Hal & Bee NYC Reviews and Tickets

"With a stellar cast and excellent staging, this entertaining dark comedy is very thought provoking...Leading the cast are Broadway veterans, Candy Buckley as Bee and Jeff Hayenga as Hal who master their portrayal of aging hippies...The troupe also includes the talents of Lisa Jill Anderson who portrays Moon...Poake excels in his role as The Bug Man...This four-person cast delivers Max Baker's clever dialogue with perfect pacing...Humorous, surprising, and touching."
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"Various acts of uxoricide take place in Hal's increasingly frustrated mind. These are meant to amuse, I guess, but they don't, in part because the joke, which isn't that strong to begin with, grows stale through repetition, and in part because...one can't help but feel that Hal and Bee aren't really worth one's attention...The actors throw themselves into every spat...'Hal and Bee,' the play, never makes a case for why one should care about Hal and Bee, the characters."
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"This is a play that works by successfully capturing the nitty-gritty of the couple's lives, and, with the exception of the fantasy 'murder' sequences, the playwright has created a very realistic pair...Audience could be seen grimacing with apparent recognition at some of the more blistering lines...Supporting characters...Each of whom provides a welcome relief from the constant sniping, are smartly conceived and performed...Directed with a keen eye for detail."
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"Baker's lines are spiky and colorful, often dark, sometimes banal, but his portrait of these two and the two lesser characters is always illuminating and full of real emotion. The fade-out, a quiet revelatory moment, is simply lovely-and sad."
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"These actors Candy Buckley (Bee) and Jeff Hayenga (Hal) are gripping…Anderson delivers her profanity-laced screeds with both conviction and a strangely charming aplomb…Director Sarah Norris gets what she needs from each of the actors...So — compelling performances, well directed and supported by production staff, addressing a subject we all struggle with — what could go wrong? There’s nothing wrong with 'Hal & Bee,' it just goes on too long. I’m glad I saw it."
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"Refreshingly witty...Hayenga and Buckley are perfectly matched as the feuding pair and trade barbs at a fierce pace that's both delightful and challenging to follow. We enjoy watching their tit-for-tat spats - littered with Baker's punchy jokes and fresh observations...Buckley and Hayenga also make their union understandable by showing evidence of a deep-seated affection that continues to endure despite their differences."
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"In this allegorical extended metaphor, 'civilization and its discontents' camps at the doorstep of the scrapping couple’s apartment in a rapid-fire exchange laced with flights of fantasy and just the hint of buyer’s remorse...The plot, driven by the exaggerated (albeit authentic) conflicts of the play’s colorful and well-developed characters...Under Sarah Norris’s astute direction, the cast handily delivers Max Baker’s intriguing script with energy and determination."
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"Unfortunately, both brutal violence and victims’ responses are unrealistically orchestrated…A good idea gone wrong. Differentiating script from production, I find the concept intriguing, speeches evocatively generational and character specific...The play should zip along and doesn’t. Jeff Hayenga’s Hal is irritating but we never see him uncontrollably angry, only the results. He’s credibly high, but otherwise one note. Candy Buckley (Bee) is more nuanced and grounded in her efforts.”
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"Charming, offbeat comedy...Directed deftly by Norris, Baker's portrait of family dysfunction is rich in detail...Hayenga is by turns irate, affectionate, and manic as Hal. Buckley is delightful as Bee, caustic sometimes, and yet much more light-hearted with her daughter...Baker has a good sense of the 1960s zeitgeist. 'Hal & Bee' conveys a sense of the impotence of those voices that once were in the vanguard to forge a better society."
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"Baker's unsurprisingly excellent new play...It's savagely funny as well as intellectually rich...Baker has a gift for dynamic, rich, rhythmic dialogue, and the cast more than does it justice. Buckley is marvelous and packs every line with personality. Hayenga's performance is equally terrific, nuanced and recognizable. Both he and Buckley are extremely funny...As examinations of marital and existential crises go, 'Hal & Bee' is funny, surprising, and ultimately moving."
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"Norris has assembled a cast of actors more than capable of the rapid linguistic and downward spiraling of this tale...Baker's clever dialogue is sharp and sardonic and funny. The entire cast takes us on his cultural roller coaster, including the dark fantasy tunnels of marital resentments and disappointments, with an intelligent adroitness that is truly admirable...We are nearly exhausted after this ride, but not exactly exhilarated as the play draws to its inconclusive and somewhat maudlin end."
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