Smart People NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (70)
See it if for a provocative exploration of race (and gender) that's also quite funny and observant. But it does feel incomplete and not fully gelled.
Don't see it if you dislike dialogue-driven plays or don't want to think about racism in america
See it if An absorbing play with great acting. Slightly uneven - great dialogue and premise, though a tad preachy at times, but always compelling,
Don't see it if You are not interested in plays about race relations, because this is powder keg of a play that will challenge what you think.
See it if You enjoy thought provoking new work with challenging subject matter. Sparse but deliberate staging, well cast.
Don't see it if You are looking for a light piece or don't want to think about how we conceptualize and handle race in everyday life.
See it if You are deeply affected by race or enjoy plays as a format for a debate, rather than needing a coherent dramatic arc.
Don't see it if You are a stickler for "show, don't tell" in playwriting; you are emphatic that the characters must come before the message.
See it if you enjoy intricate racially-charged mating dance for two couples, culminating in racial showdown; charismatic Mahershala Ali (houseofcards)
Don't see it if don't appreciate characters that are stand ins for ideas and a confusing effort to bring together too many meaty issues
See it if you want to see how someone might prove that racism is somehow inherent in the white population. Interesting premise. Not fully developed.
Don't see it if you have no interest in a play on racism from a somewhat novel point of view. Good ensemble work.
See it if smart people espousing very smart ideas about race and class in America, over the heads of other characters and audience
Don't see it if you cannot follow four or more simultaneous, intense conversations talking at the same time. Overwrought but erudite
See it if You are very interested in shows that deal with races relations
Don't see it if Very slow, drawn out, staging was clever at 1st but became tired and repetitive especially in 2nd act. 2nd act failed to hold my attention
Critic Reviews (30)
"Diamond’s schematic, only sporadically effective play...concerns four characters...The playwright uses them more as glib (and sometimes funny) mouthpieces for different viewpoints than as three-dimensional characters...The complications seem contrived and the incidents leading to lovers’ quarrels artificial...The production is smooth, the actors fine, the ideas worth a listen, and, as the title declares, the characters smart. The play itself, though, barely passes."
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"During the overlong and talkie play 'Smart People,' I started to hear lectures and debates rather then dialogue and interactions...It’s as complicated as it sounds, and as angry and contrived as it feels...Under difference circumstances I would be very willing to accept these implausible connections, if the heart and the emotional core felt true. Sadly it doesn’t...It doesn’t matter how smart these people are, we need them to be real people as well."
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"Topicality is the strongest asset Lydia R. Diamond’s play 'Smart People,' under Kenny Leon’s brisk direction, has going for it. Yes, Diamond’s work has some trenchant observations about race in America, But it’s much less smart, and far more muddled, than the author probably intended."
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"This is a swirl of theories, propositions and provocations in search of a play…Diamond works to establish relationships in ways that sometimes feel natural and more often feel strained. She wants the conflicts among them to emerge from character. But too often they feel like writerly contrivances…That the actors feel distanced from the more academic speeches does not help."
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" 'Confrontational People' would be a more apt title…Arguments are fine. Many fine plays have been built around them, but the quick repetition of them over the course of two and a half hours becomes numbing. In the first act, there are several vignettes, each of which carries the same weight under Kenny Leon‘s direction…Diamond means to say big things...Big ideas have a way of getting lost when people bicker."
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"I found the play somewhat unsatisfying. Diamond’s structure uses a lot of short, fragmentary scenes…The whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts…I felt that the sex scenes and the gratuitousl nudity were thrown in to grab the audience’s attention between didactic moments…The stunningly attractive cast make their characters lively…The direction by Kenny Leon seemed a bit slack. I do give the playwright credit for writing a play that is likely to provoke lively discussion."
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"There are racial and emotional land mines all around 'Smart People,' the provocative, sharply observed and shrewdly breezy new play...Directed with sly, stark sleekness, the serious comedy introduces disparate high-achievers who meet cute and cannot keep themselves from puncturing the relationships with sharp questions...Terrific acting and nuanced writing twist stereotypes into high-level thrills."
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"'Smart People' is a patchwork quilt of a play, a mélange of scenes about race in America without a distinctive through-pattern. Much of it is quite diverting, although it falls short of compelling...Diamond essentially presents these characters as types, outfitted with qualities and attitudes, rather than as distinctive individuals. Their conversations can be very witty, while also seeming artificial...Maybe, 'Smart People' is just the kind of play that gets you thinking rather than feeling."
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