The Sound Inside (Broadway)

See it if 2-handers as a rule benefit from the chemistry between the 2 actors. In this case 1 was a Bdwy debut & the other was a veteran of the B-way!

Don't see it if Well, I must have been too far back or more tired that I thought, cause Mary-Louise Parker's voice hypnotized me & off I went to La-La Land?

Also Maybe drink some coffee or soda w/ caffeine before the show. Also try to get a seat closer to the stage so you will be riveted to the proceedings. There's nothing worse than paying Broadway prices and sleeping through a show :(... Read more Read less

See it if If they simply want to see excellent acting.

Don't see it if If one wants to see an intelligent script with fleshed out characters and something interesting to say.

See it if you aren’t put off by relentlessly dark themes.

Don't see it if an acted-out audio-book presentation (lots of addressing the audience) is not your taste.

Also Talented but depressed, socially-isolated, socially-inappropriate, friendless, awkward, Raskolnikov-loving, suicidal-author-admiring Freshman writer seeks self-isolating, friendless, terminally sick but healthy-looking middle-aged female has-been writer/prof for inspiration & highfalutin palaver larded with metaphors, similes, & literary references/allusions.

I'm not sure what sounds (silence? emptiness? demons?) are inside nor what inside (mind? body? classroom?) are meant by the title.
I'm also not sure I’d want to spend more time with these two, but in some ways the play seems too short for its ambitions. I wondered if Christopher is the medicine that cures Bella-if, symbolically speaking, he dies so that she can live. But it doesn't really matter.

There's some suspense during the course of the play but in the end it's predictable.

Yale Prof Baird, wordsmith & logophile, should know that disinterested does not mean uninterested.... Read more Read less

See it if you like two-handers that explore unlikely friendships and personal pain.

Don't see it if you are looking for a story that really nails the narrative from start to finish.

See it if you don't mind seeing a fairly decent play, performed without focus as to what the play is about.

Don't see it if you expect a revelation of some sort.

See it if You’re a Rapp fan. This was my first of his and I guess I’m not.

Don't see it if You prefer plot over character.

Also The number of people who use this forum to pat themselves on the back is nauseating. It’s possible to be an avid playgoer, theater lover, non-musical appreciator, careful listener, intelligent person etc. and still not like a play. But not according to half of these scores. Sometimes “you’re just dumb and don’t get it and really need spectacle and musicals” is not the only answer. That might make people feel better about their own elitism, but it’s not useful feedback.... Read more Read less

See it if you are attracted to plays about the writing process & you mainly attend theatre for the acting, which is excellent.

Don't see it if you prefer seeing what is happening to being told what is.

Also So-so play, very good production. Cromer, Parker and Hochman clearly believe in it.... Read more Read less

See it if ...you like Mary-Louise Parker, Adam Rapp, and plays about books, writers, academia and health crises.

Don't see it if ...the reviews led you to believe this is an insightful play about well-developed characters.

Also Seemingly inspired by Crime and Punishment, it's odd that this flat, cerebral play has none of the drama and passion of Doestotevsky's work. Reading Crime and Punishment is like having a fever dream; watching this play put me to sleep.

The Sound skims over the surface of its characters' lives. And the ending is contrived and unbelievable.... Read more Read less

See it if you like great acting and monologues.

Don't see it if you like a play with a point to it.

Also The whole show feels very pretentious and honestly goes no where in the end.... Read more Read less

See it if You like a story within a story within a story. You like to be upset and ruin your mood.

Don't see it if You want a straight forward play. This play changes multiple times in a short amount of time.

See it if you love mary louise parker. she is great. the story didn't grab me though.

Don't see it if you don't like her.

See it if David Cromer is an excellent director. His work here is sublime, per usual. The lighting is also gorgeous. The play holds your attention.

Don't see it if I don't know why this needed to be a play. Should have been a podcast or novel. The characters were stereotypes, not real people.

Also I was frustrated with how Rapp wrote Parker's character. This woman who had no friends, no purpose, no anything and is just kind of pathetically sad... I can't help but be painfully aware of the male perspective this woman is embodying. The play was fine to watch. It's 'clever', but keenly aware of how clever it is. Again, why this needed to be a theatrical experience, I don't know. Thank God for Cromer, otherwise I would say skip this one. The performances are fine but nothing groundbreaking. Parker's doing Parker, which she's good at, but gets boring after a while.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see Mary Louis Parker doing a terrific almost one woman show. Interested in ingenious sets capturing location and mood.

Don't see it if Literary references not your forte. Don't want a somber, sad and somewhat confusing story line.

Also Playbill noted that it was a thriller. The play didn't fit that description to me. Although I appreciated the acting of both performers in this intense play, I couldn't recommend it.... Read more Read less

See it if want an intense and unfulfilled experience.

Don't see it if you expect more from a script.

See it if very beautiful read

Don't see it if hard to stay focused in first part

See it if If you are a fan of Mary- Louise Parker. Really like to examine and figure out the point and meaning of things that have no answer.

Don't see it if Really don't understand the point of the play. Trying to hard but not succeeding in some deep meaning, yet felt superficial.

See it if Excellent acting. How much do you like melodrama?

Don't see it if Plot not as believable as it could be.

See it if You like intense, depressive, rambling, raw drama though well acted. Story line seems to go no where but downward.

Don't see it if You like cheerful musicals and don’t have to scratch your head at the finale questioning what you just experienced. Depression, death, and

Also terminal illness ain’t no fun. Grin and bare it if you wish just to see Mary Louise Parker do what she does best.... Read more Read less

See it if you are a fan of literary references throughout; and enjoy having actors speak as though they are writing. A fan of MLP, she is amazing.

Don't see it if you wish to sit through monologues, tho impressive work by the actors, but feels like having a book read to you. I prefer to read alone.

See it if You want to see Parker in an interesting role; if you like 2-person plays; if you don't mind lofty speeches and discussions of death

Don't see it if You want something uplifting; if you need likeable male characters; if you want a good discussion of sexuality ("26% lesbian" just say bi)

See it if You enjoy dark, disturbing dramas with compelling characters and gripping storylines. The very slow-moving play is painfully astute.

Don't see it if You avoid heavy plays with depressing storylines.

See it if you want a show that doesn't stay surface level

Don't see it if you hate 2 person-shows

Also it's written like it has a point, but I'm not quite sure what it is or if the play knew what the point it was trying to make was... Read more Read less

See it if If you love Mary Louise Parker she does not disappoint The show itself was disappointing It was banal at most

Don't see it if You don’t like Matt Louise Parker

See it if you'd see anything Mary-Louise Parker does on stage...

Don't see it if the thought of sitting thru 90 minutes of two characters talking like writers instead of flesh and blood characters...

Also This is not a play - it's an exercise in writing. And not good writing at that. The two characters (particularly the literature prof played - in her typical sardonic, low-key style by Mary-Louise Parker) speak like they're reading from a book: "He took the sleeve of her shirt...She looked at him as if puzzled..." - so there's a very bored distance to the whole enterprise. David Cromer has some fairly interesting ways of staging this very simple two-hander - but after it's interminable 90 minutes run time - who cares? As Morales would say..."I felt nothing." Huge dissappointment.... Read more Read less

See it if you are a fan of Mary-Louise Parker, long detailed monologues, tense situations and disturbing subject matters.

Don't see it if you are offended by disturbing themes and don't enjoy long dialogues.