The Whirligig NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (140)
See it if you like excellent acting, character analysis and an examination of poor decision making and its effect in peoples' future lives.
Don't see it if you favor escapist light entertainment with happy endings.
See it if You like Norbert--he's quite good. Don't mind a meandering, crowded script in need of edits and focus.
Don't see it if You need to experience a clean, cogent story. You can't suspend disbelief and logic. Read more
See it if you want to see a winsome, if imperfect, play by Linklater. A good dramaturge could tighten the script & loose ends of this fledgling play.
Don't see it if you aren't willing to give an experimental piece with a number of plot holes a chance. This was written in earnest & has a lot of potential.
See it if you enjoy well developed characters and masterful acting. Butz is great.
Don't see it if you don't like sad plays and flawed characters that are often hard to like.
See it if Your aware of new and up and coming actors with a bright future. A 2 1/2 hour play that involves an assortment of characters.
Don't see it if Slow moving story once again about a person who is ill. This maybe a turn off for some.
See it if you want to see great acting and a fun set...
Don't see it if you don't like plays about dysfunction...
See it if You are fans of the actors and want to see some good performances.
Don't see it if You are expecting to be moved. It's predictable.
See it if you want to see a good, but not great play dealing with themes of addiction, grief, and guilt. Excellent cast despite flaws in script.
Don't see it if you don't like plays that drag on too long or seeing some great acting wasted on a mediocre script.
Critic Reviews (41)
“The story feels loose under Elliott’s direction. Some of the connections are too baldly contrived…Elliott pulls good performances from all the actors…At the end, Linklater awkwardly attempts to bring most of them together with a bittersweet Shakespearean touch, but it doesn’t work. The result is unwieldy and overlong. Still, Linklater’s ambition is enormous, and the actors make the most of his dialogue, even if the whole may feel like a whirligig of improbability.”
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"'The Whirligig' blends comedy and tragedy in the style of 'The Cherry Orchard'...In contrast to Chekhov, the central plot device seems oddly devoid of allegorical significance...What rescues this production is Zosia Mamet...Mamet here masters the art of running rings around everyone else...Under Elliott’s uneven direction, things tend to become flat whenever Mamet is offstage and the male characters, an assortment of drunks, neurotics, and hypocrites, all seem a bit one-dimensional."
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“Many scenes strike hot, though a couple of important ones fizzle…For the most part, the clever unspooling of the plot is a joy to follow, while the fine cast burnishes individual moments of character revelation into a constellation of inky pathos and acidic humor…Dramatically satisfying, sometimes dizzying plot revelations revolve into view as the scenes spin round…‘The Whirligig’ doesn’t sustain its dreamy magic consistently, but it offers much to appreciate.”
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"Hamish Linklater has written a generous work, one that offers substantial roles to all eight of its actors...There is a humanity here that is missing from more conceptual contemporary works, and while the New Group has been marked recently by superb challenges to theatrical form and purpose, it feels comfortable and comforting to settle in to one that is simply and expertly written in the tradition of the well-made play."
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"Linklater’s heart is in the right place, but the plotting emerges without dramatic focus partly because the story shifts, sometimes clumsily, from the present day back and forth to events 10-15 years before. He introduces some mystery in who really got Julia started in drugs but it seems contrived...The acting of the talented cast is uneven...The usually reliable robust direction of Elliott is rather lifeless...One can’t experience catharsis if there isn’t any action."
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"'Whirligig' pitches the audience forwards and backwards in time and emotion, without ever losing its own footing. A beautifully efficient story of love in its many forms, the players in 'Whirligig' have taken the play's honesty to heart with touching and perfect performances. It is the story of a young woman's return home as she is dying, and the people who loved her. The tragedy is how long it takes us all to cut through the bullshit to truth and forgiveness."
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“The play continues to meander under Scott Elliott’s lethargic direction, and while the story itself tries to tackle serious matters nothing is very deeply felt nor does anything jell…Sadly, almost none of the performances are are up to what they should be…Only Hurt seems to have any semblance of realism and is not playing a caricature like the other performers...There is some substance here, but as presented it is an over-inflated, ponderous work.”
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“‘Whirligig’ is likely to remind you of other recent works, and the comparisons aren’t flattering…None of this precludes some misty-eyed enjoyment, and ‘Whirligig’ has some winning qualities. The deal breaker for me is mawkishness…There are some sweet character vignettes, expertly drawn by both the writer and the cast…But ‘Whirligig’ is circuitous and overwrought…Though ‘Whirligig’ spins and spins, Hamish Linklater’s bumpy, overwritten play never finds an anchor.”
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