Fish in the Dark

"The fish that figures in ads for the new play and can be seen on the drop curtain at the Cort Theater is pretty great, a charming and maddening creature destined to capture your heart. O.K., if you insist: It is pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty great. The show for which this fish stands? Not so much...I have been known to dissolve into incontinent giggles while watching episodes of “Curb” or of “Seinfeld.” During “Fish,” I laughed fully exactly once." Full Review

"Brace yourself for misunderstandings, selfish scheming and the explosion of decade-long grudges caused by petty slights. There’s also a hefty dose of wink-wink titillation (boobs!), and a sexual situation involving Larry’s mother and a much younger hunk. If only all of this were funnier...This fish isn’t so much in the dark as it is out of water." Full Review

"The people have spoken. This outlandish comedy penned by Larry David opened with a stratospheric advance of $13.5 million. Which renders moot whatever the critics might have to say about the show...Instead of sticking to a conventionally constructed plot, this “Fish” swims from one comic situation to another — which may not make it much of a play. But there are plenty of laughs in the play’s minor comic questions." Full Review

"The story is all over the place, and the second act doesn't continue the narrative as much as tell an entirely new one. And it would probably benefit from a shorter run time than its current two hours of amusing peaks and dry valleys. For a Seinfeld and Curb diehard, though, it's impossible to discount the amount of joy that comes from watching David's antics in the flesh. In that respect, Fish in the Dark is more than pretty good, it's pretty great." Full Review

"Anna D. Shapiro stages the hybrid sitcom-farce for maximum shine, and the mix of seasoned actors with David’s breezy script (about three TV episodes’ worth of plot windup) results in a night of huge, rolling laughs." Full Review

"The director, Anna D. Shapiro, moves bodies around the stage with little visible evidence that she’s concerned about their inner lives, and rarely steps outside the Broadway machinery to reënvision the dreck she’s stuck with. And still I can’t help wondering how she was able to reconcile herself to this script, with its cynical manipulation of sentimentality and humor." Full Review

"It’s well built, occasionally thoughtful, and consistently very funny if not transcendently so. In short: You’ll laugh, you’ll cry — well, you’ll cry when the Visa bill comes...For a playwriting debut, if not a Broadway acting debut, Fish in the Dark is amazingly confident and delivers what it promises. But it’s got neither cerebral gloss nor solid emotional underpinnings. It’s going for something else, and almost gets there. Which is a complement, truly. We criticize because we care." Full Review

"At its best, both the episodes and the Broadway play are not just armored vehicles shooting one-liners. They involve a knowing exploration of the inappropriate (but secretly common) reactions to a death in the family...But this might imply more substance than actually exists. “Fish in the Dark” is the lightest of entertainments, so much so that it’s almost shocking how much deep talent, on stage and behind the scenes, is associated with this show." Full Review

" A thimbleweight comedy about two bickering brothers brought together by the death of their father, it consists of several thousand jokes, most of which involve somebody saying something inappropriate. Imagine a Neil Simon play without a plot—or three bottom-drawer episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” hastily knocked together into a two-hour script—and you’ll get the idea." Full Review

"The uninitiated may sniff, but Larry lovers will plotz...No Neil Simon character ever exclaimed, "You f***ed my mother?!" But in countless other ways, Larry David's first venture into Broadway playwriting is a spirited throwback to that once hugely popular gagmeister's patented specialty: classic boulevard comedy molded to fit the American Jewish family. It's also pure sitcom, energized by David's customary serrated edges and willfully abrasive characters...exactly what the fans are craving." Full Review

"Hardly a great work of dramatic literature, “Fish in the Dark” hearkens back to the silly and insubstantial Broadway comedies of the 1960s, full of one-dimensional characters and nonsensical farce." Full Review

"Chronically amusing, if creakily old-school...David wrote and stars in the funny full-length sketch that aims for, but just misses, the lofty territory of great 1960s Broadway comedies. He has a huge following from “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — and when you add in everyone’s deep craving for light entertainment, the show is a bona fide must-see...You don’t need to be a fan of David’s hit TV series to appreciate zingers." Full Review

