Less Than 50% NYC Reviews and Tickets

"This show has a great deal of comic appeal but it also smacks of reality. The unique two-hander uses a clever combination of storytelling, stand-up comedy, and a play within a play...'Less Than 50%' is a contemporary show that will appeal to a vast audience. Whether you're in love, longing for the right relationship, or your romantic life is falling apart, you will be captivated and entertained."
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"The play's now-we-mean-it-now-we-don't structure has a wearying effect...Everything in 'Less Than 50%' sounds like it could use a laugh track. When his character isn't acting like a jackass, Soresi is an appealing performer...Jen Wineman's direction proves helpful in terms of pacing the action and providing some welcome nuance...'Less Than 50%' concludes with a twist that is brazen even by the standards of what has come before, but, by this point, it's hard to care."
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"'Less Than 50%' is a play that, unfortunately, lives up to--or rather, down to--its title. Though it tries to be many things--and most prominently a recollection of a relationship gone wrong--it keeps on retelling and undermining itself, becoming incoherent and nonsensical. A 'disclaimer' at the beginning of the script even says it is a 'semi-autobiographical' play: 'There are truths, half-truths, less than half-truths, and downright fabrications.'"
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"Gianmarco says he’s a triple threat and, in this case, he does cover the gamut from comic to actor to storyteller, and is a good stand up comic...Yes, some silly, funny stuff going on that will get a response from the younger folks in the audience. Beyond that, this is a sad commentary on the frightened now generation, their lack of commitment to relationships and romantic involvement...Jen Wineman directs this rather confusing 90 minute commentary."
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"'Less Than 50%' is a distraction and, unfortunately, not much more...It is not remarkable in any particular way...On the plus side Soresi is a talented performer who is eager to try and try and try. He is often a pleasure to watch. Ditto Hannah Hale who is the actor playing the real Laura. They are both charming and talented actors and I look forward to seeing them again sometime in a play that is not defying gravity as well as logic."
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“A play within a play about rehearsing a play with a scene partner who is also an ex...This is a completely relatable situation in modern-day NY, and Soresi infuses a familiar tale with his unique humor and plot twists so it stays interesting...Soresi’s writing and acting are excellent...His comedy is insightful and well-delivered...Catalano is a great actress playing an annoying actress...It is a fast-paced 90-minute display of emotion, comedy and theatrics, enjoyed by adults of all ages.”
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"Soresi has a great and somewhat goofball presence behind the mic, with a funny in-your-face, big grin style, cracking jokes that land, for the most sake...For the first two-thirds of the 80 minute piece, the curved road is tight but the driving is expertise...In the end, it’s almost nightmarish, the Seinfeld stream of consciousness that comes in at approximately the two-thirds mark. It’s overly drenched in cynical drama and dark quirky cartoonish negativity."
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"Generally upbeat, it has bits of music and dance, lots of amusing lines, occasional profanity, and various theatricalist touches…The comedy's situations are more conventional than its format…It's taken for granted that much of this is fictional but it's also clear that much of it really happened (more or less)…Soresi's humor…clever as it often is, often lacks subtlety and is a bit too self-conscious. Hale, though, is about as refreshing a comic find as any presently on a New York stage."
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"Soresi is best when doing snatches of stand-up addressing the audience with some very funny lines pertaining to family, romance, and sex...The overall plot...whether romantic or unromantic, becomes a strain even at a running time of 80 minutes...Both Soresi and Hale are very talented, and they work oh-so hard at trying to breathe reality into the tale...Fortunately, the comic elements, especially as seen in Soresi’s standup gifts, do earn laughs."
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"The real problem is Soresi’s life is just not that interesting...But the good news is that Hale and Soresi are both talented comedic actors, and many of the scenes are engaging...If the play had been a little more about Laura and a little less about Gianmarco, it would have been far more complex and layered. The lesson for emerging playwrights: sometimes you have to give up a little to end up with a lot more."
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“A very romantic self-proclaimed ‘unromantic comedy’...Much of the beauty of the work is in the surprises layered throughout...however, there were a few moments leading up to the ending that could have made for a more believable and satisfying conclusion...Nonetheless, ‘Less Than 50%’ is a wonderful piece of storytelling with immense heart that benefits greatly from the biting humor and believability Soresi brings beautifully to the stage. A laugh-out-loud great night at the theatre.”
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"Cynical yet sweet...The play offers a view of contemporary romance that is simultaneously humorous and heartfelt...A script that expertly balances the saccharine with the serious, even as it is a bit overlong, and perhaps slightly more complicated than is necessary...Director Max Freedman also deserves accolades for so organically orchestrating this play...A romantic comedy for people who’ve grown weary of romantic comedies."
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"The two have good chemistry and their constant bickering on almost everything keeps the audience entertained...This show will keep you laughing and engaged as you follow their journey. The breaks that the stand-up bits from Gianmarco provide are comedic gold, using his skepticism to poke fun at the many popular beliefs surrounding dating and relationships. By the end, you may even realize that your own relationship is not as dysfunctional as you thought."
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"It's no doubt this is intended as a starring vehicle for Soresi, who acknowledges and pokes fun at his own solipsism throughout; his Woody Allen-style woe-is-me garnering familiar laughs in what started as a stand-up act and could easily be a satisfying one-man show...The stand up segments of this show are strong, and the show moves at an entertaining pace...'<50%' feels especially unfair to Laura, the simultaneously unpresent and omnipresent other half of Gianmarco's story."
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"One of the most fresh and innovative romantic comedies I've seen in the past few years...For the entire 90 minutes these 2 characters battle it out, jumping in and out of roles across a wide spectrum of time...Freedman helps weave all these different elements together into a wonderful theatrical tapestry. The fact that it flows as one continuous arc is a tribute to Freedman's directorial skill with comedy."
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