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[PORTO] NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (49)
See it if you are a single millennial woman
Don't see it if you are confused easily
See it if This show has a "voice," literally. It has something to say. The production couldn't be better.
Don't see it if The show may appeal most now to port-drinking Brooklyn millenials. It's of its time and place, but I believe it'll age well.
See it if you'd enjoy a wry take on how hip, straight, not-so-young anymore Brooklynites meet, sniff each other out &, when the planets align, mate.
Don't see it if you want a piece that transcends the local & the everyday, or have an aversion to mild challenges to traditional dramatic form. Read more
See it if you enjoy format-busting plays full of ideas. You like being consistently surprised and delighted.
Don't see it if you don't consider the issues facing young urban women to be worth exploring
See it if If you want to see the stereotypes so prevalent in dramas set in bars updating for current times, and an example of how feminism failed.
Don't see it if you don't like plays centered around a bar, or if you are tired of plays about women and their plight in modern times. Read more
See it if youu like some good acting, a great set, a theater that you be "there"and some interesting ideas to ponder.
Don't see it if if you cannot handle a double set of stairs after the elevator .... altough, if you indicate a problem, there is an entrance on level 3
See it if Slightly meta update of a girl & a guy in a bar with plenty of literary references & affectionate mocking of Brooklyn hipsters. Great set...
Don't see it if smart writing, comfortable actors. Maybe not for those who love a big play or musical, but off-Broadway excellence.
See it if looking for a well-written romantic comedy with a pessimistic view set in a trendy Brooklyn bar.
Don't see it if you believe love can survive or your perspective is not female-sensitive.
Critic Reviews (16)
"'[PORTO]' sneaks up on you...It's a smart, surprising ode to the modern woman's anxious, circuitous quest for simultaneous self-actualization, pleasure, and perhaps even love...The minute that Benson took clear aim at the vexed territory of feminism, sex, desire, shame, what we want from our partners, and what we feel we should do for them...I could feel her punches right in the chest...Evans gets smart, pointed, playful performances out of her entire cast."
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"A strictly realistic presentation of this story might look like a poor onstage imitation of HBO's 'Girls', but Benson delivers something uniquely theatrical with a script that is magical, mischievous, and just plain hilarious...Evans maintains Benson's intoxicating cocktail of magical realism and timely satire with a pitch-perfect production...With humor and honesty, '[PORTO]' dramatizes the late capitalist paradox of having a million avenues for pleasure, but still feeling a gnawing dissatisfaction."
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"Whenever Benson stops talking, her play threatens to be a funny and touching romantic comedy tinged with the anxieties of early middle age. Too much of the time, however, we are forced to cope with the playwright's voice -- insistent, intrusive, and intent on stealing focus from the characters she has created...The result is death by extreme editorializing...The biggest problem with '[PORTO]' is that, shorn of all its tricks and traps, its observations aren't terribly original."
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“Kate Benson's ‘[Porto]’ (the title refers to the voice in the heroine's head) will please die-hard feminists most who will be glad to hear the play's messages spoken from the stage. However, many of the rest of us will be forgiven if thinking the play trades in platitudes and is overly derivative. We have met all these people - and their problems - before. The play's gimmicks may either strike you as novel and fresh or as tired and trite.”
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"More a lab experiment than a stage play...The entire night walks a fine line between pretentious and high satire...Benson's writing is most accessible when she's making fun of millennials and their penchant for 'serious' bars and anything pickled...As directed by Evans, the cast all inhabit their characters earnestly. Chukwu stands out for creating a sympathetic Raphael, while the others, in a work that is funny-strange instead of funny-ha-ha, tug more on the brain than on the heart."
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“A comic cocktail with a bitter twist of feminism...A kick more closely resembling a Shirley Temple than a Long Island Iced Tea…In its indirect way, the play is as critical of our overindulgent eating and other habits as it is about anything else…So much time is consumed by Bracket's verbiage, much of it with…the lights off, you begin to look forward to such moments to catch some z's…I must dutifully report that the play elicited a fair share of laughs…; my own humor meter barely moved.”
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"A rom-com for millennials to love. And judging by the knowing laughter from the 20 and 30-somethings in the audience at the performance I attended, she's hit her intended mark...There's a tongue-in-check quality to most of the characters...The one exception to these one-note characters is Porto...Sirna-Frest makes her the anchor of this one. And she gives Porto (and [porto]) such sincere vulnerability that you almost don't need to be a millennial to appreciate it."
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"An incisively clever, extremely funny, and imaginatively surreal rom-com by the Obie Award-winning team of Benson and Evans...Benson creatively interweaves the angst of the Millennial generation with observations on our socio-political climate...The terrific cast, under Evans' expertly-tempered direction, offers hilarious yet believable performances that lampoon the all-too-familiar figures...A razor-sharp show."
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