Gently Down the Stream NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (217)
See it if If you want to see an entertaining and thought provoking show about gay history in America. Harvey Fierstein is really great in this show.
Don't see it if If you're uncomfortable watching scenes of love and affection between 2 men.
See it if If you want to be entranced by the wonderful Harvey Fierstein. Educational to those not familiar with the history of the gay movement.
Don't see it if You are looking for a musical or something mindless.
See it if You want to see a play with well-written, well-acted universal meaning.
Don't see it if You want to see a fluffy show.
See it if A fine production with one set that holds your interest. Strong three character play that hits it's mark from the first scene. Worth a visit
Don't see it if you had enough of gay themed plays and Harvey Fierstein with a southern accent will drive you mad.
See it if you're interested in gay history or are a Harvey Fierstein fan. One forgets what a versatile talent he is. The entire cast is superb.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy laughing and crying in the same production or are completely turned off by plays about gay men. Otherwise, it's beautiful.
See it if You have an affinity for gay culture, want to be moved by fully-formed characters and great performances, or just want to see Harvey.
Don't see it if You don't care for Harvey, aren't comfortable with gay history or don't take to love stories between men seen over the course of a lifetime.
See it if you want an intelligent look at the differences in gay men across generations, and possible reasons for it. You appreciate Harvey Fierstein.
Don't see it if you get annoyed at stories of love and loss, or shows that feel like a device for delivering a gay history lesson.
See it if you like Harvey Fierstein, Martin Sherman; you want to know some gay history
Don't see it if you don't like gay plays Read more
Critic Reviews (29)
“Sean Mathias directs, and while nobody could make 'Gently Down the Stream' anything but a pity party, it might help if Ebert had been directed not to skip around on stage so much…And then there’s Fierstein. When he’s sending up a heterosexual woman in ‘Hairspray,’ he’s fun. Playing a gay man, he offers tedium and sympathy.”
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“Ebert once again proves that he is one of the finest actors of his generation…Listening to Fierstein’s raspy voice for an extended period has always been a problem for me...That's a lot to get through to appreciate the subtle acting beneath…Sherman’s dialogue sparkles with wit, but his structure is a bit lumpy…Mathias manages to minimize the play’s structural problems. While the play doesn’t represent Sherman at his best, it still provides an entertaining and occasionally moving evening."
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“Directed with a light touch for melodrama by Sean Mathias…A sentimental and straightforward but enjoyable and — dare we say it? — useful overview of the radical changes in gay life from the mid-20th century to today…Fierstein is an original, a star presence who manages to be instantly identifiable while convincing us he’s someone we never met before. How delightful to see him here as a lust object pursued in a romance.”
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"This Public Theater play is both a memorialization, and a bringing back to life—both of 70-plus years of LGBT history and of Beau...This is Fierstein’s show—that voice commands a stage, and he tinkers with it too, ranging from an angry, booming bass to playful theatrical camp...'Gently Down The Stream' emphasizes that embracing equality and openness should not mean negating or forgetting the grittier indignities and battles endured and conducted by others."
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"Fierstein is brilliant as Beau, displaying a wide range of strong emotions and opinions about nearly everything...Ebert goes toe-to-toe with Fierstein...Mathias creates a welcoming environment for the audience, inviting us into these characters’ private lives...Sherman has written an engaging romantic comedy that uses clever subtlety to make its important points, a lovely play with a stirring performance by a theater legend making a triumphant return to the stage."
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"How the gay past blesses the gay present is the crux of the play...The play seems intent on checking off every major experience of the gay movement, with references to James Baldwin, the New Orleans gay club fire, Larry Kramer, AIDS, crystal meth, gender reassignment, marriage, and parenting. I was amazed that Beau didn’t find himself at Stonewall too. It becomes too much, but the comic parts are effective, and the show is buoyed by Fierstein’s star presence and expert timing."
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"An imperfect, but very moving new work...Some of the storytelling here is clunky, and Fierstein seems to have been cast more for his connection to gay history than his ability to master a New Orleans accent. But Sherman is wrestling with complicated ideas, about the struggles of a generation of gay men to make sense of their lives, especially as social attitudes have changed radically in recent decades. The show moves from hope to heartbreak, and it ends poised on a pinpoint between the two."
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“Both the stories being told and the new chapter of gay history being lived seem a little predictable, a little too issue-bound and detached from life. Fierstein gives his iconic presence full play; Ebert, always convincing, listens here with convincing eagerness; and Christopher Sears is effective as the brash youngster…But the enterprise seems hidebound and pat; the vibrancy that gave gay life its meaning has vanished from the bare recollections pasted in this dramatic scrapbook."
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