Junk NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (449)
See it if you liked The Big Short, and can deal with a quick moving issues play. At 2.5 hours, it never dragged once!) Simple but glitzy staging.
Don't see it if You want a character driven drama -- this is an issues -- and economic one at that -- play.
See it if Fast paced drama, well acted, thoughtful, engaging and insightful.
Don't see it if Not interested in drama or complicated plays.
See it if you like good drama. Rarely can two and a half hours pass so quickly. Better than his Pulitzer Prize winner.
Don't see it if you'd rather not be entertained.
See it if you like fast-paced staging, very current themes and a great cast.
Don't see it if you expect complex character development, find it hard to follow basic financial jargon or like your plays short.
See it if You're interested in the junk bond crisis of the 80s
Don't see it if Don't see it if you want to see a fluffy musical
See it if If you remember Milken, and the junk bond scandal you will find this very interesting. Spoiler alert: the good guys don't win!
Don't see it if You aren't interested in history or the world of finance.
See it if Fast moving true story with name changes ( to protect the greedy wicked ) that moves quickly and makes for a pleasant evening.
Don't see it if Stocks and bonds are not of interest to you and the players disgust you
See it if you like fast paced, thought-provoking cerebral dramas based on real life events and people.
Don't see it if you don't care about the financial crisis and what caused it and don't like wordy dramas.
Critic Reviews (51)
"The lack of anyone sympathetic to root for is a problem for me. It is basically an ensemble piece with too many characters for any of them to be developed in much depth. If you are too young to remember the rise and fall of Milken, you may learn something new. Otherwise, your level of engagement may depend on your interest in finance and the economy...Hughes skillfully keeps the many strands under control."
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“’Nobody knows what any of this shit means!,’ cries one of the characters...Fortunately, Akhtar and his director Hughes makes these complex maneuverings fascinating and exciting, if not entirely understandable...Hughes’ crisp staging keeps the action moving as fast as those neon symbols on the stock market news zipper and the large cast create distinct and vibrant characters so we follow the sometimes confusing storyline.”
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"Staged like a pinball machine...You may not understand every reason, move, or hazard, but overall impression of a vigilante mechanism operating outside established methods and stretched-to-the-limit laws is as clear and compelling...Hughes does a crackerjack job with pacing; preciseness of gesture and expression. Focus is unequivocal; ambition and fear visceral."
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"From the outset, 'Junk' feels too familiar to be original...The characters do not connect with each other...What 'Junk' suffers from—a familiar story, and an even more familiar band of character types—means that you don’t root for anyone, and neither do you despise anyone enough for their misdeeds, because the moral framework of the era and setting sanctioned those misdeeds. The ruthlessness we see in 'Junk' is as by rote as the teary storyline tropes of 'This Is Us.'"
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“Complexly layered...But Akhtar makes the key elements easy to follow...’Junk’ is like a Shakespearean history play about war, complete with lies, betrayal, spies, sex, and blood, where words and actions can be twisted to mean something else...Akhtar is not exactly the first person to write about how money became a kind of religion...but he does so with a graceful style that turns clichés inside out while choosing no real heroes or villains...A strong cast...Not out-of-date in the least.”
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"Briskly directed by Hughes...By setting 'Junk' in 1985, just as financial deregulation was taking off, Akhtar reminds us that the basic debt-fuelled structure of US capitalism has barely changed...Comes across as a rebuke to Trumpite economic nationalism. Such high-mindedness serves to round out what would otherwise be a greedy pantomime villain...That dash of moral and political ambiguity also injects tension into what might have been a didactic rehash of old journalism."
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“An electrifying and riveting epic tale about the machinations of finance...It has the relevancy of this morning's newsbreak...As an adroit cast of 23 weaves seamlessly through the complicated world of big money, our eyes zero in on the charismatic Pasquale playing Robert Merken...Directed with intoxicating rapid speed by Hughes...Despite the interlaced theme, the play moves swiftly... ‘Junk’ is another of Akhtar's must-see plays."
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"Mr. Akhtar masterfully weaves together a collection of journalists, lawyers, businessmen, and traders to create a portrait of American wealth that is compelling, illuminating, and relevant all at once...we are witnessing the artistic development of one of America's greatest young playwrights."
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