"There is so much love, dread, tenderness and brutality in 'The Humans' that it is hard to believe just 90 minutes pass through Stephen Karam’s deeply-felt family tragicomedy thriller...The move to a larger showcase feels right, enlarging the impact without losing the nuances of light and dark...On second viewing, the retelling of bad dreams now seems woven into a richer psychological carpet and the few plot threads that seemed undeveloped now feel beautifully wrought."
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"I really wanted to like Stephen Karam’s new play 'The Humans'...Sadly, the play left me with the same feelings as the first time and lost me at the same places...Director Joe Mantello gets the most out of his cast and his staging is interesting...My problem with this play is we’ve seen it before in 'Death of a Salesman,' only now we all are the salesman...We learn nothing here, we move forward not a step...I need to feel for these characters and I do not."
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"'Humans' considers the trials its highly imperfect subjects face in a highly imperfect world, and resolves, without ever approaching sentimentality, that love is nonetheless resilient…Director Joe Mantello and his superb cast ensure that the affection is as palpable as the tensions that strain at the family's bonds...'Humans' addresses these questions with great compassion but offers no easy answers, casting a spell that's unsettling but also strangely reassuring."
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“The play takes a familiar template but gives it a ghostly twist. Joe Mantello’s tight direction and the sterling, deeply-felt performances from a magnificent ensemble cast of six is intact from the Laura Pels engagement. David Zinn’s two-tiered set might have some sightline problems but that is the only quibble for this stunningly accurate snapshot of how we live now.”
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"Mr. Karam’s comedy-drama depicts the way we live now with a precision and compassion unmatched by any play I’ve seen in recent years...All the actors in 'The Humans' are at their best…Mr. Mantello orchestrates the complicated action and shifting emotional currents with admirable dexterity; this may be his finest work in an already distinguished career...Mr. Karam’s haunting, beautifully realized play is quite possibly the finest we will see all season."
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"A nuanced group portrait of life in the shadow of disaster, 'The Humans' unfurls in a single 95-minute scene, but it never feels static. As incarnated by a seamless ensemble cast that includes some of New York’s finest stage actors, expertly conducted for the Roundabout by director Joe Mantello, the Blakes are constantly moving around and adjusting their defenses."
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"Karam’s thrilling mastery of polyphonic dialogue would be enough to sustain the play as a superb slice-of-life story. The halting, eddying, and often-diverted flow of conversation makes for an uncanny naturalism…That this is all completely legible onstage is the result of one of those miracles of producing that has brought the perfect cast (and designers) together under faultlessly confident direction."
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"As the evening moves like nature from light into darkness, Karam and his incomparable director Joe Mantello take this first class ensemble and us interlopers along a journey that’s part family drama and thriller...None in the cast could be bettered...'The Humans' is tremendously exciting theater...You won’t see a better play this year."
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