Heartbreak House NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (79)
See it if you like British plays with lovely costumes, flirtations, clever lines, or you relish Shaw's timeless morality
Don't see it if you can't sit in your seat for 3 hours, or if you need acting/tone to be really consistent Read more
See it if Prescient Shaw warns world of complacency regarding economic and political corruption, exploitation, fraud and consequences of inaction.
Don't see it if You don’t like Shaw’s wordy, idea-filled plays that drag on with soapbox monologues.
See it if you like small productions
Don't see it if you are into musicals, big Broadway productions, etc. Read more
See it if Shavian political serio-comedy. Very talented cast especially Fraser,(like a Glynis Johns), relish their dialogue.
Don't see it if Slow political 2.5hr. Shaw in cramped Lion theatre with very little staging requires commitment from audience. But, gee, that ensemble.
See it if you are a fan of George Bernard Shaw or if you enjoy watching actors portray a zany assortment of characters.
Don't see it if you want a faster paced production.
See it if Strong ensemble led by Ziemba, Hewett & Thompson hone Shaw's message of capitalistic nihilism to a fine edge despite unfocused direction
Don't see it if Staller's framing devise seems clever but ultimately proves obtrusive Cluttered set hinders movement yet Shaw's prose still shines radiantly
See it if You want to see some great performances by an amazing cast. Great female characters.
Don't see it if You aren't in the mood for a 2hr45min show. It's too long and ends up meandering in the last 30-40min.
See it if Great acting all around, though the 3 women steal the show. :-) First 2 hours are fun, funny, smart and fast-paced.
Don't see it if The last 40 min (3rd act?) did stretch it too long and was very slow. Read more
Critic Reviews (25)
“In hands other than those of the Gingold Theatrical Group...of David Staller could be seen as a bit loopy. It is, however, enjoyable, largely due to a troupe of performers who flip the flippant dialogue and the silliest of situations in this anti-war masterpiece on its ear...’Heartbreak House’ remains chock full of explosively funny dialogue and hosts a bevy of feckless characters who woefully define a frivolous society."
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"Staller is a genius at casting. The performers not only flesh out characters that could be caricatures, but have voices, know how to use them, and have impeccable diction. We hear and understand every blistering witticism...The glittering witticisms are brilliant gems, but like a mound of pearls that need a string to turn them into a necklace. The convoluted plot provides no forward thrust. The play is overlong one wishes the bombs had fallen a half hour earlier."
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"Directed with neatness and uniqueness...The crew greets destruction with a muddled awareness, and the lines of play–acting and bomb–sheltering gets blurred in the final moments. It’s a tad confusing, to say the least, but this nod to the overarching theme lands; that those in power, the cultured and leisured elite, personified by this complicated family, are failing to safely navigate society through rough watered destruction on all fronts."
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"The challenge in presenting Shaw's plays now is to blow the sediment off of them...Staller achieves this not through an erroneous framing device he has placed around the play, but with casting that, for the most part, allows skilled actors to revel in Shaw’s wordplay...The effect of the play-within-the-play could have been achieved through design and staging without fashioning a new scene to support it."
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"This production, though meticulously designed and competently acted, simply doesn’t strike me as the best introduction to the play for those who have never seen it before, given its presentation of a 1914 setting through a 1940 filter. Even devoted Shavians might wonder why Gingold’s experience with the play in 1940 is enough reason to impose this framing in 2018."
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“I have fortunately never been sequestered to a bomb shelter or basement in times of war. But if I were, I might consider braving the consequences rather than enduring Shaw’s rambling family/socio-political comedy...This isn’t to say this production is without merit, thanks, in large part, to several stand-out performers that nimbly navigate the text...Shaw was onto something, perhaps too many things — its message further convoluted by a setting that diffuses the work rather than igniting it.”
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"Staller's revival…has ignored the playwright's control-freak tendencies by goosing the play within a lightly entertaining, if questionably necessary, premise…The playwright's verbal wit and mental pyrotechnics predominate in a play that has very little plot and is essentially a series of theme-laced speeches…Staller's brisk ensemble consistently juggles Shaw's words with comic verve, managing to squeeze enough of the play's intellectual juice to make the production viable."
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“The play’s themes of global conflict, corporate greed, social standing, and political corruption, still ring true...Ziemba, is at the center of the piece as the bohemian who has never conform to society’s standards...But it is Hiller who hilariously chews the scenery as both Randall and the housemaid, Guinness and the robber...In a world where we turn on each other for differences of opinion. Where everything seems corrupt, amoral, and on the brink of war...’Heartbreak House’ is a welcome.”
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