About Alice NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (48)
See it if delightful performances interest you. Beautifully staged even my side top balcony seat had a good view. I left the theater feeling uplifted.
Don't see it if Amusing two character shows are of no interest. Or you don't like going to Brooklyn but it will be your loss.
See it if you read the article on which it is based. You want to know just how special Alice Trillin was. Her words often dwarf his prose.
Don't see it if You are not interested in a saga of a fight for life. Of a contemplation of a life shared and truly lived.
See it if you want to see a lovely, romantic show about true love. It is quite touching and nicely acted. It is also heartbreaking because she is gone
Don't see it if you expect elaborate staging, a real plot, or if you are not a real romantic. You might find it dull. But I found it enchanting. Bravo.
See it if You are a fan of writer Calvin Trillin. You like intimate (and humorous) stories of love and loss.
Don't see it if You like big productions with large casts and complicated plots. This has a cast of two in a small theater . Read more
See it if You want to see a love story. This is a valentine from Calvin Trillin to his wife, and it is lovely. Valentines are not always good theater.
Don't see it if You’re expecting action, are distracted by showy set pieces (the costume changes become distracting), or want a clear narrative,.
See it if you ever lost a double kayak from your car roof, at 60 mph, re-saddled, laughed and drove on. We did. Alice and "Bud" did too, ever-humored.
Don't see it if you take life too seriously, can't overcome bumps in the road (some worse than others) OR can't learn to laugh & then succeed anyway. Read more
See it if you love Calvin Trillin and especially his writings about Alice, with two excellent actors telling a simple, sincere love story.
Don't see it if you want production values, conflicts, and a dramatic story line and are not interested in two people telling their story. Read more
See it if you've read the book and can bring depths to the experience that simply do not exist in the stage version.
Don't see it if you're infuriated by this stereotype: the pretty blonde wife who's terrible with money but adores a schleppy guy because he's semi-funny.
Critic Reviews (16)
"The emotional terrain has shifted with the genre, so much that the restraint now feels like withholding. As a result, the dramatization...is sweet and mild and less emotional than the book, when what you want is for it to be more so...Not that the actors in any way fall short of inhabiting their characters...But creating these simulacra of the book’s characters is not the same as dramatizing them."
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"A humorous, sweetly touching account of the couple's relationship that revolves around one main theme: Trillin really, really adored his wife, who he admits was way out of his league...It works beautifully as a two-character piece, because it allows Alice to represent herself...Despite its brief 75-minute running time, the piece wanders at times...But despite its occasional tedious patches, the play, staged in rewardingly simple fashion by Leonard Foglia, proves deeply affecting."
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"Humorous and heartfelt, this touching tribute to Trillin's late wife is not just the memoir of a marriage, but an intimate look into a lost culture shared only by two...This is a play about cancer, but it is no depression-fest. ‘About Alice’ is the story of an unlucky thing that happened to two otherwise very fortunate people who managed to find each other and spend 38 wonderful years together. For 75 charming minutes, Trillin invites us to bask in some of that warmth.”
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“’About Alice’ is an efflorescence of grace in a world that very much needs it...Trillin has a found a way to transform prose into theatre...Trillin has effectively dramatized his essay...The actors display an easy intimacy that may rouse envy in many in the audience...In size and scale, ‘About Alice’ is a little thing, but under its polished surface lurk profound and enduring emotions.”
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"An affectionate and touching portrait...A warm, often funny, altogether charming account of two nice, educated, cultured people...The story easily skips about in time as it is narrated mostly in an anecdotal fashion by Trillin...This husband and wife, or the author and his muse, or the delightful couple of New Yorkers whose interplay is so naturally acted here, are winningly portrayed by Jeffrey Bean and Carrie Paff."
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"Bean and Paff have a tremendous rapport, he somewhat wry as Trilln's writing, she bemused by his pronouncements; he, the fantasist, she, the realist. Described as a beautiful blonde, Paff lives up to that description...Neither of them seems to age even though 36 years go by in the course of the play's 80 minutes. The play also seems lightweight as it is very episodic, being told as a series of vignettes. It also doesn't have a cumulative feeling as it is not told in chronological order."
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"A New York love story that will touch your heart and perhaps make you cry... It can be a little disorienting at times to keep up with the free-wheeling repartee. However, while Trillin is more a journalist than a playwright, his wry humor and instinctive comic timing keep things on track...Maybe the only fitting way to sum up the production is to say it achieves its aspirations to bring Alice dramatically alive in the here and now."
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"The love that Calvin feels for Alice is obvious, but at the end of the piece I found myself wanting more...I left the theater wishing I had read Trillin’s memoir in order to get a fuller picture of his wife that he so loved and admired, rather than seeing snippets of their happiness together played out onstage...'About Alice' was expertly performed, and the simplicity of the production elements let the performances and the relationship be the true center of the story...A beautiful love letter to a lost soul mate."
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