Dinner with the Boys NYC Reviews and Tickets

"A taste for shtick is all but required to enjoy 'Dinner With the Boys.' And since this cast is eager to mug, an appetite for ham wouldn’t hurt either...'Dinner With the Boys' has its best moments late in the play, when plot secrets are revealed and the humor finds its rhythm. Until then, the actors work hard on that big stage, with only a little to show for it."
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"The first act spans tales of horrendous executions and ends in a gusher. It’s after intermission that the taste level lurches way off the charts: Abruzzo’s alternate role, that of Jewish mafioso “Uncle Sid” is exaggerated-unto-offensive, and the choice to add the Exodus theme to his dispatch is enough to sicken any holdouts."
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"The engaging performers do what they can with the material...But their efforts are not enough to make the proceedings palatable, with the abundance of gory violence on display leaving a sour aftertaste...While that dream cast would certainly have enlivened the tired material, the play's current incarnation mainly swims with the fishes."
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"At last, the crypto-gay, cannibal Mafia comedy we haven’t been waiting for! 'Dinner With the Boys' is all that and less: Ineptly written, directed and acted, this is one hell of a bad show."
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"This show’s recipe for success: Take three parts excellent actor, take one mob theme, mix in laughs liberally, add wit as sharp as a kitchen knife, sprinkle with musical language refrains, spice it all up, add a twist, and another twist, and...you have a raucous comedy that makes a serious point about senseless violence and the value of kindness. You have to see it once, to see why it’s worth seeing twice."
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"Lauria capitalizes on this crowd-pleasing archetype of murderous men with delicate taste, conjuring the lovable mafiosi of Goodfellas or The Sopranos as his protagonists Charlie and Dom shoot the breeze while chowing down on home-cooked meals. Unfortunately, after two hours of empty calories, we find that archetype is where these characters end."
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"This is one of the most repellent plays I have encountered in many a year. Under ultra-broad direction, the actors mug so ferociously, you'd think they were playing in Radio City Music Hall, not the intimate Acorn Theatre. Somebody should call the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League."
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"Lauria has put as friendly a spin as possible on the traditional mob plot. Certainly the result, 'The Odd Couple' by way of 'Goodfellas,' is not a bad idea. And thanks to his amiable writing and performance, which is choked with excitement but never by it, 'Dinner With the Boys' maintains throughout the warm nature that's by far its best feature. That's something. Unfortunately, it's also the only thing. This is, at the most generous, a Saturday Night Live sketch stretched out to nearly two hours."
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