"It’s not the kind of work that benefits much from postgame analysis, which reveals flaws in construction and logic. But in performance, now no less than in 2002...it is mostly delightful and provocative. Perhaps especially for gay men, it is also a useful corrective to the feeling of banishment from a necessary sport...But as Lemming and Marzac form a bond — not romantic but not untender, either — the ideas that Greenberg is juggling, about integration on the ball field and integration of the psyche, fully pay off."
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"Nearly 20 years after its Tony-winning run in 2003, Take Me Out has returned to Broadway at Second Stage’s up-close-and-personal Helen Hayes Theater. Directed by Scott Ellis, it remains provocative, intelligent and engaging. [Richard] Greenberg likes big words, big themes and messy complications."
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"3/5 stars...Unfortunately for this disjointed slow burn, the play’s X-rated factor becomes the audience’s talk point, a major distraction that causes some to miss the message or overlook it entirely...Under the uneven direction of Scott Ellis, 'Take Me Out' becomes a cluster of both remarkable and insignificant performances pieced together inside a scattered plot. The story’s dramatic turns quickly evolve into humor and fluff...What 'Take Me Out' does right is highlight how sportsmen, entrenched in a business that boasts the traditional expectations of masculinity, respond to a team member’s homosexuality."
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"Under Scott Ellis’s direction, the clownish characters go extremely silly and broad: the Spanish-speaking ballplayers in particular ask for easy (and ugly) laughs...Ferguson as Mason breathes in the smell of the grass at the stadium, and his face transforms, blissing out, starting to shine. He does a lovely job with the role, and Greenberg’s lyricism is at its strongest in his scenes, but he’s playing against a ghost runner...Luckily, there is Dirden. He appears in only two scenes, rolling into them with a low-rider gait that establishes his dominance over the others."
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"Mr. Ellis, a veteran Broadway director here at the top of his form, has in fact fielded an entirely terrific all-male cast, almost a dozen actors who, as with the best pro sports teams, work smoothly together even as they shine individually."
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"With an impeccable cast headed by Jesse Williams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Patrick J. Adams, 'Take Me Out' just might be a revelation even to those who saw the original Broadway production nearly 20 years ago...Directed by Scott Ellis with an attention to pace and nuance that locates every thought of a thoughtful play, 'Take Me Out' does nothing gratuitously, including the abundant full-frontal nudity of the locker room shower scenes."
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"'Take Me Out' now feels like a period piece, with no comment on transgender issues, queerness or any of the other political hot potatoes today. The same is true of the racial dynamic...'Take Me Out' is a very smart play, a cleverly structured piece that uses sport — and, yes, nudity — to explore salient questions well worth a couple of hours in the theater. It’s also a gentle and humanistic piece of work...The production is, for sure, broad and embracing of an exuberant kind of theatricality, occasionally at the expense of the pace of a show that has to maintain a rush of ideas. Many of the laughs that come are as intended, but a few feel gratuitous...That said, you’re watching a skilled and earnest ensemble."
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"Directed by Scott Ellis, this revival, too, is a solid hit, despite a few grounding errors...Despite some new tweaks, Greenberg’s ambitious script still has a pile-on of themes, dealing with gender, race, sexuality, celebrity and spirituality, not to mention major league sports. But the playwright and this production still manage to bring it home in the play’s ninth inning with a graceful, bittersweet denouement that leaves characters still searching, still discovering and still in play for another season."
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