Rancho Viejo NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (121)
See it if You like realism - with a twist. You can appreciate a "slow burn" plot. You can laugh at the absurdity of ordinary people.
Don't see it if You prefer your drama with a big, yelling climax. You can't sit comfortably for three hours.
See it if Older suburbanites faced with choices about what to sacrifice in order to maintain their personal and communal relationships.
Don't see it if You don't enjoy a slow pace that allows for rich character development. There are some confusing surrealistic elements. Read more
See it if excellent writing in first 2/3rd, brilliant cast and direction
Don't see it if The last act falls apart for me. It was a mistake for LeFranc to leave the mansion and move the play to new locales
See it if you want to laugh at a couple's existential & absurdists crises within the confines of California suburban sprawl.
Don't see it if you like your plays short and sweet -- this once clocks in at 3 hours with 2 intermissions. Never feels slow though.
See it if You enjoy great acting in a interesting and humorous play that is also quite strange. I really enjoyed it and did not find it too long
Don't see it if You don't want to see strange characters talking for three hours. It's a long show. 3 hours with two intermissions. Read more
See it if You'd be interested in seeing something truly new and original -- a suburban drama turned into a so-quirky-it's-funny comedy.
Don't see it if You can't sit through a three-hour play or hate weird, quirky comedies where the laughs come from seemingly "off" situations and characters.
See it if You enjoy plays that seem to be about nothing until it hits you that it's about so many of the things you question in life.
Don't see it if If you think a 3 hour play is not for you or you wouldn't enjoy hearing a character speak in a foreign language without subtitles. Read more
See it if you weary of plays about 20 & 30 somethings and yearn for something meaningful about baby boomers with their first world problems.
Don't see it if you can't sit through a 3 hour show (with two intermissions) and lots of dialogue. you don't care about how to remain relevant while aging
Critic Reviews (22)
"Sweet and scary, lackadaisical and hypnotic…A melancholy and often very funny portrait of four cusp-of-Medicare couples...Life often seems to be set on pause during the three leisurely, impeccably acted hours…'Rancho Viejo' has been directed with a poet’s appreciation for rhythm and emphasis by Daniel Aukin…Only in the last section does ‘Rancho Viejo’ start to feel a little too tidy…But the show’s final scene is a haunting beauty, a perfect balance of the everyday and the eternal."
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"LeFranc blends bold formalist tricks with deep empathy for his characters’ frailties…At times 'Rancho' feels like a deadpan suburban comedy of manners in slow motion…Semi-absurdist tactics could be deadly with mediocre actors, but Aukin’s immaculate production shines with a smashing cast. The play is consistently funny...'Rancho Viejo' may seem oddly constructed and furnished, but it’s magnificently strange and welcoming once you get through the door."
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"The most compulsive theatrical viewing that sees three hours pass by in a flash of glorious agony...There is so much meat in LeFranc’s homemade tamale that you want to eat it all over again, get the recipe, and invite all your friends over...I feel I could write a dissertation on the work and how the creative team and cast inhabited this insightful play with such self-scrutiny and tangible transformations. It’s a big work, it has a giant cerebral cortex and an urgent heartbeat."
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"Simultaneously stylish and frustrating…While some viewers will undoubtedly hail the play as a brilliant encapsulation of the human condition, even more are likely walk away feeling like their time has been wasted...Everyone in the cast excels at making this a watchable three-act nothing…Aukin is never able to fully resolve the problem of a script that is sarcastically self-aware while also calling for realistic performances...It all feels fashionable, sophisticated and incredibly safe."
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"Dan LeFranc's 'Rancho Viejo,' now receiving its world premiere in a handsome Playwrights Horizons production featuring a terrific cast, is one of those three-hour long plays that may find you tempted to flip through your program at any time for a clue as to what the heck is going on…Theatregoers have been discussing the meaning of ‘Waiting for Godot’ for over half a century. Discussions of the meaning of 'Rancho Viejo' shouldn't take up more than half a minute."
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"This kind of comedy needs especially delicate handling, which Daniel Aukin provides; his deft touch is especially welcome, because 'Rancho Viejo' isn't without its problems. A three-act play running three hours, it is much longer than it needs to be...You have to admire LeFranc's skill at spinning a kind of philosophical wonder, mixed with a touch of existential dread, out of the kind of empty chatter that so many people indulge over drinks and snacks."
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"A fascinating but severely overdrawn evening…This is a story that should tell itself and, in the best scenes, does…Unfortunately, this is not enough for either LeFranc or his director. They've piled on so much additional 'color,' 'content,' and 'plot' that the underlying, moving tale of contemporary cultural alienation must fight for its life during every single second of the play...By the final act, which is given over entirely to hyperinflated minutiae, you all but give up on it."
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"Running three hours, LeFranc’s play doesn’t have the feel of an epic or a major opus, but it is wisely observed and engaging. The tone is simultaneously comic and somber...The dialogue is a marvelous blend of the realistic and mundane...Besides realizing such rich performances from the cast, director Daniel Aukin has also masterfully coordinated the many presentational details into a cohesive production. Aukin’s staging has successfully realized the play on every level."
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