"'A Taste of Honey' feels quaint around the edges; once-unconventional modes of living hardly raise an eyebrow these days...This is a frustrating production. Ms. Botchan gives an erratic performance, while Mr. Cover seems unsuited to his role...The rest of the cast does beautifully, and the jazz trio brings a comfortable charm and a lovely sound to the proceedings. But these fine parts can’t be removed from the whole. There remains a nagging sense of a play only partly revived."
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"It’s a mystery why Shelagh Delaney's funny, touching and extraordinarily prescient 1958 play has sat on the shelf for so long...Director Austin Pendleton has done audiences a favor in dusting off the stage play...This story feels surprisingly contemporary...Although Rachel Botchan, as hard-partying Helen, comes across as just a bit too chipper (she could use a dash more slattern), Rebekah Brockman is a revelation in the role of quirky, outspoken Jo."
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"It is a marvelous piece of work, at once devastatingly blunt and uncommonly poignant. Austin Pendleton, the director, and his five-person cast have done right by Delaney’s play...Pendleton has given 'A Taste of Honey' a staging that serves the play with scrupulous, self-effacing care...At a moment when Broadway has next to nothing to offer in the way of straight plays, Mr. Pendleton now has two shows running on 42nd Street. They’re both excellent."
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"The kitchen sink drama is dated now and if it's lost much of its punch, the Pearl Theatre's admirable revival still manages to find resonance in its working-class themes...It takes a seasoned director to plumb the emotional layers in this complex work, and Austin Pendleton is just the man. His staging is naturalistic and a bit surreal...He also delivers with a strong ensemble nicely shading Delaney's grey landscape with dark and light hues."
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"The script vibrates with life, energy, and the will to persevere with laughter in the face of massive social obstacles. Sadly, little of that spirit is present in Pendleton's workmanlike but unremarkable staging…The production benefits from a stellar leading lady…Her primary costars are also excellent...Still, none of them are able to pep up the proceedings…‘A Taste of Honey’ is a thrilling and unconventional work of theater, but you wouldn't really know it from this sleepy revival."
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"This is a rather prosaic, shapeless piece of work, a series of comings and goings that don't add up to a fully realized drama...This mother-daughter dynamic is probably the element that could speak most directly to today's audiences, but somehow the furious cycle of dependency and abandonment, of love and rage never really comes to life...If this sometimes-powerful piece is to regain its place in the repertory it will need a far more original and visionary production than it gets here."
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"Even a director as capable and well versed in every theatrical style as Mr. Pendleton can't make this 57-year-old play send even a ripple of shock waves through contemporary audiences who've had plenty of exposure to working-class settings, about interracial romances, single mothers and gay men. But don't write this revival off as dated just yet...Under Pendleton's direction the actors have for the most part brought Delaney's characters to refreshingly authentic life."
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“Director Austin Pendleton made some choices which don’t help the now creaky play. Although Peter is described as younger than Helen, Pendleton has cast Bradford Cover who looks to be Helen’s age or older. While the apartment is described as dirty, Harry Feiner’s set is spotlessly clean. Pendleton has several of the characters occasionally speak directly to the audience which makes this play more surreal. All of this makes the revival much less affecting than it might have been.”
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