The Portuguese Kid
Closed 1h 40m
The Portuguese Kid
73

The Portuguese Kid NYC Reviews and Tickets

73%
(190 Reviews)
Positive
70%
Mixed
22%
Negative
8%
Members say
Funny, Entertaining, Great acting, Fluffy, Disappointing

About the Show

Manhattan Theatre Club presents this new feisty romantic comedy from Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize, and Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley ('Doubt'), starring Jason Alexander ('Seinfeld.')

Read more Show less

Member Reviews (190)

Sort by:
  • Default
  • Standing in our community
  • Highest first
  • Lowest first
  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Only positive
  • Only negative
  • Only mixed
982 Reviews | 343 Followers
30
Incoherent script, Unfunny script, Misogynistic script, Cliched script, Boring script

See it if you are willing to sacrifice your standards of decency/taste for a couple of funny lines. The sets are fantastic if that is enough for you.

Don't see it if you want to be entertained. TPK made me angry w/its horrible portrayal of women. What was MTC thinking to foist this mess on its audience? Read more

650 Reviews | 284 Followers
56
If only "kid" w jason alexander were written by seinfeld, but it's not

See it if the actors work their tushes off to make this awkward vehicle funny, and in the first scene, it is

Don't see it if combination of jokiness and pseudo-profundity makes the production painful to watch; Alexander's Costanza shtick not well suited 2 role

488 Reviews | 316 Followers
55
Nice set, Slightly funny. a few good lines, Banal, Disappointing

See it if You really want to see Jason Alexander. He is George Costanza in the part. No different. But lines are not as good.

Don't see it if You want to see a great show and have a really entertaining evening. This is not that show.

520 Reviews | 107 Followers
72
Way better than i thought

See it if you want to see a good solid all around comedy

Don't see it if you are expecting anything serious. This is a silly even for a comedy. Read more

512 Reviews | 79 Followers
40
Disappointing, Banal, Cliched, Excruciating, Fluffy

See it if you love Mary Testa.She is BRILLIANT. Jason Alexander is also terrific, playing to type Play itself is awful. Can't believe Shanley wrote it

Don't see it if you can avoid it.Boring, crass, dull,stereotyped characters. Set and lighting were very good. The script is just empty, nothing there.

480 Reviews | 134 Followers
44
Banal, Insipid, Disappointing, Cliched, Flat

See it if You can excuse bad writing. You are a huge fan of any or all of the actors. You don’t care if plot is insipid as long as sets are nice !

Don't see it if You saw John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “Doubt” and you are expecting another brilliant work by this Playwright !

406 Reviews | 188 Followers
78
Funny, Great acting, Great writing, Redundant, Ironic

See it if You like relationship stories with great acting. Storyline wears a little thin, and Trump jokes seem unnecessary. Jason Alexander

Don't see it if You are tired of Trump jokes which seem forced into script. Are offended by obscenity and sexual references.

435 Reviews | 61 Followers
85
Delightful, Funny, Refreshing, Dated

See it if You’re looking for an old fashioned comedy. It’s adorable. Great cast!

Don't see it if You only want serious drama.

Critic Reviews (38)

The New York Times
October 24th, 2017

“The jokes are ancient. I’m not sure you can credit as jokes the mechanical dings that the play spews every 15 seconds. They are, at best, the husks of jokes...Did I mention there’s a plot? Well there is, sort of, but it doesn’t make sense...A strong countervailing force might have encouraged Shanley to look beyond the sitcom laugh track...Certainly, a better director would have done more than let the play coast on the sorely tried inventiveness of its stars."
Read more

Time Out New York
October 24th, 2017

“The script is literally written in comic sans...Shanley’s strained, hoary sex comedy...It’s like Bergman’s 'Smiles of a Summer Night,' if the smiles were forced wacky grins...Amid the stale trashiness are salvageable morsels: a few decent jokes in the first scene, a neat revolving set by Beatty, a choice performance by Testa...The play's ideas about passion and gender are shot through with retrograde banality...It’s 2017. Whom does a play like this think it's kidding?”
Read more

New York Magazine / Vulture
October 24th, 2017

"Unconscionable...'The Portuguese Kid' has about as much objective as an episode of 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' and an arc that’s equal parts lazy predictability and seriously unfunny topicality...Predictability, though, is comparatively low on the list of ‘The Portuguese Kid’s’ sins. Far more disturbing are the gender dynamics of Shanley’s play, and the self-congratulatory, deeply uncute ways in which the production dabbles in current politics."
Read more

The Hollywood Reporter
October 24th, 2017

"An underdeveloped doodle that tosses around allusions to Greek mythology as weightlessly as it takes inorganic jabs at Trump, the play squanders the talents of a gifted cast...Under Shanley's pedestrian direction, the ensemble is required to labor so hard breathing life into the material that it could almost be classified as employee abuse...Shanley is too skilled a writer not to muster at least mild amusement, but the comedy mostly is an awkward collision of shrill and flat."
Read more

Entertainment Weekly
October 24th, 2017

“Most of Shanley’s jokes are deliciously funny in his actors’ hands...Not every joke lands...Even the titular joke pales in comparison to far wittier one-liners... When it tries to tackle more existential questions about life, love, and purpose, it falls short. Still, 'The Portuguese Kid' makes for a wildly entertaining couple of hours of whip-smart banter — as long as you don’t expect much substance beyond that."
Read more

Variety
October 24th, 2017

“A strong cast and some high-end design work but all of it is wasted on material that can’t begin to measure up to the playwright’s best work...Whatever you do, don’t think plot, of which there is none...The play is all talk, none of it amusing or interesting...The best Shanley can come up with is the occasional one-liner...Instead of adding some substance to the lightweight characters, all these references to the heroes and heroines of Greek myth only remind us of what we’re missing.”
Read more

The Wall Street Journal
October 26th, 2017

"The funniest new comedy I’ve reviewed since…well, maybe ever...I don’t know when I last saw another stage comedy that was funny right from the top, or one whose last scene was so unmanipulatively touching. The entire cast is dead-solid perfect, and Mr. Shanley, one of the few playwrights of note who can be trusted to direct his own work, does so to ideal effect...To laugh this hard for that long is downright therapeutic."
Read more

Deadline
October 24th, 2017

“What can I say about a terrible play that made me laugh? That it’s a waste of talent and hardly worthy of Jason Alexander’s return to the stage?...That it deserves a pass because it’s by John Patrick Shanley?...Did I mention it made me laugh, and that I wouldn’t necessarily admit it except there were witnesses?...The MTC A-team has delivered a great-looking show...Don’t look for deep meaning below the surface. The play is piffle, but you will laugh in spite of yourself.”
Read more