"Very funny. Occasionally very, very funny. Four-stars funny. If that’s all you need to know about Larry David’s Fish In The Dark, his debut as a Broadway twofer—playwright and actor—then read no more...A half-hour seems just the right amount of time you want to spend with these folks on any given evening. Of course, this is the age of binge-watching, so two hours of shtick can be satisfying. Or give you heartburn." Full Review

Larry David's first foray into Broadway comedy is like watching a weird — but undeniably entertaining and, God help us all, even potentially transformative — fusion of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Borscht Belt comedy of the old school, long-form improv of the Chicago school, and the kind of black situational farce associated with Joe Orton or other radicals with dark, anarchic souls and a taste for shows commanding premium prices. Well, that, and "Old Jews Telling Jokes." A plethora thereof." Full Review

"I can't say that seeing Fish in the Dark left me with a belly ache from laughing. Nor did it make me less apt to curb my enthusiasm for Larry David's brand of misanthropic humor. Mostly it left me hoping that the producers will spend some of the money they're raking in to back some fledgling playwrights who aren't already multi-millionaires." Full Review

"Still, don't expect a hip, retro, wry spin on the old-time formula. This is a comedy which, despite the occasional amusing twist, could have been written by someone who hasn't seen a play since the early days of Neil Simon...Everyone around me seemed to be having a wonderful time. Wish I were there." Full Review

"It’s to be expected that Larry David’s new play is laugh-out-loud funny. The big surprise, though, is just how sturdy and conventional his stage comedy is in an old-fashioned Broadway kind of way. David may have written cutting-edge TV, but “Fish in the Dark,” is anything but cutting-edge theater. Maybe “vintage” is a better word than “old fashioned” to describe “Fish,” which harks back to the pleasures of Broadway’s golden age." Full Review

"David's new stage comedy is like his 30-minute HBO show, only stretched out over two hours so that what is usually a cringe-worthy appetizer on TV has grown into a tedious and self-indulgent main course onstage. What opened Thursday at the Cort Theatre will surely delight fans of David, the "Seinfeld" and "Curb" master of observational humor, who stars and wrote "Fish in the Dark." But it may leave others frustrated that a great cast, set and director were wasted." Full Review

"The petty, obsessive, socially challenged figure we see onstage is indistinguishable from David's alter ego on his brilliantly funny HBO series...So the play is a kind of transfer without transformation. The character is, however, such a sturdy comic figure, and David's take on him – as both writer and performer – so authoritative that, despite the show's recycling, it's often extremely funny." Full Review

"The absurd and erratic "Fish in the Dark,” is a pret-tay, pret-tay good time for some, but too much of nothing for others. What plays well on the small screen occasionally generates honest laughs on stage, though “Fish” becomes ponderous and ultimately feels like a sitcom episode tenuously stretched over two-plus hours." Full Review

"I can safely report that “Fish In The Dark”, in which David is the writer and star, is an expanded version of the TV comedy. While it is about as funny of a show as you’re likely to see on Broadway, it doesn’t quite measure up to the impossibly high standard of the TV series...Over two hours, this “Fish” can feel a bit thin. However, minor quibbles aside, there will be no curbing audience enthusiasm here. Larry David knows from comedy!" Full Review

"He’s the great neurotic of all time as he gesticulates in his mime-like persona that makes the audience roar with laughter. But keep in mind, that although this is a tough ticket to score (mostly sold out) you have to be a big time Larry David fan or this won’t work for you." Full Review

"He is a first time playwright, and that means the best we can say about the work is that he gives new meaning to the word “promising.” There’s no question his play is full of laughs, but it is peopled by over a dozen completely one dimensional characters who remain where they began until minutes before the final curtain." Full Review

"I kept wishing that the show’s director, Anna D Shapiro, who stages with her usual expert hand, had been able to coax him into another rewrite. But most of the audience won’t care that the pace flags in the second act. For them, it will be enough to see their King Kvetch in the flesh, uttering trademark phrases such as “pretty, pretty, pretty . . . ” And I must admit: I had a pretty, pretty, pretty good time." Full Review

"What, you were expecting Chekhov? Surely, even Larry David's most ardent fans weren't hoping to have their lives changed by Fish In the Dark...But the jokes do keep coming, and usually stick. If its humor can be predictably caustic, Fish's tone is pleasingly light and flaky." Full Review