“A raw, uneven revival with a standout lead…Chrissy is often a difficult character to understand or be engaged by…Chrissy's parents remain inscrutable, especially in the overly long second act…There are too many scenes with Chrissy's parents that don't add much...The play makes for a time capsule of sorts…It’s a polarizing show that won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but it’s a chance to see a Rabe play that gets far less attention than his other works, and features a lead actress worth watching.”
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“Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold up as well—it’s relatively flat and lacks insight by today’s standards—as the other works, not to mention its tendency to meander. A healthy dose of editing and more lively acting would have been vastly improved this production. Either way, given the drastic changes in American culture since this play’s debut, and its lack of current relevance, it’s no surprise this play is seldom performed.”
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"A piercing look at a society dangerously close to our own lives...'In the Boom Room' is a rough watch...Probably one of the only, if not one of the best, off-Broadway plays, currently, approaching the topic of child sex abuse...Nina Kassa’s Chrissy is a giant highlight...Director Cicchino has set up the play to never lose a sense of eeriness and inner lostness, just like Chrissy...'In the Boom Boom Room' is constantly approaching the confusion of being human, especially after so much trauma."
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"This is the worst play I have seen in my entire life...It is pointless and harmful to continue producing 'In the Boom Boom Room,' written in 1973...Unbearably vulgar, suffocating and vile. If you are feeding your audience heavy sexist, racist and perverted bullshit, you need to have some sort of relief from it, whether it’s in the plot itself or done through stylization...Add to that inarticulate direction and sloppy acting and you get a formula for a theatrical failure and a ruined night."
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"Rabe writes in an organic, raging style seldom found among today’s playwrights...Director Cicchino attempts, with mixed results, to get inside Rabe’s musicality...Kassa provides the show with a strong emotional core...When it’s cooking, the production succeeds in bringing to life the script’s odd blend of social satire and personal tragedy...Unfortunately, not all of ‘In The Boom Boom Room’ lands with the same surety...Something of the momentum gets lost in all the hurlyburly."
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"This hardscrabble production packs a wallop that sneaks up on you...The play drags at times and is too long at more than two and a half hours; in addition, the story is a familiar one, yet Rabe’s incisive writing, Greg Cicchino’s steady direction, and the solid ensemble’s intimacy make for an appealing production...A potent reminder that as a society, we might not have come nearly as far as we thought."
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