The End of Longing NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (118)
See it if If you like Friends, this is a darker version, but still very enjoyable. Matthew Perry and Jennifer Morrison are excellent.
Don't see it if You don't like Friends or sit com type comedy.
See it if Phenomenal web of human emotions and relationships and how we suffer. Great writing, and if you love Chandler Bing, you'll love this
Don't see it if You hated Chandler Bing
See it if you are a fan of Matthew Perry, if you enjoy a tale of dysfunctional romance or if you just enjoy an entertaining night of dramedy.
Don't see it if you dislike dysfunctional romantic dramedies, or are looking for a transformative play. This play is for entertainment purposes only. Read more
See it if you want to see a HUMAN play that may have flaws but can be moving.
Don't see it if you sense it may be sitcomy at times.
See it if You like shows about real life situations, blooming love stories, sadness and laughter mixed together PLUS Matthew Perry!!
Don't see it if You don't like sometimes uncomfortable sad real life situations
See it if A happier "Sexual Perversity in Chicago." Fun. Nice performances.
Don't see it if Isn't as deep as it wants to be.
See it if like Matthew Perry; the cast is very good. The play is a humorous look at relationships and addiction. It moves quickly.
Don't see it if don't want to see another show about alcoholism, although it's a unique take.
See it if If you like Matthew Perry's portrayal of Oscar Madison, racheted up to a pathetic bully. You like stories about disfunctional and desperate
Don't see it if people. If you are looking for Chandler Bing. Matthew Perry need more rehearsal and more stage experience. Read more
Critic Reviews (31)
"If Jack is convincingly darker than your typical sitcom denizen, Mr. Perry doesn’t have the verbal and dramaturgical skills as an author to take the play—his first—where the character is leading...With few exceptions, the play remains trite even as it approaches seriousness...Under the direction of Lindsay Posner, 'The End of Longing' seems like staged television...Perry has written a synthetic play that mostly points out just how much better 'Friends' was written."
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"The play spends 100 minutes feeding at rock bottom, alternating between coarse quasi-humor, strained melodrama and maudlin romance. Many of the lines seem to think they are jokes, but forget to include the joke part...Writing this play may have been a therapeutic exercise for Perry, who has battled alcohol and drug addiction; you can sense him sweating out the toxins. That’s commendable but personal. The public result is a sweaty, toxic play that only makes you long for an ending."
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"Perry’s reach exceeds his grasp—and then some—in 'The End of Longing,' a contrived comedy-drama...Even when the play seeks to go to deeper places about prostitution and alcoholism and, quite literally, matters of life and death, the script is mired in superficiality and implausibility...Even though the characters are sketchy stick figures, the cast, directed by Lindsay Posner, offers some relief...Perry needs to up his one-note performance—and be quick about it."
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"Lindsay Posner’s direction doesn’t give the actors any way to rise above their stereotypes...Only Kim, with her natural comedic gifts, manages to get an honest laugh from the corny repartee...There’s no question that Perry put his heart into this play, this role, this moment of truth — and the redemptive purging it promises. But the whole enterprise is so self-serving, it really doesn’t need an audience to do its job."
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"Squashes its attempt at tackling dark themes with a glib approach that ill-serves both the subject matter and the performers...The playwright’s inexperience becomes evident from the paper-thin characterizations and lack of credible plotting...Perry at least demonstrates that his extensive TV comedy experience has rubbed off. The evening features many amusing one-liners...Posner keeps the proceedings effectively fast-paced...But he’s unable to infuse the evening with emotional authenticity."
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"There are a few chuckles here, and some comfortingly familiar sarcasm...But for the most part 'Longing' consists of four characters announcing feelings that these actors are likely skilled enough to register without many words...Where Perry’s script and performance does graze the truth is in two monologues that his character delivers about the grip and desperation of addiction...I found myself wondering if 'Longing' might have better succeeded as a one-man show."
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"Embarrassingly terrible. So bad, in fact, that I find it hard to believe that any random person who attends this contrived, mawkish, painfully unfunny and utterly pointless star vehicle can’t write something better...It’s disconcerting that MCC Theater agreed to produce the play, which proves that even a much-respected not-for-profit will put on a play by a once-popular TV actor, regardless of its quality."
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"Mildly entertaining but mostly cringe-inducing...It's basically every rom-com you've ever seen, presented in 100 minutes of predictable plot development and lowest-common-denominator jokes. At least director Posner gives this apparition from the '90s an attractive production...The performances are also decent...Jack...delivers a tearful monologue to an AA meeting. The moment is brave and slightly uncomfortable, but it still doesn't salvage 'The End of Longing' from being a giant cliché."
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