The Coast Starlight NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (137)
See it if You truly enjoy intelligently written, acted and staged theater. I think they got everything right. I highly recommend
Don't see it if Go see it.. it’s definitely worth your time I loved it especially after seeing so much mediocre productions recently
See it if you want to see great theater done REALLY well.
Don't see it if you need unambiguous story telling and endings.
See it if You would like a show with little plot but great characters and excellent actors. I thought all the performances were impressive.
Don't see it if You would not like a sort of wistful play about characters who imagine relationships they might have with strangers.
See it if you like stories that make you stop and thing. This is a 'what if' story - the possibilities are endless!
Don't see it if you don't like plays. Read more
See it if Totally enjoyable show. Laughed out loud. It made me think. Writing is terrific. Absolutely go.
Don't see it if There’s no reason not to see it.
See it if you've ever considered the lives of strangers you pass by every day & wondered what would happen if you took a chance to get involved w/them
Don't see it if you don't want to think about other people's "stuff" & just want to sit back & be entertained Read more
See it if what a relief to have something to praise! Great acting and a great script. Compelling characters who grab your attention and your soul
Don't see it if you are not interested in people and their relationships. The concept is interesting: the what ifs and the missed opportunities.Real Theater
See it if You enjoy well-acted, refreshing, clever takes on traditional plots.
Don't see it if You enjoy only very traditional plays and dramas.
Critic Reviews (14)
CRITIC’S PICK: “The play often strikes a melancholy tone, but its wheels also send up sparks of generosity and in Liz’s monologue, sharp humor. So let it do what any train should, which is to move you.”
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"3/5 Stars. In theory, it's an interesting gambit to write a play in the past conditional, theatricalizing the guessing games we all play about what's going on in others' heads: Into the Woulds. But in practice here, it's sometimes difficult to discern what's being spoken out loud, what's being imagined by which character, and what’s authorial reverie. That would matter less if 'The Coast Starlight' were more consistently engaging, but the poetic discussions in this liminal space tend to veer into ponderousness."
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“ ‘The Coast Starlight’s’ thesis — that strangers on a train could change each other’s lives, and that you never really know what someone else is going through...Life lessons such as these feel obvious, and the characters’s exchanges on empathy don't feel like natural dialogue.”
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“I started to fantasize, in fact, about how relaxing it might be to go on a long, quiet trip by train.”
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“Simultaneously enchanted and approachable, ‘The Coast Starlight’ gently reveals the significance of fleeting encounters, even when no words are exchanged. It might make you look differently at the people seated around you as we all charge forth into the future.”
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“ ‘The Coast Starlight’ has a soulful contribution of its own to make...Whatever; this trip is filled with gorgeous things to see and contemplate.”
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“It is a risky idea for a play, a more-or-less plotless character study, but one in which a good many of the conversations we overhear among the characters apparently never actually take place, leaving us confused as to what to believe about any of them.”
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“ ‘The Coast Starlight’ is the sort of play that will stick in your mind long afterward. Especially the next time you find yourself in a confined space with a bunch of strangers about whom you’ll probably wind up concocting some imaginary scenarios of your own.”
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