Napoli, Brooklyn NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (277)
See it if You appreciate strong female characters created by a strong female writer played by strong female actors.
Don't see it if You can't look past some contrivances or some weak stage combat.
See it if you like dysfunctional family drama.
Don't see it if you want to maintain an idyllic view of America (particularly Brooklyn) in 1960.
See it if You like period pieces that give a sense of life in that timeframe.
Don't see it if You are uncomfortable with race issues or intense family drama.
See it if you enjoy personal stories about days gone by
Don't see it if you prefer musicals
See it if You enjoy a play with exquisite acting and an intense plot.
Don't see it if You are looking for something light and fast paced.
See it if you like sagas with violent fathers, daughters finding themselves, mothers trying to make sense of a changing world & a historical event
Don't see it if you find family stories from the early '60's to be predictable, subtle depictions of lesbianism and interracial friendships disturb you Read more
See it if Solid acting in story of an Italian-American immigrant family in Brooklyn & their dynamics in 1960, & an event that changes everything.
Don't see it if There are clichés - abusive father, subservient mother. I didn't buy the mother's complete acceptance of her daughter's lesbianism in 1960. Read more
See it if You like 'slice of life' stories. The dialog was realistic, but scenes were too long and slow. The points were beleaguered
Don't see it if You want to see a comedy
Critic Reviews (26)
“This is a fairly well-written kitchen sink drama, but misses the mark. Though characters manage to offer occasional humor, moments of specificity, and lots of familial devotion, everything is so formalized, we don’t care enough. The scope of the catastrophe is also hard to balance against the outcome. The company is fine, though an array of accents throws one…Well-paced scenes move smoothly from one area of to another. Two-handers are particularly well realized.”
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“I didn't believe any of it, except for that real-life event, which director Gordon Edelstein stages to impressive effect at the end of the first act…Kennedy’s determination to touch on every obstacle...leaves her little room to dig deep into any of them. What's left are stereotypes and platitudes. Like so many young playwrights Kennedy tries to cover up the patchy parts of her play with a couple of explain-it-all speeches at the end. For me, it was too little and too late.”
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“Kennedy is better at sketching the play’s many female characters…She has a flair for dialogue…But she has a tendency to telegraph plot points…And pivoting her drama around an external real-life event carries some unfortunate consequences and rushed denouement in the second act. The dynamics of the Muscalinos could have provided all the fireworks she needed. There is much to admire here, but ‘Napoli, Brooklyn’ feels like a tasty but overstuffed manicotti."
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“Kennedy has come up with a doozie of a deus ex machina for her initially meandering, ultimately rewarding family drama...These tribulations are spelled out through a series of scenes unfolding during the play’s first half. However, the continual shifting of locales and the brevity of the scenes themselves, lend the storytelling a choppy, remote feeling, Things, however, come together wonderfully with breathtaking intensity in the play’s second half."
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"Under Gordon Edelstein’s controlled direction, the many scenes have a cumulative effect so that by the final curtain, we feel part of this family...This all could have played out as a colorful soap opera were it not for the very detailed work of Meghan Kennedy...Her talent for characterization is evident throughout, and if there is any lack in this warm family comedy, it is in its lack of structure...It is, in total, a praiseworthy paean to the feminist movement."
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"Kennedy seems to be trying to cram all the plays she wants to write into one story, which produces an exciting mixture of elements but also badly dissipates focus and fractures narrative confusingly...Full of interest, the play is also full of head-scratching anomalies...Gordon Edelstein’s production works, with only occasional hints of struggle, to harness the play’s constant shifts of topic, scene, and narrative. He gets generally fine performances."
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“In ‘Napoli, Brooklyn’ playwright Meghan Kennedy creates the vivid ongoing life of Brooklyn in the 1960s…Shades of Neil Simon’s Brooklyn stories and Arthur Miller’s 'A View from the Bridge' infuse Kennedy’s stinging sense of realism. Yet her voice is unique…Director Gordon Edelstein has built a tight ensemble…Kennedy sets her sights well beyond the family drama and the violence that infuses it.”
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“Kennedy’s characters are tender, bold, brave, and daring. Director Gordon Edelstein creates an atmosphere that is authentic, honest, and real. The tumultuous events of the play are emotionally riveting, and the message will touch your heart...This entire cast is superb…If you want to see a heartwarming story that will move you and leave you with a message of strength and endurance, this is the play to see.”
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