Dying in Boulder NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (20)
See it if you're interested in something fresh and curious. it's an ambitious script that dragged a little but was still interesting
Don't see it if you've no interest in other cultures, have no patience for hippies, or have a short attention span.
See it if You are interested in a family drama about death. It's moving and amusing and uncomfortable all at once.
Don't see it if You don't want a play about death from cancer, or aren't interested in family dramas. This is sweet & strange, but not a big spectacle.
See it if quirky characters facing end of life relationship issues are your kind of drama. Flashbacks illuminate the development of these issues.
Don't see it if family drama leaves you cold or if inconsistencies annoy you.
See it if You’re interested in the subject of dying and family relationships and the life choices we must make
Don't see it if needs to be edited too long slow and meandering. It’s a pity because there is some good content but it gets disapaited by too broad scope
See it if You enjoy a drama that follows a dysfunctional family's attempt to deal with death through cultural appropriation of Buddhism.
Don't see it if You are easily triggered by privileged white people claiming religious and cultural practices that has nothing to do with them. Read more
See it if You’re into traditional production; east and west cultures clash; coping with death
Don't see it if You’re uncomfortable with dying from cancer theme; uneven acting
See it if You want to see a funny but moving production about living and dying. You want to see how a family deals with beliefs and an impending death
Don't see it if You don't want to be entertained. The thought of and talking about death disturbs you. You don't like small theaters.
See it if You're interested in where Eastern ideology meets Western prudishness. You're interested in stories about families grappling with death.
Don't see it if Plotlines about child neglect trigger you. You were hoping for a more experimental evening. This is a very traditional play.
Critic Reviews (7)
"A plot problem, a character problem, and, most of all, a credibility problem. The playwright, Linda Faigao-Hall, has taken on a challenging dramatic situation -- a deathwatch -- but, despite some intriguing touches here and there, doesn't make compelling drama of it. For all its exotic trappings it is, at heart, an ordinary dysfunctional family donnybrook in which the usual bill of complaints is aired...Morgan's direction does its best to smooth over the script's less-credible aspects."
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"At fade-out it’s both Bayani and, more significantly, Lydia spotlighted. But if she’s the one with whose dramatic arc we’re meant to be interested, she’s not intriguing enough...Perhaps a play is valid taking the attitude that all religions are worth little, and that therefore none is better nor worse than the other: take your lame choice. But 'Dying in Boulder' only modestly fills the bill."
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"Although the playwright seems to be setting up 'Dying in Boulder' as a comedy, the second act gets deadly serious. And not in a good way...To pursue what proves to be a threadbare story about sisterly ill will resolved in a deathbed, the playwright blows an opportunity to deliver a satirical study in how some people and even some places can casually annex a variety of different cultural traditions to suit their fancies. A schizophrenic effort that ultimately satisfies neither as comedy nor drama."
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"Its articulate characters confront life’s challenges including death, birth, and disappointment with stalwart resolve, humor and mysticism. At times it seems overly leisurely but falls into place as it reaches its lovely conclusion...Director Ian Morgan injects as much focus and visual variety as possible with his energetic staging, melding the fine performances with picturesque qualities."
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"A fairly standard work about death and aging...The play is as much about sisters as it is death, but neither Jane nor Lydia is a compelling character. Lydia is too shrill and disbelieving, while Jane is overly woo-woo...Morgan is unable to grab hold of any significant conflict to drive the story until it’s too late; it would have benefited by being trimmed from two acts and two hours to about eighty minutes without intermission."
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"'Dying in Boulder' begins as a dark comedy which explores our reactions to end of life care...For every light-hearted joke, there are also deeper musings which emerge...The first act swings unevenly between humor and wisdom...The second act veers uncomfortably from light and slightly edgy comedy to a much darker place...The uneasy mix of sitcom laughs and stinging family dysfunction ultimately hinders the play’s focus."
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"A thoughtful play that looks back on the life a dying woman and her orchestration of her Buddhist burial. The play orbits around dying, the 'big D,' and how people confront or deny the inevitability of human mortality...Faigao-Hall manages to view the yin & yang of life & death and its acceptance & denial in varying cultural norms. The play uses levity to raise the solemn topic of a dignified death...A sensitive and thoughtful play unafraid to face the fear of facing death."
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