The Way We Get By NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (18)
See it if you like a quirky story with a twist
Don't see it if you don't like family type drama plays
See it if you want to see an interesting story presented by a good playwright
Don't see it if you are adverse to an unusual relationship
See it if Terrific performances by the talented leads.
Don't see it if The story doesn't really know how to end.
See it if You like shows about relationships that have both comedic and dramatic moments or if you're a fan of Niel Labute.
Don't see it if You don't like 2 person shows or are expecting much from it. The show is nice, at times its a bit slow, the twist was a bit of a let down
See it if you want a relationship play.
Don't see it if you are very uncomfortable with incestual relationships.
See it if you're interested in contemporary plays & enjoy stories about complex family relationships.
Don't see it if you want something fast paced, don't enjoy the slow burn or discovery of the characters' pasts, or don't like tug-and-pull story telling.
See it if you like the actors. It's entertaining but not great. It's not painful...
Don't see it if you expect a thrilling plot.
See it if If you like plays about messed up relationships. I used to like everything by Neil until I saw All the ways to say I love you.
Don't see it if you don't like Neil type plays. It about a messed up relationship. I love the topic, this was good not great.
Critic Reviews (19)
"Slight but spirited...There are several good reasons to see the show (it’s short, it’s sexy, it’s starry, it’s well acted) and others not to (it’s contrived, it’s manipulative and even at 70 minutes, too long for its limited purposes). Your call."
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"Most of the play consists of loud bickering and small-talk filler. This is meant to suggest a morning-after dance of negotiations, but while it’s nice to see LaBute working in a less misanthropic mode than usual, the characters are drawn too sketchily to support it, and the actors have little chemistry... Even as LaBute fills in their history, their present stays flat. The play is a glazy cruller: one big twist with a hole in the middle."
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"Neil LaBute’s latest disappointing mousetrap...I felt just like Doug for much of the play: So tell me then. Come on. Please. And yet, when LaBute responded to my mute screams, I quickly began to wish he hadn’t. If the setup were monumentally entertaining and the payoff profoundly engrossing, a trick like this might work, but the setup here is barely bearable. The payoff is nonexistent. Or rather, it is trite, a perfunctory wave at carpe diem."
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"LaBute doesn't develop his provocative premise in particularly interesting fashion. Much of the dialogue about the couple's concern over reactions of their friends and family should they decide to take the relationship further proves banal and repetitive. Still, the playwright's gift for amusing banter is very much on display, garnering more than a few laughs with running gags...A feel-good, happy ending that at least doesn't send us out with a sour taste in our mouths."
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"The writer who has been called 'America’s misanthrope par excellence' appears to have had a change of heart when it comes to matters of the same organ. 'The Way We Get By' feels like a refreshingly sunnier and more hopeful LaBute, with moments that feel suspiciously like giddy joy."
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"A bigger issue is how annoying they are...The show, ably directed by Leigh Silverman, hinges on whether Beth and Doug will decide to grow up — and whether they’ll do it together. The only thing for sure is that they’re likely to keep yammering on."
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"As in other LaBute stories, these characters arrive fully formed and ready for full frontal heart to heart combat. Over the course of 80 or so minutes that fly by, LaBute turns up the temperature incrementally. He gives his characters time to listen, parry, act and react. He gives us time to be drawn into the basement of their story – which is where we want to be...And it is totally worth the watch. Bravo."
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"LaBute, the master of corrosive misoygny, has become a sweet fool for love. Tentative embraces and pussyfooted retreats underscore the rom-com textures. Then, at the one-hour mark in this 85-minute Second Stage production, reality bites. He’s up to up to his time-tested switcheroos. It also sinks the show."
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