The Low Road
Closed 2h 45m
The Low Road
80

The Low Road NYC Reviews and Tickets

80%
(147 Ratings)
Positive
87%
Mixed
11%
Negative
2%
Members say
Clever, Great acting, Ambitious, Relevant, Intelligent

About the Show

From Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Bruce Norris ('Clybourne Park') and the Public Theater comes this epic play examining the basic beliefs upon which we’ve built our economy and our country.

Read more Show less

Show-Score Member Reviews (147)

Sort by:
  • Default
  • Standing in our community
  • Highest first
  • Lowest first
  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Only positive
  • Only negative
  • Only mixed
AEO
111 Reviews | 13 Followers
99
Absorbing, Clever, Entertaining, Great acting, Great writing

See it if This is one brilliantly conceived production. As hilarious as it is intelligent. An intelligent weaving of economics and great fun!

Don't see it if You hated Tom Jones.

89 Reviews | 10 Followers
95
Funny, Thought-provoking, Relevant, Great concept

See it if You enjoy fun, parable-eqsue stories about economic theories

Don't see it if You love capitalism or Ayn Rand.

108 Reviews | 34 Followers
95
Ambitious, Thought-provoking, Relevant, Masterful, Intelligent

See it if a terrific night in the theatre, an intelligent, brilliantly performed and directed, satisfying play. Highly recommended!! Great night out!

Don't see it if you don't like history, economics, a Candide-like plot, or a satirical look at America when it was founded and America today.

138 Reviews | 87 Followers
95
Absorbing, Ambitious, Great acting, Great writing, Riveting

See it if A compelling dramatization of the dangers of capital. There is something Twain-esque about it all. The Public’s mission at its best,

Don't see it if You believe in Ayn Rand.

66 Reviews | 15 Followers
94
Ambitious, Entertaining, Intelligent, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if This is the play I think everybody should see. It is fascinating, intelligent, and extremely relevant.

Don't see it if No reason not to see it.

570 Reviews | 87 Followers
94
Absorbing, Clever, Delightful, Great staging, Great acting

See it if you like inventive & absorbing theatre. This is The Public at its best.Script is clever, fast paced, fun, relevant, and delightful.

Don't see it if you want a realistic, straightforward play.This takes you on a ride, teaches you a lot without ever preaching. It's a gem.

95 Reviews | 6 Followers
92
Funny, Great writing, Great acting, Clever, Absorbing

See it if you loved Hamilton and need more shows set during the colonial era. It's engaging, funny, and completely unique.

Don't see it if you're expecting Hamilton in play form.

133 Reviews | 36 Followers
91
Clever, Delightful, Great acting, Ambitious, Intelligent

See it if you political, historical, yet highly entertaining theater

Don't see it if only the very narrow-minded would not like this

Critic Reviews (29)

The New York Times
March 7th, 2018

"Norris and Greif pull off the not inconsiderable feat of keeping us fully, even breathlessly engaged, without presenting a single character who entirely captures our sympathies...Yet after a cliff-hanging first-act finale, the play seems to lose faith in its audience's capacity for inference...What keeps us from tuning out is the infectious energy of an ensemble that delights in its characters' displays of cupidity and stupidity, and the storybook ingenuity of the production."
Read more

Time Out New York
March 8th, 2018

"Sensationally prickly and entertaining new play...In the course of this wide-paneled epic—marvelously assembled by director Michael Greif—Norris aims liberating arrows of skepticism at a diverse range of targets...'The Low Road' enjoys being a play, and its dramatic weaponry is wielded with skill by a first-rate cast of 18...Norris has a heart that doubts whatever it looks on, and its looks go everywhere, even to the audience. In every sense, his play is an embarrassment of riches."
Read more

New York Magazine / Vulture
March 9th, 2018

"Norris's rancid, rollicking picaresque...under the sharp-as-a-hatpin direction of Greif...Its parody of the classic young-man-sets-out-to-make-his-fortune story is smart, well-crafted, very well-acted, darkly funny, and beautifully designed...Also so filled with bitterness and loathing...Leaves you cold when the laughter dies down...An ensemble piece, with all 18 cast members doing fine, focused, often funny work...Both entertaining and disturbingly numbing in its hopelessness."
Read more

New York Daily News
March 7th, 2018

"It's ambitious, smart, impolite, funny, and unwilling to stay in one era when two will do better. On the downside, the 2 1/2-hour work can be overly blunt and unwieldy. A cast's worth of good performances plus atmospheric design work offer compensation for weak spots...Greif excels at guiding complex stories and large casts. Even with his fine work, the story eventually sags. One wishes something would move it along - an invisible hand or judicious pruning, perhaps."
Read more

The Hollywood Reporter
March 7th, 2018

"Norris doesn't fully succeed in weaving his expansive theatrical canvas. Although several episodes register dramatically or comedically, the proceedings are more often than not jumbled and confused. The play's themes regarding the rapaciousness of unchecked capitalism feel forced and repetitive...Greif does an excellent job of staging such a complex production...The fine efforts of everyone involved aren't enough to lift 'The Low Road' to the theatrical heights to which it aspires."
Read more

AM New York
March 8th, 2018

"Unwieldy and upbeat satire/historical drama/lecture...Michael Greif’s two-and-a-half hour production is a boisterous affair with a large ensemble cast, including lively comedic turns from Harriet Harris and Kevin Chamberlin...One can’t help but compare 'The Low Road' with the Broadway musical 'Candide,' in which Voltaire (also an 18th-century philosopher) narrates the picaresque adventures of a far more likable young man who also clings to a single simple philosophy."
Read more

Theatermania
March 7th, 2018

"Wildly ambitious and endlessly entertaining...Greif and Norris present the first act with Brechtian flair, employing...broad stroke performances, and the kind of narration that rudely interrupts the action to teach us something. Yet just when we think we've figured this shtick out, Norris changes the game, especially during a jaw-dropping entr'acte that is the kind of inventive social critique that isn't so easy to dismiss...None of it would be possible without an immensely talented ensemble."
Read more

BroadwayWorld
March 13th, 2018

"Cleverly devised and wonderfully played...A terrific ensemble of players guided by the talented hand of director Michael Grief...A tale of a young abandoned lad who uses his brains and white male privilege to advance in the emerging nation...'The Low Road' is a sharp enough commentary on the long-lived American dream, without necessitating reminders of any newly-developed nightmares."
Read more