline Highway' is above all a series of interrelated character portraits, although the playwright tries to put a thin narrative frame around those portraits...She writes about characters who others call losers – people who deserve to be represented on stage."
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