The Light Years NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (161)
See it if You enjoy unusual conceptual shows
Don't see it if You need a large cast and a standard storyline
See it if Debate Society's latest atmospheric meta-drama Butler stages with panache on Jellinek's fabulous set but can't quite unite splintered script
Don't see it if Imaginative scenes & good acting (Sisto a standout) fails to engage us about time travelling tale of American dreamers Lots of style though
See it if you want to see a visually inventive look at light and history seen through the eyes of two time periods. An intimate tale yet universal.
Don't see it if you aren't open to magical storytelling with two time lines operating at once.
See it if you'd like a provocative consideration of time, aspiration, progress, and stasis.
Don't see it if you're not able to overlook some gaps in the play's arguments
See it if you like a well done show focused around the Chicago Expositions of 1893 and 1933. It is well researched and has interesting characters.
Don't see it if are looking for a rousing or profound work of theater, although it is engaging and not boring.
See it if you like pieces that have an historical basis.
Don't see it if you want a fleshed out story that fills in all the gaps. Left with too many questions.
See it if you enjoy great acting, history or World's Fairs.
Don't see it if you don't like a slow pace, a meandering storyline or multiple timelines.
See it if you want to encounter a captivating & confounding & compassionate rumination on the precarity of artistic aspiration
Don't see it if you need narrative clarity
Critic Reviews (31)
"Ambitious, theatrical and imaginative...The scenario is engaging and the characters are lovingly rendered. The material is perfectly realized by Mr. Butler’s vibrant direction...The actual plots are not overly gripping, but are part of the show’s warm fabric of presenting these bygone eras of American life with charm, whimsy and humanity...Though stylized, the performances never devolve into parody."
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"Their stories have a lovely Americana flavor, but aren't too saccharine to overlook that as everyman-woman-child counterparts they also had to deal with dreams that go sour...Butler has assembled a fine cast to navigate the 40-years apart worlds...Butler not only keeps the actors fluidly moving back and forth in time but around the versatile basic set...While 'The Light Years' covers a lot of ground, it would be even better if it could do so in about ten minutes less."
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"Its lack of focus diminishes its impact...The two plot lines run on parallel tracks...While they don’t detract from each other, neither do they add...Coexistence is a good thing in many situations, but it doesn’t provide much dramatic tension...Oliver Butler’s direction is fine but doesn’t clarify the play’s point of view or justify its lacking one. Many individual scenes and moments work well on their own but don’t contribute to the piece as a whole."
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“A long and uneventful story…This is a well-intentioned piece, but it is missing the ‘WHY’ that is the required center of every story ever told…The dialogue is bland and disconnected. They speak, but their words don’t connect…These characters never step out of two dimensions and into the world of living, breathing beings. We leave the theatre filled with fascinating anecdotes. Our hunger for humanity, however, remains unsatisfied.”
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"This play carries a lot of the same vision and childlike fun, but sadly the light loses some focus and drive as we move deeper into the shadows of its lovely sad tale...Bos and Thureen do an impressive job giving us clever, loving dialogue and some wonderful, engaging characters, but the big picture is a little harder to see...We keep waiting for astounding, only to get quaint and sweet instead. It’s a lot of sound and fury, signifying, well not nothing, but something not enough."
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"These dual time periods create interesting opportunities for both performance and design...The difference, brought out all the more by Cash playing both wives, is fascinating to watch. Two distinct kinds of affection are on display here...The set and costumes take advantage of the time period jumps, too...Overall, the design shines...Even with such a great sense of time period, deep connections form between these worlds and our own."
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“A pleasant, but less than fulfilling concoction…There are deaths, explosions emitting from dreamy contraptions, actors roaming among the audience, and dialogue that certainly tickles the audience, if not my particular funny bone….The actors are all very good…It is certainly recommended for a family’s night out. There is a bright and curious child, flashing bulbs of all sizes and shapes, constellations sparkling from above, and even some history that goes down easily.”
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“The concept seems forced in order to make a point about following one's dream and to offer a theatrical image of differences in American society across the years. MacKaye's tale alone, and what he went through before having to scale back his goals, would have made a far more interesting play about American aspiration and technological progress, especially if some creative means had been found to represent what he was after. Here we get some light but very little illumination.”
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