The Portuguese Kid NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (190)
See it if You just want to laugh for 90 minutes. I was thoroughly entertained. The actors seem to be enjoying the show as much as we were.
Don't see it if You want all that hilarity to add up to anything. There was a half-hearted attempt at an ending, but it just kind of fizzled out.
See it if you are looking for a few fluffy laughs
Don't see it if you want something with a message, anything of substance
See it if You are a "Seinfeld" fan or you enjoy smart comedies.
Don't see it if You're looking for Noel Coward, though that's an awfully high bar. Read more
See it if you're a fan of witty dialogue and really incredible acting. While some of it is predictable, it is very well done.
Don't see it if you're looking for something really deep. It's entertaining and clever, but not life-altering.
See it if You like sweet amusing plays. Enjoyable evening
Don't see it if Looking for profound, hilarious or memorable
See it if You want to see some great comic performers
Don't see it if Sadly the play is not as smart as it is funny.
See it if You like the cast. It's nothing more than a sitcom.
Don't see it if You expect a sophisticated theatrical show.
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
Critic Reviews (38)
“An old-fashioned Neil Simon-style romantic farce...Shanley wrote and directed, making changes to the second and fourth scenes up to the very last minute during previews, and it unfortunately shows; those scenes are more chaotic and unformed than the fabulous first and third scenes, in which the characters are well developed, the actors get to strut their stuff, and the plot thickens in wonderfully acerbic ways."
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"Gather a cast of first-class actors, add some laughs, some romance and chances are, you have a pretty good play. Not a great play, not flawless, not wall-to-wall hilarious, but enough to send out the audience with a smile...The cast is enthusiastic, the production values are stellar and there are more than a few laughs but as for the book, we have come to expect something more solid from John Patrick Shanley."
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"A little like a guilty pleasure. You get the feeling maybe you shouldn’t be enjoying it so much. But somehow you can’t help yourself...Some of the jokes are stale or don’t quite land...But happily Scott and Alexander turn every rough diamond into a polished gem...Perhaps the virtue of this cast is that they seem to viscerally understand the ridiculous nature of the material...It does provide a few much needed laughs during these difficult and frustrating times."
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"Part farce, part rom-com, the occasionally funny but ultimately trivial play...doesn’t really go anywhere that’s not completely predictable. Unless you count the jarring intrusion of the political. Atalanta is none too fond of our sitting president, demanding to know who voted for him and describing him in nasty, unflattering terms. Did Shanley really need to go there?"
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"There aren't many surprises to be had in this play...Part of the issue is the delivery...but through it all, you still get a sense of the humor in the writing...The real problem with the play is when Shanley inches toward sentimentality or gender politics...'The Portuguese Kid' attempts to be a hilarious battle of the sexes, its laughs are shallow and simplistic and, unfortunately, rewarding of views that don't quite sit right with our current politics."
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“Jason Alexander, as Barry, serves up a variation one his ‘Seinfeld’ character, and Mary Testa is a little too over the top as the mother, but Sherie Rene Scott steals the show as Atalanta, and Pico Alexander (Freddy) and Aimee Carerro (Patty) are almost as amusing. If you are tired of play after depressing play and want just to have a good time and laugh your head off, ‘The Portuguese Kid’ is for you.”
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