The End of Longing NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (118)
See it if Great for TV aficionados, All four cast members do the job. Interesting look at alcohol and commitment problems.
Don't see it if You cannot relate to people who are narrowly focused
See it if had VERY low expectations, so enjoyed it more. Perry's personal therapy session. The other actors were solid!
Don't see it if You want a really well done play. Feels sitcom-y. Jokes are set up. Wants to be deep, but isn't.
See it if you want to see two recognizable people, Perry and the women from House.
Don't see it if you want a consistent show that keeps you absorbed.
See it if you like Mathew Perry (from Friends). It's a dark comedy about a drunk, an escort service woman, a neurotic, and a simpleton.
Don't see it if you are looking for a more serious play and don't like the "f" words being used in almost every sentences.
See it if you love Matthew Perry.His performance was weak, and his writing even weaker.The play was predictable, cliched, & badly acted by 3/4 of cast
Don't see it if you are looking for a tight, well written play.This is just a ho-hum play very badly acted.Only 1 character was believable.
See it if you want to see Perry up close & personal, in a show that is clearly a labor of love. The plot & his performance are only ok but heartfelt.
Don't see it if you're expecting Perry's performance to be of the same caliber as the rest of the cast, or you're expecting any new insights into addiction.
See it if A decent show, formulated like a sitcom (with pauses so you know when to laugh, and rather surface-y) with a strong supportive cast.
Don't see it if You expect Chandler Bing; you expect a play that delves into addiction to say something profound and personal.
See it if you think tv sitcom dialogue is the height of sophistication
Don't see it if you aren't devoted to Matthew Perry
Critic Reviews (31)
"Perry takes little interest in the life-defining pains he assigns his characters…It is filled with jokes, but the sort of jokes you might expect of late-series ‘Friends’…Quincy Dunn-Baker, Sue Jean Kim and Jennifer Morrison all bring wit and zest to their thinly drawn roles and clunky dialogue…If you plop every seriocomedy into a spreadsheet and calculate the mean, this is what you’ll get. It is also, not coincidentally, a powerful argument for new plays to be anything but average.”
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"A poorly written rom-com that is implausible, with one-dimensional characters spouting one-liners that for the most part are not funny...Perry has written about three seasons of sitcom episodes condensed into 100 minutes that expose ridiculous situations completely void of emotional content...It is all predictable and when trying to take a couple of dramatic turns it fails miserably...Posner keeps a smart brisk pace so as not to leave the audience pondering the glib one-liners too long."
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"Perry’s bravery and his star appeal, along with Lindsay Posner’s swift direction and the competence of the three other cast members, help make MCC’s production of 'The End of Longing' come off as better than the script deserves...His characters are all one-note...Very little of it feels plausible. This is largely because much of the dialogue is stilted and strained, especially the attempts at humor."
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"Chock-full of witty sitcom banter and deadly truths about alcoholism. That these polar opposites sit somewhat uneasily within the same 100-minute piece should be unsurprising...Directed with a certain flatness by Lindsay Posner...Perry proves to have some considerable dramatic chops...Unfortunately, and this is where the play truly falls short of its goal, Perry (as both writer and star) can’t really make us believe that Stephanie would want to forge a serious relationship with Jack."
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“A woozy rom-com that isn't quite able to walk the straight line without wobbling…The friendships between Jeffrey and Jack and Stephanie and Stevie lack basic credibility. Perry provides so little about these people apart from their most obvious characteristics, it's hard to see them as little more than superficial figures whose raison d'être is to differ sharply from one another…Perry is a believable drunk but his character is too unappetizing to make his romance with Stephanie plausible.”
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"When playwright Perry lets Jack loose to be who he really becomes, actor Perry holds nothing back — not the anger, not the long-hidden fear, not the incipient paunch creeping over his belt. It’s a brave performance because it’s implicit that Perry, who famously battled opioid and alcohol addiction, is impersonating himself...'The End of Longing' is another way for Perry to send his sobering message forward. He’s done it rather well. Let’s raise a flute of sparkling water to him."
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“Perry’s Off-Broadway debut isn’t very good…Jack is a slovenly, glib, often aggressive mess, and there’s a certain ‘been there, done that’ authenticity to Perry’s earnest portrayal. It’s less easy to buy that he’s also meant to be a charmer…Many feeble quips make you miss the ace ‘Friends’ writing room…The line between Perry and his alter ego appears to be thin, which makes the show, as clunky as it is, a strangely fascinating exercise in celebrity catharsis.”
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"Begins as a sexy, trite sitcom but halfway through turns into the kind of treacly TV drama that populated the major networks before cable came to the rescue...Abrasion does not begin to describe the Stevie character or Kim’s performance...Dunn-Baker, sporting one of those comfy lumberjack beards, gives a relatively quiet, unforced performance. He’s a welcome respite in this play, frenetically directed by Lindsay Posner."
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