About the Show

Tony Award-winning playwright/director Richard Nelson returns to The Public with the next installment of his Rhinebeck Panorama, exploring the rich humanity within the incidental moments of a single day.

From the show:

Tony Award-winning playwright/director Richard Nelson returns to The Public with the world premiere of THE MICHAELS. Part of Nelson’s critically acclaimed RHINEBECK PANORAMA, which includes The Apple Family and The Gabriels, this new drama places the audience directly into the kitchen of Rose Michael, a celebrated choreographer. Dinner is cooked, modern dances are rehearsed, and the meal is eaten — all amidst conversations about art, death, family, dance, politics, the state of America, and how the world sees our country... and a host of everyday questions that make up the richness of ordinary life.

With grace and depth, Nelson once again creates an intricate, moving snapshot of modern-day America. Laced with humor and heartbreak, THE MICHAELS is a beautiful new play, illustrating the rich humanity within the incidental moments of one day.

Critic Reviews (15)

CRITIC’S PICK "Dance as Life in Upstate New York: In this delicately wrought portrait of a dying choreographer and her family, Richard Nelson’s play considers the redemptive powers of art in fractious times."
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4/5 Stars "Part of the power of these plays lies in the naturalism and lack of sentimentality with which Nelson...allows them to unfold. And he's fortunate to be reunited here with Sanders and Plunkett, who bring affecting honesty to seemingly ordinary interactions."
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"Richard Nelson’s Family Cycles Capture Life in Real Time: The up-to-the-minute timeliness of the playwright’s work is like a magnifying glass that focusses and intensifies the moment."
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"Playwright-director Richard Nelson continues his intimate portraiture of our troubled times with the latest elegiac chapter in his 'Rhinebeck Panorama.'"
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"Richard Nelson Adds a New Family To His Intriguing Rhinebeck Panorama with 'THE MICHAELS'"
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"Delicately wrought and hard as a rock, 'The Michaels' seduces with the details, caught on the fly, of lives well-lived in spite of everything. The play, subtitled, 'Conversations During Difficult Times,' is a balm for troubled spirits."
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5/5 Stars "Nelson, in his 'Rhinebeck Panorama' series, has presented us with evening after evening after evening of intriguing and engrossing drama. The Michaels join the Apples and the Gabriels, and playgoers are urged to take a seat around the table while seats are still available."
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4/5 Stars "It's nice to be back in Rhinebeck. The Michaels is a work about time passing, about things passing, about remembering what came before - and is there anything so ephemeral as the steps to a movement long ago last danced?:
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