Mary Gets Hers NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (40)
See it if Extremely entertaining and smart. The staging is kind of minimalist and the goofy acting is enchanting
Don't see it if You want a very “ polished “ production. This one might look amateurish but don’t get fooled. Definitely worth your time.
See it if You want to see good actors in a serious, yet played to make you laugh.
Don't see it if You don’t want to be entertained
See it if enjoy well-acted stylized comedies. All female cast playing all the parts. Enjoy spoofs. et into the style (well directed), a real hoot.
Don't see it if want drama or a show with big ideas.
See it if With a plague & a 10th century text, Horowitz sets the Madonna/Whore trope spinning Broad comedic acting & arch stylization abound winningly
Don't see it if The absurdist repetition & Davis' overtly showy direction often show up Horowitz's flaws esp when the script looses sight of Mary's journey
See it if you’re interested in an updated version of a 10th century play written by an early female historian with a sparkling non-cis-male cast
Don't see it if you’re not interested in historical morality/parable type plays or prefer musicals or comedies (though this show is full of comedic touches) Read more
See it if well acted absurdist show with a bright young cast
Don't see it if you want a coherent piece with traditional plot lines and accessible comedy
See it if you value obscure source material. Here it's Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim’s Medieval dramedy "Abraham, or the Rise and Repentance of Mary."
Don't see it if you were never a Richard Foreman fan or a Suzan-Lori Parks fan or a Wooster Group fan but if you don't know who they are, give this a try. Read more
See it if See it if you like out of the box, unconventional topics
Don't see it if Don't see it if you don't enjoy inconsistent plots
Critic Reviews (12)
“That the cast consists of ‘women, nonbinary, trans, and gender-variant actors’ adds another layer to the theme of transformations. Like a spinning disco ball, ‘Mary Gets Hers’ bewitches the gaze.”
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“ ‘Mary Gets Hers’ is wacky and winking, big on slapstick-and-clown-inspired physicality and, when it’s at its best, totally charming in its quirkification of Hrotsvitha’s dramatis personae. It’s also inconsistent.”
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“...’Mary” is still an enjoyable show imbued with theatricality...The ensemble’s worship of Mary might land if the character had more life or if Wong played her with more than one petulant note. As it stands, ’Mary Gets Hers’ is instead a production worth seeing for the achievements of its other characters.”
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"With a production (directed by Josiah Davis) that winks so hard at the audience it risks a permanent tic, and performances that regularly mistake obnoxious for delightful, 'Mary Gets Hers' is a dreadful indication that institutional off-Broadway (in thrall to a network of fellowships, residencies, and MFA programs more insular than any monastic community) risks devolving into one big inside joke."
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“It's possible to see Mary Gets Hers as a kind of first-millennium Barbie, a female figure both fetishized and used until she claims her humanity for herself. If so, it's more than a little strange that Mary is left offstage so much of the time and, when she does turn up, how little she has to say for herself…Perhaps this doesn't matter, because Mary Gets Hers is suffused with a college-style humor that never really explains the author's infatuation with the religious ideas and rituals of another millennium.”
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“The early-career cast and creators of this Playwrights Realm production all seem so well-acquainted that inside jokes appear to abound throughout. Shrewd audience members may spot odd details like the old New York ‘Toots Shor’ drinking glass among consumerist carnal delights beyond the monastery, but, unfortunately, other bits and gags may seem overacted or obscure. Alas, the buzzing troupe ‘putting on a play’ may prove more amused tonight than its audience.”
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“Little or nothing emerges within the classy set of curtains that You-Shin Chen has devised to indicate various whereabouts. Instead, ‘Mary Gets Hers’ — the title carrying its own ironic threat — merely registers as a series of silly sketches during which five players are encouraged to overact and gladly meet the challenge. Mary may get hers, but as far as legit laughs go, none gotten here.”
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From the acting style, as directed by Josiah Davis, the play seems to be a spoof. Unfortunately, it is not funny though the actors cheerfully mug their way through Horwitz’s text as though they find it hilarious. Its Middle Ages protagonist Mary played by Haley Wong is so naïve and unsophisticated that it is difficult to believe her portrayal. Much of the dialogue is very repetitious and becomes tedious while the plot is so emaciated that it is a wonder that it takes 80 minutes of playing time.
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