Morning Sun NYC Reviews and Tickets

77%

(112 Reviews)

Positive

79%

Mixed

20%

Negative

Members say

Great acting, Absorbing, Slow, Thought-provoking, Confusing

About the Show

Tony winner Blair Brown, Emmy winner Edie Falco, and Tony nominee Marin Ireland star in this new play.

This world premiere by Tony winner Simon Stephens ("The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time") is about mothers and daughters, beginnings and endings in New York City. In Greenwich Village a generation or so ago, the city is alive. Joni Mitchell sings, friends and lovers come and go, and the regulars change at the White Horse Tavern. As 50 years pass, one woman’s life is revealed in all its complexity, mystery, and possibility.

Member Reviews (112)

Masterful, Profound, Riveting, Great acting, Great writing

See it if You’re ready to be spell bound by genius writing that’s masterfully brought to life (and death) by these powerful actors. Circuitous genius.

Don't see it if If you’re not ready to PAY ATTENTION…!!! This play requires a bit of time to get the tempo and set up and attention to keep up. So worth it!

Slow, Excruciating, Fluffy, Great acting, Great staging

See it if The really good performances by the stars. Good st and lighting was very good

Don't see it if If you want a solid story. Got slow and boring.

Riveting, Intelligent, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Great writing

See it if you love NYC and would enjoy it through the lives of 3 women over 100 years. Superb acting, crafty writing, great lighting, sharp direction.

Don't see it if you are not ready to listen to the constant exchange among the three who also play the roles of others all in one setting.

Story of ups/downs (mostly downs) of 3 gens of ordinary nyc women 1920s thru early 2000s; see it for edie falco, not much else

See it if captures emotional peaks & valleys that define an ordinary life; ambiguous Rashomon depiction of that life; 3 top actresses, Falco's superb

Don't see it if in rendering an ordinary life need to do so in extraordinary manner, this doesn't; static pacing and often dull Read more

Great acting, Absorbing

See it if you like an unusual show where there is no real action but 3 actresses tell of their lives and others in back and forth dialogue.Good acting

Don't see it if you want a show with some action or with a straightforward storyline. The swift switching of rolls is sometimes confusing.

Intelligent, Confusing, Banal, Disappointing, Great acting

See it if There are worse things than spending 90 minutes with three wonderful actors. You like slice of life stories that take their time unfolding.

Don't see it if Feels like a play on a diet, perhaps because so few actors play so many roles & ages. Often difficult to hear their conversations; slow.

Edie falco is a gift from the theatre gods, Great writing, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if you want to watch 3 amazing actresses, at the top of their games, taking on a terrific script.Edie Falco is absolutely amazing.

Don't see it if you want a light musical comedy. This show has something to say, and it is riveting.Holds your attention from beginning to end.Well directed

Blah, Great acting

See it if Edie Falco's great. 3 generations of NYC women going over highlights of their lives from the 50s to now with slight commentary.

Don't see it if Actors taking turns to narrate and acting side characters, slow, no major plot, excerpts of their lives aren't your thing. Read more

Critic Reviews (13)

"The play is no disaster, just strangely becalmed and unresponsive. Only rarely can you detect its pulse, let alone the feeling Stephens describes as “the sadness in your chest.”"
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"As this extended episode of This Was Your Life moves forward, director Lila Neugebauer steers it with a capable hand. With three actors of this caliber onstage, the show delivers several moments of poignancy...But Morning Sun doesn’t have the sense of mystery within the ordinary that energized such previous Stephens works as Heisenberg and Sea Wall."
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"Most of the good stuff in the show comes out of the dark in voices that ring true, if not always interesting – and never thrilling."
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"Performed on a set that seems less real and more suggestion, or perhaps fading memory, of a living space – sticks of furniture here, a small kitchen there – the play is performed by its excellent cast with the precision and grace of a ballet, with each actor fading in and out of time periods, conversations, soliloquies, additional characters and perspectives. Morning Sun is a beautiful thing to watch, as much for the elegant dance of its moving pieces as for its powerful understanding of the pains and joys of those remarkable unremarkable lives."
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"A lot of playwrights are poets, but not many are craftsmen like Simon Stephens, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the delicate two-hander Heisenberg. His new play, Morning Sun, is now running at New York City Center as part of Manhattan Theatre Club's off-Broadway season, and it is a master class in theatrical precision."
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Whether all this adds up to a play will be matter of debate, but the later scenes drag noticeably, and when actresses of this caliber don't make a strong impression, something isn't clicking. One wonders what drew Stephens to this material and what he is trying to say with it.
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"3 stars...Simon Stephens’ Morning Sun demonstrates that it’s possible for a play to be annoyingly specific and generic at the same time."
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"4 stars!...It’s a tricky business, replaying your life story—or your mom’s, or your grandma’s. And it takes a good five minutes or so for Morning Sun to find its rhythm. But once it does, it feels like flipping through a terrifically detailed, and colorfully narrated, photo album."
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