"CRITIC’S PICK...So begins “Skeleton Crew,” a play by Dominique Morisseau that in considering the ways we must sometimes break rules, breaks none itself. It’s so adroitly built and written — and, in the Manhattan Theater Club production that opened on Wednesday, so beautifully staged and acted — that you hardly have time to decide, until its brisk two hours have passed, whether it’s a comedy or a tragedy. Even then, as in life, you may not know for sure."
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"What Morisseau skillfully does with Skeleton Crew is create a portrait of the lower working class that isn’t bleak, hopeless, or condescending. The characters in Skeleton Crew are in a dire, unfair situation, but that situation does not define them. These are not, in the unfortunate words of New York Mayor Eric Adams, “low skill workers.” When Shanita (a warm, affable Adams) talks about why she takes pride in her job — saying, “I’m building something that you can see come to life at the end. Got a motor in it and it’s gonna take somebody somewhere” — it is moving and commands your respect. That is perhaps why Skeleton Crew hits more potently now than it did in 2016 for me. When society shut down in 2020, we all saw who the true essential workers are. They are not the CEOs or people who worked in glass high-rises. They are the people stocking grocery store shelves, delivering packages, making cars. And they are disproportionately people of color."
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"Rashad can’t resist being charming; she twinkles a bit, like the star she is. But if some of the grit has been lost in Skeleton Crew’s refurbished Broadway form,which also includes flashy video effects, Morisseau’s play remains firmly based in the lives and evocative language of its characters, whom Santiago-Hudson treats with the respect they deserve. They’re flawed but decent people, driven by forces that may or may not be beyond their control."
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"As a storytelling engine, Skeleton Crew glides along, with complications slotting neatly into revelations and a worker’s poetry lubricating the action. “I know everything about this place,” says Faye. “The walls talk to me. The dust on the floors write me messages.” Morisseau is the modern-day bard of Detroit — her other work includes Detroit ’67 and Paradise Blue — and those two plays treat some aspect of the city’s past specifically through its music. It takes a moment to realize she has written in the same key here, but instead of imagining Motown record parties or jazz-age trumpeters, she envisions a score of metal-stamping, piston-pumping, and whistle-blowing. During transitions, Santiago-Hudson has dancer Adesola Osakalumi pop and lock, playing a lyrical impression of the factory itself, his choreographic precision echoing the way a hydraulic press slams into position. There’s perhaps too little of that kind of music in the scenes, but it’s a welcome element between them.'
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"Directed with vitality by Ruben Santiago-Hudson – his second victory this Broadway season following the fall’s Lackawanna Blues – and performed by an ensemble cast that matches a powerful Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew is a play that feels even more pertinent now than it did when it landed in a stellar Off Broadway production back in 2016. The play was terrific then. It’s essential now."
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"The playwright Dominique Morisseau knows what she is doing. That’s clear not only because she says it so convincingly in her Playbill note for Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of “Skeleton Crew,” but because she writes this moving drama with pristine delicacy and develops its characters with rigorous detail and tact. Under the masterful direction of Ruben Santiago-Hudson, “Skeleton Crew” presents a vibrant cast, poetic dialogue and profoundly layered storytelling that move the audience to audibly engage."
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"In between the superbly-acted scenes, which all take place inside a grim-looking breakroom, hip-hop music plays and a dancer (Adesola Osakalumi) performs mechanized movements intended to represent the factory’s assembly line. “Skeleton Crew” could have easily ended on a downbeat note. After all, no one is coming to save the factory, and the characters face an uncertain future. But the compassion they share for one another, the sacrifices they make for each other, and the unexpected pride they take in their work, turn “Skeleton Crew” into a most unlikely feel-good – or rather feel-hopeful – drama."
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"Along with Morisseau's spot-on dialogue, the creative team captures the workers' reality in the break room with a meticulously detailed set designed by Michael Carnahan, complete with Obama-Biden sticker on the fridge. Emilio Sosa's costumes are working-class casual complemented by hard-hats worn with pride. It's that pride that Morisseau wants to pay tribute to, and in a play that might have nothing but bad awaiting its characters as the huge thumb of capitalism hovers over their heads, we're left with a little bit of hope. When you can't depend on the higher-ups to have your back, you've gotta have each other's. That's how you get through times like these."
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