Gently Down the Stream NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (217)
See it if You want to see Harvey Fierstein perform in an intimate setting, up close, in a play about relationships that surprise... Wonderful show.
Don't see it if You don't care to experience other people's relationships that are different from your own.
See it if you are interested in delving into the gay rights movement through an interesting and well written play.
Don't see it if you are not a fan of Harvey Fierstein. He is onstage the entire show. Read more
See it if Harvey Fierstein is a wonder! You will be captivated by his role as Beau. Gabriel Ebert is also fantastic. A history lesson wrapped in love.
Don't see it if You are not willing to hear very intimate monologues & scenes of love found & lost. This play has lots of gay history & emotional moments.
See it if for a forward-looking gay love story, gracefully told
Don't see it if it's not a topic of interest for you
See it if Great acting and writing. Very emotional and intense. Harvey is fantastic.
Don't see it if You don't like plays about gay history and changing times.
See it if you appreciate Harvey F for the icon he is, are comfortable with gay love stories and are comfortable reliving the AIDS epidemic
Don't see it if you don't like Harvey Fierstein or gay love stories
See it if You're a fan of Harvey Fierstein or are up for a review of the gay experience over the last 75 years
Don't see it if You can't relate at all to the gay experience
See it if You love Harvey. Are interested in gay history told frpm a personal perspective.
Don't see it if Are offended by gay storylines. You don't like storytelling wrapped in a love story. Read more
Critic Reviews (29)
"Martin Sherman's sweet, funny play traces a decade in their ever-changing relationship...I've never been Harvey Fierstein's greatest fan but here he gives a beautifully modulated performance. There's some of the Fierstein shtick, but moments that are genuinely moving. Gabriel Ebert, as always, is charismatic onstage...'Gently Down the Stream' isn't a masterpiece but is well worth seeing, particularly for the teamwork of Fierstein and Ebert who obviously love performing together."
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"Despite the play's best intentions to have us root for Beau to get out of his own way and embrace the love around him, his inability to do so makes 'Gently Down the Stream' a very monotonous journey...None of this is to say that watching 'Gently Down the Stream' is a particularly bad experience. The performances are strong...But in the end, 'Gently Down the Stream' didn't rock the boat enough."
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"Both personal and universal, intimate and epic, the play, directed by Sean Mathias, is nothing short of astonishing...Not that the endeavor comes off as a history lesson. It’s actually a poignant love story...What makes this nostalgic yet unsentimental drama truly sublime is that these stories are told by the masterful Fierstein. Not only are we learning these stories vital to queer history, beautifully told, but we are witnessing a slice of history itself."
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“'I wanted to like this play. But I did not like this play. It just never took off and then it became way too predictable and way too driven by monologues that just didn’t matter to me…The play started with the obligatory waking up with the hot, shirtless trick–and I thought, okay, I’ve seen this before...But then the play just didn’t move…I was able to predict every turn of the play. I have heard all of this many times before and with more aplomb.”
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"Beau's beautifully written and performed monologues represent the heart of the play and the soul of Beau...Sherman writes such poetic and penetrating words and Fierstein breathes them into vivid images, while the brilliant director Sean Mathias gives it all the color and light and space needed to become art...The casting works magic because the author of the groundbreaking 'Torch Song Trilogy' brings his own history to the piece."
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