Happy Birthday, Wanda June NYC Reviews and Tickets

81%

(272 Reviews)

Positive

88%

Mixed

Negative

Members say

Great acting, Funny, Entertaining, Relevant, Quirky

About the Show

Wheelhouse Theater Company offers a return engagement of famed novelist Kurt Vonnegut's rarely produced satire. A searing and darkly comedic look at American culture.

After being presumed dead for eight years, respected war veteran and big game hunter Harold Ryan returns home. He brings with him an old way of thinking, celebrating a Hemingway-esque machismo and American exceptionalism. Harold soon discovers that the society he returns to has made attempts to progress into a more modern, enlightened cultural narrative. 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June' is a dynamic and often comic meditation on toxic masculinity and a capitalistic America's failed attempts at progress cloaked in honor and morality.

Member Reviews (272)

Quirky, Relevant, Great writing, Clever, Great acting

See it if You like stories with topical plots, this one, though written during the Vietnam era could not be more relevant to today’s headlines.

Don't see it if You don’t like a lot of symbolism, exaggeration and satire used to make some very serious points. Read more

Funny, Great staging, Quirky, Entertaining, Great acting

See it if you like the offbeat offered by Vonnegut presented in a glamorous set with solid acting, making you laugh and compare to today's newsmakers.

Don't see it if you want a calm evening in the theater. This is an energetic romp from beginning to end that may be offensive to some.

Hemingwayesque figure returns from the jungle after missing for 8 years: wild absurdist comedy by vonnegut where macho-aggressive culture returning figure represents runs head long into post-woodstock culture

See it if inventively/w humor reflects macho aggressiveness in set, characters mimicking animals, songs of the '50s/60s: "you belong to me"

Don't see it if dated satire of Hemingway machismo; frenetic and overacted (other than by fine K McCluggage), more cartoon than sharp social criticism Read more

Great acting, Great staging, Great writing, Satirical

See it if Errant husband returns to family after extended absence. In Vonnegut's testosterone-fueled satirical world, all alphas are apes and "A"s.

Don't see it if Shag carpet underfoot! Poly-carbon allergy alert! Wall-to-wall, even under your seat. High prod. values, but 2 hrs of Neanderthal caricature

Great acting, Engrossing, although a bit too long, would have been better as a one-act, Sadly relevant and thought provoking

See it if entertaining, excellent acting. Play is OK but not great. Interesting in way fourth wall is broken throughout. Nice 1970s costumes.

Don't see it if you won't enjoy an actor wildly roaming around the stage in an animal-like & violent manner. Incredible performance, difficult to watch. Read more

A big confusing mess

See it if You have the patience to hang in there. The first act of this play is bad including the acting. But all of the acting gets better

Don't see it if you like to understand what you are watching. Read more

Clever, Absurdist, Intelligent, Farcical, Relevant

See it if You want to experience a carefully crafted production that is definitely “theatre of the absurd” as well as sadly relevant ! It’s Vonnegut �

Don't see it if You can’t go with the flow ! You don’t like plays that ridicule traditional roles of masculinity. You don’t like Kurt Vonnegut’s style.

Clever, Great acting, Great staging, Dizzying, Quirky

See it if you love brilliantly staged & acted over the top farce.This surreal show is over long, but truly fun. Great tech elements.Direction is great

Don't see it if you want a show with a real point to make. This is a very funny and well acted fantastical farce.

Critic Reviews (18)

"Although some of Vonnegut's surreal 1970 satire is amusingly dated, there are moments so eerily prescient that you're jolted back to the present...Director Jeff Wise helps his crackerjack cast navigate a tricky tonal tightrope between broad shtick and heartbreaking insight...Even when his absurdist storytelling gets muddled, Vonnegut’s message resounds like the wake-up call of a bugle...The piece is ultimately an indictment of all men who embrace sexism, racism and violence."
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"For anyone willing to look, Wheelhouse and director Jeffrey Wise have staged a marvelous abyss...The growling, slobbering, center of the play is O'Connell, who gives one of the most uninhibited performances I've ever witnessed...All of the actors come together in impressive harmony for the show's flash musical numbers...Wise directs Vonnegut's dark comedy with vaudevillian panache."
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“As directed by Wise, it’s loud and confrontational...but it’s no more than that. Just letting a tyrannical hollow man storm around isn’t enough. It’s less than enough. It’s alienating. Making matters worse, the activities handed the other characters have no helpful afflatus. What must be said, however, is that neither Wise nor the actors should share blame for the two-act, two-hour tedium. They’re trying hard...That onus goes to author Vonnegut. He’s solely responsible for this laughless wonder.”
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"A simple, straightforward style and biting satirical content...What O’Connell manages to do, along with director Wise, is to erase the outdatedness that’s hard to ignore in Vonnegut’s work. O’Connell is a dose of mania, popping in and out of characters and caricatures that are both amusing and infuse the scene with greater nuance...A delightful, wonderfully acted and directed performance that delivers a meaningful message but without hammering the audience over the head."
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“Written by novelist and short story writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in the 70’s, this play is even more relevant today...The entire cast delivers captivating performances, but Jason O’Connell as Harold Ryan is not to be missed. This man is so mesmerizing that you cannot take your eyes off him...Wise makes intelligent choices and really allows Vonnegut’s words and ideas to shine through. Not always easy in an absurdist play.”
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“Thoroughly zany in style and performance under the direction of Wise, but it all makes sense thematically in its inherent attack on war, man’s proclivity for killing, inflated heroics and human behavior...The author’s lines add up to a steady beat of stripping away pretension, undermining phony wartime heroism, and mocking machismo...It would be shortsighted to expect a totally logical pot. The acting fits into the concept and mad tone, with excellent cast members.”
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"The glorious production is everything a work by Vonnegut should be: surreal, unpredictable, laugh-out-loud hysterical, extraordinarily intelligent, bold, daring, and challenging...Director Jeffrey Wise has a firm grasp of the material, in total control of the chaos...It’s pure Vonnegut: a potent look at America — and how much it hasn’t changed in nearly fifty years...An all-around triumph, one of the best plays of the season, and a sharp reminder of Vonnegut’s immense legacy."
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"Masculinity gone haywire could be the basis for a pointed satire but the thing about a successful satire is...it’s funny. ‘Wanda June’ mostly isn’t. Mostly it feels as if it’s playing to the cheap seats. It might have had more salience in 1970...Today that kind of material feels as hoary as the mother-in-law jokes the Vegas comics were doing...Satire that amounts to telling the audience what it already believes...isn’t cutting. It’s just flattery.”
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