Corsicana NYC Reviews and Tickets

71%

(101 Reviews)

Positive

57%

Mixed

36%

Negative

Members say

Great acting, Slow, Disappointing, Ambitious, Confusing

About the Show

Will Arbery returns to Playwrights Horizons after 2019's acclaimed Heroes of the Fourth Turning.

The play takes place in Corsicana, a small city in Texas, where a woman with Down syndrome named Ginny and her half-brother Christopher are still reeling from their mother's death. Their close family friend, Justice, thinks that it will help for Ginny to make a song with Lot, a recluse local artist and outsider.

Will Arbery explores the making and sharing of art in his new play. He dedicates the character of Ginny to his own sister, who also has Down syndrome. Tony winner Sam Gold ('Fun Home') directs.

The cast includes Drama Desk winner Jamie Brewer ('Amy and the Orphans') and Tony nominee Deirdre O’Connell ('Dana H.').

Member Reviews (101)

Bewildering plot(s), Disappointing, Horrible staging, Meandering, Great acting

See it if You want to see some great performances, in particular Deirdre O’Connell shines. Plot or plots really, are interesting but seem disjointed.

Don't see it if You want a fully coherent play. Some moments of greatness here but few and far between, set on a stage that makes no sense, lit HORRIBLY. Read more

Weirdly beautiful tale of misfits: woman w down syndrome/ginny and others, trying to find happiness

See it if brilliant, moving & revelatory script; develops new vocabulary 4 people who view world in non-materialistic terms; fine cast esp D O’Connell

Don't see it if you want a play w a concrete linear plot; Ginny's brother's story doesn't fit w stories of profound disconnectedness of other characters Read more

Quirky, Funny, Engrossing, Great writing, Great acting

See it if You’re itching for a well-acted play by a new American playwright who has a knack for enthralling dialogue & compelling stories.

Don't see it if You dislike character studies and/or very “small” plays with few characters, no set, and simple stories that aren’t plot-heavy.

You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need

See it if U are interested in vulnerable people who have strengths & weakness like everyone else; touching; sensitive; intimate; well acted.

Don't see it if Pacing of the 2nd act is slow and needs a 15 minute edit. Sets are very bare, but so are the lives of the inhabitants. O'Connell is the glue

Poor direction, Slow, Hard to hear, Quirky, Overlong

See it if you want to see Tony Award winner Deirdre O'Connell on stage. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

Don't see it if you do not like very slow-moving plays.

Beautiful hearts

See it if 2 "special needs" characters explore the depths of their hearts, their desires, their sorrows, and their wants beyond "needs."

Don't see it if No major drama/plot, quirky characters, longer quiet play, Down syndrome / disabled, aren't your thing. 2.5 hours; 1 intermission. Read more

Intelligent, Slow, Great acting

See it if enjoy good acting and a small play.

Don't see it if need a story. not much happens, just four people each with his/her own issues.

Excruciating, Uninformative, unattractive set, Strange staging, Ambitious, Lifeless

See it if You like the playwright. I went specifically for Deirdre O'Connell who was exquisite in Dana H. not so much here.

Don't see it if you want to see more than actors "taking their places", saying some dialogue and "taking their places" again. Read more

Critic Reviews (18)

"Arbery seems to have written 'Corsicana' with his internal censors set to their lowest setting, as if he were hoping to make music the way his characters do: for themselves and, as Ginny puts it, 'with the door closed.' The tune may be strange and leggy and long, and you have no idea whether it’s funny or sad, but it feels like happiness to overhear it."
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"After a perfect first hour, some late-play exchanges seem almost unedited, with monologues that wrench at the carefully considered preceding act. I am still grateful, though, that where 'Plano' snuck slyly away from my conscious attention, this play — serious, lopsided, occasionally beautiful — chooses to stick and stay."
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"The play begins to feel attenuated, although the characters are drawn with compassion. Snippets of minor drama—an estrangement between Ginny and Lot when she impulsively says she loves him, and he doesn’t know how to react; Justice’s discovery that she, in fact, loves Lot—occasionally roll across the stage like tumbleweeds. But Mr. Arbery slices life too thinly here."
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"For anyone who appreciates a found family trope and wants to see it delivered naturally, humanely, and beautifully, 'Corsicana' provides enough heart to fill the entire state of Texas. When you hear the song they create, which they vow 'no one's ever gonna hear,' you'll feel like a part of the family, too."
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"Theatergoers looking for a straightforward plot driven by a thesis will be disappointed by 'Corsicana,' a play that brings you in but refuses to do all the work for you once you're there. ... But with its embrace of the wonderous and unknown, 'Corsicana' makes one thing clear: It's OK to not have all the answers."
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Corsicana conjures four solitary souls posed, like tumbleweeds, against a stark, minimally furnished stage; because Arbery is such a fine writer, each character is an intriguing enigma, but for a dauntingly long time we wait for something meaningful to happen among them. It finally does, but so late and in such scattered fashion that satisfaction is not guaranteed. Whether you think Sam Gold's production, which recalls the mumblecore films of the early twenty-first century, is beautifully understated or merely suffering from iron-poor blood, Corsicana is challenging, and not always in a good way.
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"'Corsicana' is about caretaking, and the caretaking we witness onstage can be touching, as when Ginny counsels Justice on romantic possibilities with a wisdom and exactitude we wouldn't have thought she had in her. But there's also a lot of small talk, God talk, needless repetition, and some truly terrible songs."
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"The problem is that the delivery system in 'Corsicana' isn’t particularly efficient, squandering the overall impact with its discursive dialogue, excessive length and unwillingness to articulate its themes."
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Trailer

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