Out of the Mouths of Babes NYC Reviews and Tickets

"Seeing Estelle Parsons and Judith Ivey on stage is—no questions asked—reason alone to get to the Cherry Lane Theatre...Horowitz’s witty dialogue and his ability to use his laser focus make each character more than a comic riff...Director Barnet Kellman never lets the pacing flag without getting frenetic. He understands these actresses completely. The four women are splendidly funny without descending to shtick. Their timing is perfect."
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“Israel Horovitz has written women who talk to one another the way grown-up women talk to one another. It is the rare man - much less the rare writer - who has that ear...This comedy is really fun. The first act is a cascade of surprising arrivals, telling anecdotes, bitchy exchanges. It is fast-paced and genuine. Unlike so much new theater, the second act is every bit as much fun as the first. It has a niggling finale problem, but that’s not crucial.”
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"Its shortcomings are elevated by the work of the four actresses onstage…While Ms. Parsons’ line delivery and comedic timing are spot-on, one can’t help but wish she’d let us in more often into Evelyn’s sensitive side…Judith Ivey shines as Evvie, and Angelica Fiordellisi does as best she can with the oft grating Janice…Directed with flair by Kellman, it gets away with a lot, because it feels so lighthearted and 'fun' that it manages to cover its terrible gender politics with roaring laughter."
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“The perfect platform for these four actors. Think Susan Harris’s television sit-com ‘The Golden Girls’ on steroids...This new play allows acting to trump writing with or without intention on the part of the playwright. It is enough to say that with a different cast - and this one is stellar - the piece might not make it past the first act...When Mr. Horovitz’s script begins to wobble too far to the magical, the acting has a more difficult time rising to the surface.”
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“It is a silly comedy of little substance or consequence, and only occasionally amusing, but it’s terrifically appointed by set designer Neil Patel and costume designer Joseph G. Aulisi, and its four-member cast includes Estelle Parsons and Judith Ivey, who seem to be able to make anything feel like a sparkling entertainment.”
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"The jokes may be flabby, the situations strained, the dialogue sit-comedic, and the ambience Neil Simon retro but they’re carried off with enough panache by a cast headed by Estelle Parsons and Judith Ivey for happy theatregoers to tell the critics to go take a hike...While Parsons and Ivey can’t make 'Out of the Mouths of Babes' a better play, being in their presence for two hours is providing audiences a welcome summer respite from the headlines outside."
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"'Out of the Mouths of Babes' is entertaining summer fare. Giving laughs freely, the show brings back the feeling of 'Designing Women' or 'The Golden Girls.' Ivey and Parsons take us on a whimsical fantasy that could have been written out of the pages of Norman Mailer’s exes...Kellman’s direction is like a roller-coaster ride: fun but not anything more than that a carnival ride...'Out of the Mouths of Babes' is just what New York needs to take its mind off the horrors of this world."
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"A wildly uneven comedy...The four women bitch and reminisce, with most of the bon mots going to troupers Parsons and Ivey. There’s a bit of the supernatural at the end. It’s intermittently entertaining in a lazy way. As light summer entertainment, that may be enough for most...Barnet Kellman’s direction skillfully maximizes the play’s assets."
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