Meteor Shower

“Steve Martin's old/new wonderful comedy, ‘Meteor Shower,’ is about two California couples getting together for the first time--again, and again, and again. Like ‘Groundhog Day,’ it keeps starting all over again, with ensuing variations. And in the course of its brief, 80-minute, intermission-less duration, the couples have exchanged more than just words and ideas. By the end, they seem to have exchanged their personalities as well.” Full Review

“One of the funniest, and wildest, games of social and sexual one-upsmanship...Every element in Zaks’ production is working at full throttle...Schumer exhibits flawless comic timing in this quartet of master practitioners under the assured direction of Zaks, a funny businessman nonpareil...There’s method in Martin’s madness, which is to set you off-kilter while drawing you into this brief, satisfying lunacy. Resistance is futile.” Full Review

“To no one’s surprise, Benanti sparkles, as does the play, and like the stars, comets, and meteors shooting through space above us reflecting back brilliant light, ‘Meteor Shower’ is creating a dazzling display nightly. Don’t miss the chance...Everyone wins in Martin’s play...The cast delivers hilarious line after line in this trippy new play. But in actuality, we are the true winners of this night, happily taking in each deliciously wicked moment and playful asides.” Full Review

“Under the guidance of Zaks, this four-person laff-riot eschews sentiment for undiluted surrealist vaudeville...The quartet of comic experts are just sensational together, and Zaks' fast and funny staging keeps us from unnecessarily lingering on vague philosophical points...From sound designer Patton’s opening blast of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony to the uproarious predicament presented by the play's final clinch, ‘Meteor Shower’ lights up Broadway." Full Review

“Steve Martin's quirky script is enhanced immeasurably by director Jerry Zaks's comic brilliance. He's whipped the fine cast into a laugh riot combining physical humor and expert timing that recalls the best of Martin's own sketches. And it's a visual treat…Don't expect to find any big message here; ‘Meteor Shower’ is best appreciated as a deliriously nutty 80-minute sketch featuring a starry collaboration of some of our finest comedic talents.” Full Review

"A zany absurdist comedy that keeps repeating over and over again in varying scenarios that release the different personalities living beneath the surface...They are all over the edge in this madcap comedy to the nth degree, and it’s a little confusing until you get the pattern...It’s 80 spinning minutes of roller coaster, and you can’t help being taken with the twists and turns as new characterizations emerge from these four comedic pundits who meld so perfectly together in impeccable timing." Full Review

"All three of us laughed our asses off through the whole show, and you should totally go see it so that you can laugh your ass off, too. Just don't expect to encounter an actual play at any point during the process...Sometimes a whizzing series of not-especially-connected one-liners, short bits, and sight gags that only kind of resolve at the end of a fleetingly satisfying seventy-five minutes is absolutely heavenly." Full Review

“A very funny play. Keening-like-a-howler-monkey funny. Design-a-new-cry-laughing-emoji funny. What it is not, however, is a substantial play...The night belongs to Schumer, her timing, her mugging, her deftness with some extremely ridiculous gags...Her delivery makes the play feel of this moment...Even as it hurdles towards its abrupt, if sentimental, ending, ‘Meteor Shower’ burns brightly with laughs.” Full Review

“A blithely wackadoodle new comedy...A fizz of naughty, good-natured absurdity...Schumer’s the bubbly, blinking heart of the show...Keegan-Michael Key is as brazenly entertaining...May not be groundbreaking, but comedy doesn’t have to be revelatory to work. And Martin’s particular brand of humor is loopy enough to keep us interested...You could do far worse than spend 80 minutes chuckling and groaning in the company of this game foursome of actors." Full Review

“The play provides a lot of laughter...Martin includes several funny lines as well as physical humor and visual humor...The dialogue and plot get a bit raunchy at times and might be offensive to some...At first, the comedy is a bit puzzling...Quite frankly, I don’t think most of the audience cared. They just seemed to have a good time...Perhaps the lesson is that if a ‘Rain of Fire’ attacks a marriage, a couple can withstand it together or with a lot of laughter.” Full Review

"As substantial as a soap bubble. At 75 minutes, it feels skimpy for a high-priced Broadway attraction, but that one hour and 15 minutes is packed with hilarity...'Meteor' takes a slight idea and stretches it as far as possible without snapping it. Jerry Zaks’ zippy direction mines extra yuks from Martin’s brief but gut-busting script...Don’t waste any brain cells trying to search for hidden meaning, messages on marriage, or satire on the Theater of the Absurd, just sit back and guffaw." Full Review

“I cannot imagine anyone here thinks the tollway really can hold this A-list vehicle barreling down the mountain...It is being steered in so many directions at once. Which is not to say it does not achieve something worthwhile: an updating of absurdism for Gen Xers…I don’t think I’ve ever seen farce collide so messily with satire, while at the same time lurching honorably if haplessly for a moment in which the world has changed so drastically that no one knows her place. Interesting. And quick.” Full Review

"Thanks to razor-sharp direction from Zaks, and the comedic mastery of its four stars, the leap is worth a ton of laughs. But the play’s crash landing is more head-scratching than illuminating...Martin delivers a new comedy that’s comfortably old-fashioned. Even his pat twist on the form feels distinctly nostalgic...Whether Martin successfully achieves anything new-fangled here hardly seems the point. When a cast like this assembles on stage, the jokes write themselves." Full Review

“A charming example of the eighty-minute soufflés now offered up as ‘full length plays’...Martin’s method is to avoid any semblance of the linear in structuring his play, and there are breaks in the timeline which expose various ways in which some key scenes are played out...I enjoyed much of ‘Meteor’; but it’s a clever trifle and easily dismissible...A shrunken version of ‘Virginia Woolf’...More an extended sketch than a full-length play...I’d call ‘Meteor Shower’ an appealing almost.” Full Review

“Martin is clearly a comic genius, but following this absurdist take on marital chaos requires some effort...With a less-talented cast, this would be a hot mess not worth the effort...What Martin is trying to get across is a bit of a mystery, though the sense is that it’s all about a couple coming to terms with their long-repressed desires. But really, best to leave the psychological musings alone. You’ll have a great time if you just go for the laughs.” Full Review

“Perfectly cast and great fun, but it's not much of a play. The nonlinear plot makes little sense, the characters aren't compelling - except in their quirks, which are fascinating...'Meteor Shower' is like a really good Saturday Night Live skit - one that meanders on longer than it should (even at 80 minutes) but, at least, it keeps you laughing...Without this star-studded array of talent this show would languish. The cast makes ‘Meteor Shower’ work...at least well enough for a few laughs.” Full Review

“Probably wouldn't be on Broadway without all the celebrities involved...Not only does it have a famous author, but it features a cast of four big names...Never pretends to be brilliant (and it's not), but it will make you laugh...It's like a Will Eno play, but funny. A lot of that has to do with the performances. Martin's humor is mildly amusing on the page, but hilarious onstage...An undercooked play, much of which feels like a live staging of Martin's ‘funny ideas’ notebook.” Full Review

“Martin’s writing veers in and out of realism—scenes sometimes stop, restart and go in different directions—which lets the playwright throw in some gutsy twists...The show zigzags across lanes with relentless speed with help from an expert cast...Despite a somewhat strained attempt to explain itself at the end, ‘Meteor Shower’ never quite coalesces into a convincing whole. Its entertaining moments blaze, then disappear into an empty sky.” Full Review

“Mr. Martin is peerless at crafting tiny wit bombs...But unless you’re Oscar Wilde, tiny wit bombs do not make a satisfying play…It would be more satisfying if Mr. Martin had found a way to maintain character integrity while developing his bigger ideas and also remaining funny...Mr. Zaks tries, turning out a production so bright and chipper you can hardly stop to worry about its contents. In the process, though, he sets the wrong tone — a sitcom tone, with everything but a laugh track.” Full Review

“Schumer is one of four terrific performers who juice the entertainment of this high-sheen production...But neither director nor cast can disguise the lack of substance in the padded sketch material...More like improv-comedy fodder than grist for a full-length play...There are plenty of laughs here — just no credible basis...that go beyond loopy absurdist parody...The production's chief reward is its deluxe cast, whose infectious energy helps fortify the flimsy material.” Full Review

"Mr. Martin isn’t a bad playwright, but he isn’t a good one, either, and 'Meteor Shower,' a pseudo-surrealistic four-hander...is no more than very mildly amusing...Zaks, who’s been directing on Broadway for three decades, could have staged this one in his sleep, but he didn’t: He makes sure that every gag detonates on the nose, thus making the script seem somewhat sharper than it is." Full Review

“Schumer’s deft and daffy performance is a bright spot in ‘Meteor Shower…The play is heavy with absurdity and modestly laced with laughs. But it has the lightweight feel of an extended, if not overextended, skit…The cast of Broadway rookies, including Schumer and Key, who aces his blowhard Alpha-male role, and stage vets click…Director Jerry Zaks keeps the show moving lickety-split. Even so, by the time “Meteor Shower” runs its course, the laughs have pretty much dried up.” Full Review

“An experimental comedy that sometimes feels like an extended sketch show in which the same scenes are replayed again and again with different outcomes...The result is an occasionally brittle but seldom biting comedy, a not exactly subtle piece of writing about domestic relationships and the games people play with each other, given a cosmic edge by a spectacular meteor shower...The show feels paper-thin, but director Zaks keeps things bright and fast.” Full Review

“A scattershot – and even scatterbrained – comedy of bad manners...The play’s shaky tonal shifts, pileup of non sequiturs and lurches from naturalism to absurdity render it strangely weightless...The actors, to their great credit, keep the mostly aimless proceedings at least watchable...Feels like a jumble of scenes, jokes and gags that haven’t been properly assembled into a cogent play. The laughs erupt, but there’s little aftereffect, as with meteors streaking across a blank sky.” Full Review

“Schumer’s choice delivery of Martin’s one-liners prop up this endearingly gawky comedy about mirror-image married couples...Martin has a flair for surreal comedy — a style that suits ‘Meteor Shower’...Clever lines and canny body language only get you so far, and there comes a point when this lightweight comedy just gives up and implodes on itself from lack of thought and direction...‘Meteor Shower’ could use a few more scenes to get its head together.” Full Review