See it if you want to see a beautifully acted rendition of this play.
Don't see it if you're looking for a play that's a little less jumbly - this is one of Tracy Letts' weaker plays, although it is still quite a good one!
See it if you've ever fantasized about how your life would have turned out if you'd made different decisions.
Don't see it if you dislike shows that are slow.
See it if Verbiage is not always available to us during painful times. This play depicts this perfectly with wonderful acting, staging and writing.
Don't see it if you're more comfortable with thoughts and actions spelled out for you or you can't relate to inner turmoil distancing you from loved ones.
See it if you like dramas about people facing a midlife crisis and how they cope, plays that blend drama and comedy, & topnotch acting by Reed Birney.
Don't see it if you can't relate to plays about a crisis of faith later in life, don't like plays that mix drama and comedy, can't relate to midwest values.
See it if you like to see great acting (Reed Birney) set against a minimalist background. An exploration into a person's belief system
Don't see it if you don't like talky plays where what isn't said is often as important was what is said. Read more
See it if You enjoy nuanced performance & serious drama
Don't see it if You want something light hearted Read more
See it if You like simple, compelling theater that turns on straightforward, unencumbered writing and solid acting.
Don't see it if You aren't interested in a rather boring relationship where one partner goes on a small journey of self-discovery with no great revelations. Read more
See it if you want to see a master (Reed Birney) at the top of his game and you like familial drama.
Don't see it if you don't like existential crises or female nudity.
"Letts condescends to his hero’s dilemma by making the representation of his religion into a complete dolt...The surprise isn’t that Ken has lost his religion; it’s that he’s not already embalmed...A nymphomaniac, a dullard preacher, an angry artist. You can’t blame the actors here for performing what’s on the page, although it might have helped if Cromer had directed them to look for some subtext. Reed manages to be much more empathetic. In a few scenes, he even dazzles."
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"With a remarkable performance by Reed Birney as the title character; an explosive one by Annette O’Toole as his helpmate; and especially canny work from director David Cromer and designer Takeshi Kata, 'Man from Nebraska' is the most interesting drama to come along since Stephen Karam’s 'The Humans'...Letts gives us an engaging and thought-provoking play, without any grand eruptions of the sort you are likely to find in change-of-life, loss-of-faith plays."
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"It is a play that will provoke wildly divergent reactions...The play’s episodic structure does not seem organic. Birney, as always, is superb. Mensah is also strong. O'Toole, to me at least, seemed mannered...Particularly in the first act, director Cromer lets scenes breathe longer than some can easily tolerate. I predict that you will have a strong reaction to the play. Whether it will be negative or positive is the question."
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"Letts’ script is packed with subtext, brought out by an insightful cast and director. Reed Birney as Ken creates a shattering and affecting portrait of a man suddenly without moorings. Annette O’Toole is equally heart-wrenching as his alienated spouse. The playwright is best known for the Pulitzer Prize winner 'August: Osage County,' which was something of a massive melodrama ...He achieves more devastating effects by tightening his focus onto one man adrift."
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"If the script is sterling, what makes it soar is the acting. Reed Birney doesn’t disappoint in his depiction of the spiritually bereft character Ken…What makes this play exceptional is its refusal to supply any facile answers to the protagonist’s dilemma…Letts presents Ken’s Dark Night of the Soul in a deeply human context and, with his theatrical alchemy, turns it into a deeply satisfying story that we can identify with."
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"If any actor can make you believe a character who says 'I’m spending time with my thoughts on the advice of my pastor' while staring at a half-naked woman on a bed, that actor is Reed Birney...It is hard to come up with anyone else who can imbue such honesty, decency and complex intelligence in the idea of an imperfect Everyman...A nuanced production by director David Cromer. But boy, does this play ever need both Birney and Cromer...Deep, this is not."
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"It’s not clear whether Letts is assailing organized religion, or particularly fundamentalist Christianity, for its oppression of human feelings and its doctrinaire beliefs. Under David Cromer’s direction, however, the silences and ambiguities in the script reflect the characters’ struggles with moral choices that carry considerable weight. Birney is riveting as he makes one feel the crushing, stultifying outcome of living such a life."
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"It’s not nearly as good as Letts’ best-known work, but it’s not without interest, thanks in good measure to its lead actors. Birney gives one of his superbly real ordinary-guy portrayals as the searching Ken, while O’Toole is deeply sympathetic as a loyal, confused and increasingly angry abandoned wife...When he finally returns to Nebraska, many weeks later, Ken is a new, improved man, Letts would have us believe...The idea is provocative, even if it’s completely unpersuasive."
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