Jeffrey S

See it if You want to see a great ensemble of actors with material they can go to town on.

Don't see it if You don't like speeches in which people analyze their situations at length, albeit comically.

See it if Smart, solid stand-up. Its real value is to introduce the audience to a perspective and thought processes they might not have anticipated.

Don't see it if Some of it is a little raunchy for conservative tastes.

See it if All of the actors are first rate, and there are occasional passages that give them the chance to show it.

Don't see it if The various stories line do not connect in a cumulative way.

Also There are the seeds of a good play here, but the elements are too disparate, linked by theme rather than dramatic causality. Much of the action happens because the author wants it to happen rather than much organic in the characters' immediate circumstances. This is a craft problem and is fixable.... Read more Read less

See it if A chance to see an enormously gifted performer at the beginning of a big career.

Don't see it if Some people don't like solo shows. Too bad.

See it if You want to see a classic stripped down to an intimate scale.

Don't see it if The idea of a guy singing about murder looking in your eye makes you quesy.

See it if you enjoy physical comedy with a philosophical grounding.

Don't see it if you want a conventional story.

See it if If you want to become familiar with a lesser-known Bock and Harnick score that shows them working in top form.

Don't see it if If you want to see a good show fully realized.

Also Delighted to see the show, but it is a show very palpably about middle-aged people and the cast was a little too young to pull some of the emotional underpinning of the material off.... Read more Read less

See it if you are a Laura Benanti fan and think one of life's great tragedies is that Bock and Harnick didn't write more shows together.

Don't see it if you must have electric guitars.

See it if you love Shakespeare's histories and wouldn't miss a chance to see David Tennant onstage.

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

See it if you have the ability to lose yourself in narrative and have a fondness for WICKED and other stories spun off from the Oz books.

Don't see it if you want a lot of witty dialogue.

See it if you liked Brunstetter's CAKE and respond to the conflict between city and midland values within a family.

Don't see it if you are allergic to naturalism.

See it if ... you like your Chekhov straight up, without gimmicks but with a first-rate cast doing conscientious work.

Don't see it if ... you don't have the patience for Chekhov. A lot of people don't.

See it if you appreciate an unflinching look at family politics. Uncompromising with great performances by the whole cast--brava Smith, Cameron, Day.

Don't see it if you don't have the patience for unhurried naturalism.

See it if You want to see some smart essays projected through four characters plays by four terrific actresses.

Don't see it if Plot is vitally important to you.

See it if You want to be surprised by staging choices.

Don't see it if You think Austen must be done like Masterpiece Theater.

See it if You have an appetite for an entertaining introduction to another culture and want to see a company of actors new to you win you over.

Don't see it if You're bothered too much by coincidence or sentiment. They go with the territory for this kind of play, so let go and enjoy.

See it if you get pleasure from fleet-footed narrative and relish the transformative abilities of actors.

Don't see it if you like your Austen staid and somber.

See it if you want to laugh and tap your toe.

Don't see it if you have a low tolerance for low humor.

See it if you enjoy theatre that plays with the form and aren't so protective of Chekhov that you resist him being screwed with.

Don't see it if you're easily offended.

See it if You want to see a marvelous ensemble firing on all cylinders.

Don't see it if You have trouble understand accents.