The Gin Game NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (207)
See it if You want to see two stage legends go head to head with two amazing performances.
Don't see it if You need a lot of action or plot. The title pretty much sums it up. But a lot happens, for a play in which nothing much happens....
See it if You want to see two theatre vets at the top of their game.
Don't see it if You aren't a fan of James Earl Jones & Cicely Tyson.
See it if An honor to be in the theater with James and Cicely.
Don't see it if You don't like dialogue only plays.
See it if You like to see older actors at the top of their form.
Don't see it if You don't like small plays without much in the way of a plot.
See it if You want to see great acting with 2 real pros. They are amazing!!
Don't see it if You don't like dramas.
See it if You want to see 2 legendary actors go toe-to-toe for 2 acts in a charming (if a bit repetitive) play.
Don't see it if You don't value acting legends.
See it if You want to see 2 legends at their best. Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones could read the dictionary and make it seem fascinating.
Don't see it if 2 character plays are not you favorite
See it if you appreciate the rare opportunity to see stories about aging and the lives of the elderly... and you like talkies with little action.
Don't see it if you want a heavy examination of end of life issues like senior poverty and solitude. This one addresses these issues with a light touch.
Critic Reviews (40)
"What a joy to be alive in a time when we can see acting titans James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson onstage together! Their mano a mano in 'The Gin Game' is among the most electrifying in recent theatre...Expertly directed by Leonard Foglia, this production is notable for its sparseness...The play never tries to preach or teach lessons, but to serve as foreshadowing, a cautionary tale even."
Read more
"The verdict? It’s wonderful. Reunited almost 50 years after sharing the Broadway stage, the two friends are back together in this poignant and funny two hander that is sure to please the most finicky theatergoer...Leonard Foglia’s direction is as first rate as his cast. I doubt that I will be the only critic to call them theatrical 'treasures', but I’m pretty sure that if I look up the word in a thesaurus, I’ll see the names James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson.”
Read more
"A moderately successful production…It’s Jones who anchors the show, especially gripping at depicting Weller as a broken man with a fierce temper who uses cards to try to numb the pain. Tyson, however, is too gentle and likable a presence for a character that’s supposed to be a cantankerous shrew...As a result, director Leonard Foglia’s production leans a little too heavily on the play’s comedic elements at the expense of its bitterness."
Read more
"Despite it being obvious that Weller and Fonsia need each other, Mr. Coburn finds obstacles to their realizing this; his plotline may be thin, his material may seem repetitive, he could trim the running time a bit, and his ending isn’t satisfactory, but the playwright’s skill at keeping the dramatic ball in the air as the characters work out their issues keeps the audience sharply focused over the course of two acts and nearly two hours. Like it or not, that alone makes a visit worthwhile."
Read more
"The two characters in 'The Gin Game' do little more than play card games and, once, (spoiler alert) dance. But they’re portrayed by James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson – with some 130 years of acting experience between them – and that’s enough to turn this Broadway revival into a stellar outing at the theater."
Read more
"If you think you're about to hear anything critical of the two old pros James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson, you better think again. They're well nigh perfect...The play is no worse for wear. Whether it was ever a flawless piece of writing is less certain...By the time the second act ends, it's become too much a repetition of the first."
Read more
"'The Gin Game' is not a very good play. It may have won the Pulitzer Prize, but it as creaky as the dilapidated assisted living facility in which it is set. Yet when actors as fine as James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson are interested, producers beg to be dealt in...Coburn’s view of human life is condescending and dyspeptic. He finds it for the most part, nasty, brutish and long. Bitter stuff. But these actors, even before the wide and irrepressible smiles they unfurl at the curtain call, make it almost sweet."
Read more
"In the case of 'The Gin Game,' did Leonard Foglia just stay out of the way and let two pros go at it? Whatever, it works. What doesn’t work (except as an excuse to watch two pros go at it) is Coburn’s play. Since Tyson’s continual winning at cards can’t sustain one act, much less two, Coburn introduces some family conflicts that are more forced than a reality TV script."
Read more