What Did You Expect?: Election Year in the Life of One Family, Play Two NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson returns to The Public Theater with part two of his new three-play cycle about a year in the life of the Gabriels of Rhinebeck, New York.
Show-Score Member Reviews (82)
See it if you love Richard Nelson's plays. I love this series and the Apple family too. I'm not exactly sure why they work but they really move me.
Don't see it if you expect a lot of action. It's more like eavesdropping. But in the most illuminating way. Go.
See it if you saw and enjoyed "The Apple Family" series at the Public last season, and have enjoyed the first show of "The Gabriels " this season.
Don't see it if you dislike shows which are all talk and little action; you are totally disinterested in "normal" family life portrayed on stage.
See it if you're up for a masterfully-executed quiet, absorbing, & profoundly-intimate ensemble drama
Don't see it if you can't with a play about the economic precarity & existential crises confronting middle-aged, middle-class white people in upstate ny
See it if love great natural acting, are a fan of these plays by Richard Nelson where everyday people struggle to make their way in difficult times.
Don't see it if you need more plot than this play delivers, or if you can't identify, for example, w/ the financial crises of hard working people.
See it if You like subtle theater with a flare for nuance. You like ensemble casts w/ the dynamic pairing of Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders
Don't see it if You want a fast paced, obvious show.
See it if You want to see the next episode of the Gabriel family saga, or if you want to see a play that explores the 2016 election year angst.
Don't see it if You don't like Chekhovian style character plays.
See it if number 2 in a three part, this one is very family focused. brother sister, two sister in laws and mother from Rhinebeck. reflection on life
Don't see it if if you dont like limited dialogue. Taking play with a family around the kitchen table, strife and struggles in Part two of 3 part play
See it if you love simple story telling, beautifully rendered. Easily heard even when the actors backs are to you-Thank you. See it.
Don't see it if you don't want to think how people get/ find themselves in difficult situations with no easy answers.
Critic Reviews (26)
"There’s no real plot and nothing much happens. The Gabriels’ chatter, which takes in Herman Melville and Edith Wharton, is unusually cultivated, but they never embark on any great flights of eloquence. The results are as close to a perfect illusion as theatre can get, an effect heightened by the fact that each installment is set in real time on opening night...Some might say this is a bit like watching paint dry. If so, the painting is by Vermeer."
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"Playwright and director, Richard Nelson, delivers such a flavorful and natural script that you feel like you are almost intruding on this family, but you can’t look away!...Mary Ann Plunkett really drives the show. She brings up stories and old work and delivers each line with such ease. She was hauntingly beautiful...This show will sweep you off your feet. It’s witty, relevant to what’s going on in our world without forcing it down your throats, and overall heartwarming."
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