"There’s a crudeness in the patterns of conflict and resolution that propel 'Summer' toward its sigh of an ending. Mr. Simpson’s production asks us to consider these shortcomings using the same generous spirit with which Mr. Gurney’s play is written...Because in this rendering, 'Summer' is a playwright’s coming of age as reflected in the writing of the play...These self-conscious framing devices give 'Summer' an emotional substance it might otherwise lack."
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"Charming staging and graphic effects that are brilliant in their simplicity and whimsy...Throughout the play each of the characters arrives on stage to suggest this play is about them, breezily breaching the 'fourth wall' to comic effect. Gurney reminds us that we are all the stars of our own soap operas."
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"A playwright is really asking for it when he creates, in a semiautobiographical work, a conflict whose glorious resolution is the writing of the play itself...Alas, it never makes the case that its two halves are even related, let alone that they add up to something important. And if the proof is supposed to be what we’re seeing onstage — well, I’m not sure the boy learned enough of a lesson from Anna’s sacrifice."
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"Exceptionally engaging...'What I Did Last Summer' is a portrait of the artist as an obnoxious, whiny, demanding, horny, belligerent, mouthy teenage boy, long time ago. Charlie, is the most annoying boy since Neil Simon’s Eugene Jerome. Like Eugene, Charlie’s saving grace is that we know he will grow up to become, in this case, A.R. Gurney, whom we admire as the author of tons of plays we’ve loved over the years."
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"Easy-to-like revival of A.R. Gurney’s modest 1981 memory play...'What I Did Last Summer' has some laughs but little sting. But thanks to the strong acting and staging, the show provides a mellow buzz."
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"The Valuable Lesson play tends be predictable: Somebody somehow ends up learning a heartwarming thing or two about life and one’ s self. This is exactly what happens in 'What I Did Last Summer,' but it’s easy to overlook the story’s banality since the show’s warmly engaging, inventively staged and elevated by a wonderful cast."
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"Perhaps it’s the wartime, summer-on-Lake-Erie setting, but there’s something cozily familiar about What I Did Last Summer, A.R. Gurney’s 1982 autobiographical coming-of-age drama that’s currently receiving a tender revival...Some call Gurney old-fashioned. But last I checked, there was no expiration date on American coming-of-age stories."
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"An imaginative riff on this era of cookie-cutter living, shaken by the profound platonic romance that unfolds between a boy and the teacher who shows him his own potential...Gurney uses the play to tell the story of his own childhood 'Anna,' adding another fascinating layer of history to the memory play and insight into its author's own creative journey."
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