Indian Summer NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (131)
See it if like stories about potential love and younger actors.
Don't see it if you are cynical.
See it if you like clever coming of age stories about a summer fling between a "summer people" boy &a "year rounder" girl - might last longer or not
Don't see it if are offended by profanity, suicide, abandonment, teen sex or anything else about summer romances
See it if you like Playwrights Horizons and the new voices they bring to their very comfortable theatre
Don't see it if you don't like to see shows before they are moved to Broadway
See it if like layered theatre. slightly blurry as if watching a memory. four good performances. sweet at times.
Don't see it if you don't like dense dialogue. slightly surreal. slow at times.
See it if you like good acting by solid cast. I was more interested in its observations about death than it as a rom/com which is how its being sold.
Don't see it if you're going to complain that you could've stayed home and watched HBO. You could. But if you love small stories in a theatre, it's good.
See it if you want a rom com that still has classic Playwrights Horizons quirk with larger social ramifications.
Don't see it if you want excellent rather than quite good.
See it if You want an entertaining evening with engaging characters
Don't see it if You prefer profound, original scripts.
See it if you want to be taken right back to being on the beach when you were 16, hanging out with that cute person and trying to figure things out.
Don't see it if You're looking for something heavier than featherweight.
Critic Reviews (24)
"Moss’s new play has a lot going for it -- three appealing young actors and a first-rate production…Jeremy is played by Tippett, who brings humanity to a cartoonish role...What starts as a simple summer idyll goes seriously off course in the second act with a bizarre scene between George and Izzy. George’s hijacking of the play’s ending is the final misstep that wiped out my early good feelings."
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"A few parts of 'Indian Summer' do work. Kibler makes a feisty and attractive Izzy. Campbell is sweetly awkward as Daniel. And the energy level soars whenever Tippett's Jeremy appears. But most of the humor is derived from Izzy and Jeremy's working-class accents or their social ineptness. And I felt uncomfortable sitting in a room full of people affluent enough to enjoy a night out at the theater who were spending it laughing at people who wouldn't have the money to do so."
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"'Indian Summer' has abrupt shifts in tone, making it hard to understand what we’re intended to feel. A bigger issue, though, is that the whole thing isn’t very believable. You’re always conscious of the author manipulating the characters...There are a few scenes that have the charm of adolescent authenticity. But most of the time, 'Indian Summer' is too contrived to elicit much feeling for the people on stage."
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"After the first act I was amused, but sort of questioned the point...The payoff, however, was well worth it by the end and the food for thought that Moss prepared was deeply satisfying…Cantor’s subtle direction allows her impeccable cast to grasp the essence of Moss’s language…Moss has found the perfect balance between superficial simplicities of beach life and the layered complexities of human nature, creating a work that is as beautiful and deep as the ocean itself."
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"Gregory S. Moss is indeed a talented playwright...The grandfather was a disturbing and incongruous character with a creepy effect. Maybe this was what Mr. Moss was going for...What I do know is that the play is slow. Very slow...The extremely talented young actor, Owen Campbell, is an adorable, smart young man…It wasn't a zinger, wasn't a thriller, and wasn't memorable. It was, perhaps, like a summer read of the latest by Mary Higgins Clark on the beach. Mindless. Easy. Forgettable."
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"Enjoyable but slight…Moss seems to want his Rhode Island locals to serve as paragons of authenticity...In doing so, he risks condescending to them, suggesting that it might be news to us that meatheads have feelings or that intelligence and privilege are not necessarily aligned...Despite all this, 'Indian Summer' is enjoyable to watch. Moss's characters are endearingly familiar, his banter is crisply composed, and it's hard not to root for Daniel and Izzy's friendship."
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“Although not always clear, the play does have some lovely moments...Owen Campbell’s sensitive Daniel, and Elise Kibler’s alternately feisty and dreamy Izzy. Joe Tippett’s Jeremy, though brimming with enthusiasm, is a bit over the top at times and could use some toning down. Less might prove more for him...Director Carolyn Cantor has done a fine job of coordinating all the elements and keeping the pacing moving along smoothly.”
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"George’s monologues are instructive and amusing, but seem beside the point– until they don’t. The small ensemble is ably directed by Carolyn Cantor. Kaye Voyce’s costumes are casual, cute and carefree, as you’d expect of summer attire. What could have been a sweet little story turns bittesweet. Sometimes a story takes a detour, as 'Indian Summer' does. Is the unexpected zigzag for better or for worse? You decide."
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