Caroline's Kitchen NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (71)
See it if I truly loved it. Excellent acting. Venue is nice. All about people people and their demons.
Don't see it if You're offended by adultery and/or homosexuality.
See it if Thoroughly enjoyable theatrical production with one laugh after another!
Don't see it if A pure gem with no negative comments!
See it if You love British comedies like "Ab Fab", crazy situations with a dysfunctional family, an affair, a son who's coming out as gay, etc.
Don't see it if You take life very seriously and don't want to see a gut-busting fast-paced 95 minute comedy. Surprise "guest" at the end was hilarious too.
See it if It’s a well staged British comedy that is fast paced and quite funny. You will be engaged the entire show. The acting is perfect.
Don't see it if Don’t see it If you’re not into British comedy
See it if you enjoy British humor; you like situation comedies; you love good acting
Don't see it if you need to be hit over the head to find British humor funny
See it if fast pace play, great British actors, very funny, revenant today, raunchy
Don't see it if dislike British plays, fast pacing, not in the mood to be entertained
See it if You like dark and messed up theater where are you feel bad laughing and enjoying what’s going on but can’t help yourself
Don't see it if You don’t enjoy a far-fetched family drama that is out there and may be a bit unrealistic Read more
See it if Good and at times silly humor, funny situation, most of them predictable but still enjoyable;talented British actors, not too long (95 min),
Don't see it if too serious, live far away and will spend more time for commute than for the actual show;expecting light comedy to talk about politics
Critic Reviews (20)
"This careful recipe for disaster winds up feeling as overcooked as the roast that’s drying up in the oven throughout the show. Ms. Langrishe has the hard-smiling domestic diva persona down cold. And Caroline’s rare moments of stricken, wondering silence — when self-knowledge seems to be whispering in her ear — are the production’s most poignant, and the funniest. Mostly, though, it’s hard to care about these damned souls."
Read more
"Either the worst domestic dramedy ever written, or a brilliant satire of the genre...The crash-and-burn can be great fun to watch, but it takes a lot of strenuous contrivance to get there...Whatley directs the cast like he's conducting a locomotive to hell, with the acceleration of line delivery compensating for the lack of organic tension in the script. It's like a 1970s farce...Still, 90 minutes of this so-bad-it's-good episode of Disasterpiece Theatre left me wiping away tears of laughter."
Read more
"Torben Betts' play is something of a twofer, being both a grating, laughless farce and a failed example of that British theatre favorite, the state-of-the-nation play...Since all of the characters are one-note nags, there is little that the cast can do...Otherwise, the best thing to be said about Alastair Whatley's direction is that it keeps things hustling along."
Read more
"There may be moments that amuse, but at the price of a serious hangover...There are perhaps another half dozen plot threads that show up and lead nowhere...To their credit, Ms. Langrishe, Mr. Gillett, and Ms. Banks give it their all by frenetically playing things up as if they were appearing in an actual well-constructed farce, and there is no faulting their timing under Whatley's direction. But, to quote Mme Armfeldt from "A Little Night Music," Where is style? Where is skill?"
Read more
“It’s a comedy...Betts’ play is one of those Alan Ayckbourn sort of rueful British comedies where a bunch of self-absorbed individuals blithely stumble over each other’s personal follies...A neatly-written piece that is capably performed...Whatley ably stages the play upon a rather blandly-designed setting, where his adept actors do their best to make a satisfying meal out of their clashing characters. Perhaps you’ll find this show to be a tastier morsel than I did.”
Read more
"Torben Betts' 'Caroline's Kitchen' has all the elements for a wonderful farce with serious overtones. However, as seen in Alastair Whatley's production for the Original Theatre Company and Ghost Light Theatre production, it feels tiresomely long and labored in its attempt to bring down the roof on a group of egotistical modern Englishmen and women at work and play in contemporary Britain."
Read more
"Torben Betts has taken British Farce and put it a crash diet of steroids. Not a good idea for any of us...Betts has thrown everything into this stew without discriminating. And unlike a good old farce there is no unraveling of story paths that will surprise or delight because we see everything coming a mile away, drip by drip...The cast has little chance to craft much of a performance and instead spend their time gasping and mugging from point A to point B and back again."
Read more
"Unfortunately, even with some good ingredients here and there adding moments of flavor and giggles, this soufflé collapses in on itself, giving us not much to laugh about or bite into...As this is English farce, be prepared for that to boil over into everything and onto everyone with abundance. I just wish it was done with a stronger order of character and intention...There isn’t one character that feels emotionally authentic or one you want to get behind, or even like really."
Read more