Fish in the Dark NYC Reviews and Tickets

"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"Fish in the Dark is most definitely David’s show and this latest half-twist of his persona proves an entertaining comedy machine...If the result is only pretty good, Curb fans should nevertheless look forward to it with, well, enthusiasm."
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"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."
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" 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."
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"A dead 'Fish'...Larry David, the alleged comic, actor and writer is on record grousing about how much he hates the theater, and with a new Broadway horror called Fish in the Dark, he proves it. This senile playwriting debut, a poor and embarrassing excuse for the kind of Jewish humor that went out of fashion with Gertrude Berg, arrives at the Cort bursting at the moldy seams with embalming fluid."
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"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."
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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."
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"There are laughs, to be sure, in this comedy that begins with a phone call in the dead of night and proceeds to find humor in hospital vigils, confusing last wishes and grief transmuted into lust and greed. But stretched out over the length of about three and a half episodes of "Curb," the show huffs and puffs its way to the finish line like a geriatric marathoner wheeling an oxygen tank behind him."
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""Fish in the Dark," Larry David's first Broadway play, is one of the hottest tickets in New York, playing to sold-out houses since previews began in February...Reviews have been mixed, but as some critics have noted, does that matter?"
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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!"
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"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."
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"David offers an entertaining, pretty, pretty, pretty nice Broadway debut. (and if you don’t get that three-part “pretty” reference, you might want to spend your $155 on a deeper show)."
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"Disappointing...Others may wonder whether so scattershot a piece of writing would have got this far without its physically rangy, bespectacled star attached...For every line that sticks, numerous others don’t, and the director Anna D Shapiro here seems comparatively adrift."
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"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."
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"It is funny and sometimes silly. But actually if one digs beneath the gags and David’s outlandish interpretation—wide eyes and widely spread arms, as if bewildered by the goings-on—there are some deep and even poignant issues dealt with."
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"“Fish” is getting fried. It’s not a play. One reviewer called this a celebrity appearance. True enough...I am a devout “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fan. The show is pure genius. But “Fish” is coarse. It’s bathroom humor, it’s stupid. I think the flashes of greatness in it, if boiled down, would fill a half hour."
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"Fish in the Dark is a commercial success, and from audience reaction at the performance I attended, they seemed pretty much pleased, except maybe the two people, who sat on the aisle directly in front of us. They left at intermission giving us a better view of Mr. David's rather awkward performance. I wished I could have left with them. Fish in the Dark starring Larry David is so bad that the irony of the situation becomes funny. It's so bad, it's funny!"
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"Director Anna D. Shapiro expertly draws out the antic aspects of the piece, and the supporting cast is well chosen. But David's writing style is not particularly well-suited to the stage, and the comedy lacks the dramatic propulsion and tight plotting that the best episodes of the HBO series had. "Fish in the Dark" has its winning moments. But the play still feels less like a fully realized, fresh, satisfying stage work than an opportunity for fans to watch a celebrity they adore in a familiar role."
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"TV's favorite curmudgeon delivers a Broadway hit, but a mediocre play...David’s first Broadway play runs barely two hours, but it seems padded out, overpopulated, and funny only in spurts. It’s great to see David, the star and creator of the popular HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, taking a crack at Broadway. But for all the audience’s indulgent laughter and the obligatory standing ovation at the end, one can’t help but detect a certain, well, lack of enthusiasm."
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"While the set pieces are concocted with genius, and some, like a dilemma about whether or not to tip a doctor, turn toe-curling into an art form, they don’t come sublimely full circle in the way that David’s plots are known and praised for. The show is very linear, and some of the funniest and cleverest scenes are cut off before they can really blossom. By the admittedly exceptional comic standards David has laid down, this ranks alongside an average episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm."
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"Every phrase and mannerism recalls a scene from a classic Larry scenario. Those constant, involuntary comparisons expose Fish’s shortcomings, but the positive associations make the play impossible to tune out. I chuckled much more often than I genuinely laughed, but my mind never wandered."
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"If Fish in the Dark had been penned by a first-time “civilian” playwright – David Larry, say – it would have been fortunate to receive a reading...It should be said that I was in the minority in finding the most arresting corpse in this funeral comedy to be the play itself. The audience had a blast. How ironic that Larry David, whose persona is dependent upon the sense that life is out to get him, is benefiting from Broadway audiences giving him such an easy ride."
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"The bottom line – it’s goddamned funny. Simple premise: neurotic Jewish family becomes even more unhinged when the patriarch dies – hilarity ensues. Now, whether or not you get the Jewish humor, it’s a universal theme. And this is one storyline where the schtick works...Fish In The Dark is just plain fun."
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"When he finally recited his signature line — “prettay, prettay good” — the Cort Theatre went nuts. In other words, the bar for his fans’ appreciation is prettay, prettay low. Fortunately, the play, which opens tonight, is a worthy outlet for both their cash and their adoration, rewarding audiences with two hours that at their best combine the winning aspects of his signature sitcoms."
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"Mainly, though, this is about the laughs and we are certainly not short-changed in that department. Like Neil Simon with added bite, the quality and quantity of the jokes is simply astounding. While it might not come together at the end quite as beautifully as the very best Curb and Seinfeld episodes, this is still a joy from start to finish."
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"This isn't Hamlet here, but it feels like about a solid B+ episode of Curb; an exciting, hilarious spectacle that works much more than it doesn’t. It probably won’t be the best show that you see on Broadway this year, but it’s a very pleasant experience and one that should scratch that Curb itch of yours."
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"Not even Mr. David can write a sustained two-hour comedy without it skidding off track and becoming a long-winded, sitcom episode with a lot of needless characters used as fillers to fill the allotted time for a Broadway show...The end product is an unsatisfying half-baked comedy. Not even such a superior director as Anna D. Shapiro can override Mr. David or his clichéd script."
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