Later Life NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (91)
See it if You want to see a play about what ifs and romance. Fate is the deciding factor in this piece. And so is making connections.
Don't see it if You want more modern plays or musicals
See it if I loved the quick changes of Liam Craig & Jodie Markell. They were (almost) unrecognizable in the multiple parts they played.
Don't see it if ...You want a show with a lot of action. Read more
See it if you like Guerney, one of our best playwrights I think.Set is AMAZING!Acting was uneven.Lawrence Lau overcame lackluster direction &was good.
Don't see it if you want to see a cohesive cast.Lau was the only one I believed.Plot is interesting.Direction was heavy handed and lackluster.
See it if You're interested in seeing the relationship challenges of over-50's adults. You're a fan of A.R. Gurney's work.
Don't see it if You'r e not interested in relationships limited to white, upper class folks. Some of the references are dated.
See it if YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO (GOOD ACTING SO); NO SURPRISES ON STAGE AND GOOD ACTORS ARE LIMITED WITH BORING DIALOGS.
Don't see it if YOU DO NOT LIKE BORING SITUATIONS, WHICH ALL OF THEM CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED AND VIEWERS, WHO DO NOT BOTHER TO TURN OFF THEIR PHONES
See it if the frigidity of WASP life interests you. Gurney's the master and this play captures the frozennes and compare it. The set is five-star.
Don't see it if you want to be emotionally moved, despise close-ups of suburban home parties or don't like it when one actor plays multiple roles.
See it if You like AR Gurney. I have seen a number of his plays and some are better than others.
Don't see it if You don't like drawing room comedies where nothing really happens. Read more
See it if You like drawing room comedies
Don't see it if You want to feel connected to the characters in the play
Critic Reviews (20)
"A gently witty/poignant look at the society and its values that Gurney has written about his whole life...Under the hand of director Jonathan Silverstein, Lau and Garrick both bring out the likeable qualities in their characters while stressing the 'if only' aspect of Gurney's play...The various supporting players are enthusiastically played by two actors, Liam Craig and Jodie Markell in a revolving door of colorful characterizations living different lives with delightful humor."
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"In his affable but uptight banker Austin, Gurney has created a sympathetic and entertaining embodiment of the breed. The play’s punch is lessened, however, by some stretches of glib dramaturgy, made all too evident in this appreciative but uneven revival...The suspense in this production is never terribly enthralling...On the other hand, