See it if You want an entertaining night of watching a light hearted comedy with great acting and a "surprise" visitor!
Don't see it if You do not enjoy a light hearted comedy
See it if You're a fan of Allison Janney; she shines here. Or if you like social commentary.
Don't see it if You need up to the minute content. In the age of Google, almost nothing in this plot would work. You have to treat it as a period piece.
See it if the most receptive audience is middle class and well educated who wouldn't be lost in the culture sections of the The New Yorker
Don't see it if you are offended by nudity, or dont like smart, borderline pretentious dialogue Read more
See it if You want to see an actress soar with a part. Well paced and the play comes through. Really smart play.
Don't see it if You're unforgiving about directors who like you to notice their directorial hand. The younger actors miss the pain behind the lines.
See it if You want great acting and a story that holds your attention: you won't be bored. You enjoy satire.
Don't see it if You want a more contemporary play: despite this being a "newer" revival, 1990 is less relevant than you think(scary!).
See it if You are ready to be entertained and want to see a new take on a play or movie you have seen before.
Don't see it if You are offended by male nudity.
See it if you like great acting of a terrific script. It still works all these years later and the cast is great. Janney is perfect as are the others.
Don't see it if you are offended by nudity onstage. There is a fairly lengthy, but quite funny, scene of male nudity. Otherwise, see it. It is nicely done.
See it if you like great acting, enjoy funny yet intriguing plays, you like relevant topics
Don't see it if you offended by nudity, you can't follow talky plays easily, you are looking for a fluff play Read more
“Guare’s social exercise remains witty and wise, yes, but it has added resonance as a glimpse at the recent but clearly distant past. What’s more, the three central performances are equal to what we had in 1990, as unexpected as that may be…Janney is a legit actress with a capital A…Time and again, she elicits audience roars with one-word lines...Janney seizes the stage, and the play, and controls it…The same can be said for Corey Hawkins as Paul...A superlative production."
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"It isn’t often these days that you see a straight play with 18 actors on Broadway, so I salute the producers for bringing us this expensive revival...My biggest complaint about the play is the episode in which 'Paul' cons two young would-be actors from Utah with tragic results. It is an abrupt shift from the satire of the rest of the play. I found director Trip Cullman’s approach to the play generally too broad."
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“Guare’s merciless observations of our media-driven, shallow society still hold…Trip Cullman’s sharp revival veers close to the edge of slickness in its satiric broad strokes, but never takes the fatal leap…Allison Janney slowly peals back Ouisa’s shell of sophistication to expose the vulnerable, confused woman beneath…A uniformly vibrant and large company…A still-relevant and entertaining play.”
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"Playwright John Guare’s 27-year-old piece holds just as much bite as it did when it emerged. Sharp satire is enhanced by on-target detail and wry syntax...Allison Janney is splendid, her appreciable comedic talents well showcased...John Benjamin Hickey does a yeoman like job but is miscast...Director Trip Cullman offers an interpretation with black humored snap and imagination. Staging is minimal and sharp-edged. When emotion shows itself, it’s all the more effective."
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"A stylish but tame revival...The conceit is less than wholly convincing...The Kittredges in director Cullman’s droll, slick production don’t need much convincing to take in a stranger, who seems perfectly nice, if not altogether captivating. When it becomes clear that Paul duped them, they set out to discover how, and why, he did it...Why he did it is still what makes Guare’s drama so probing and provocative."
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“The 90-minute spree of imagination and acute psychological observation feels even more timely right now…The production, directed with compassion and merciless hilarity by Cullman, has a wonderful, luxuriously large cast, with some actors dropping in for just a few perfectly pitched scenes…The writing is giddy with the excitement of ideas…Yet, for all the interruptions and philosophical tangents, the play and production speed along with both elasticity and tight discipline.”
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"The revival, directed a bit tentatively by Cullman, doesn’t outrage and astonish as did the original. Overfamiliarity, perhaps, but also a noticeable sanding down of the original’s hard edges...Questions still resonate, but a little less forcefully than they did the first time around...It’s entertaining, it’s witty, it’s thoughtful, and it’s refreshing to see a stage full of so many actors, mostly on their game. But the you-have-to-see-this atmosphere that pervaded has largely evaporated."
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“Though dated in some aspects, the play still has a shimmering allure, thanks to its Albee-esque delight in language and its vivid portrayal of their willingness to be taken in by Paul's reflected celebrity…Janney's performance is a lesson in perfectly manicured manners. She is well partnered by John Benjamin Hickey, as the urbane Flan. But the revelation is rising actor Corey Hawkins' performance as the interloper Paul. He brings an innocence to the character that makes his lie feel plausible.”
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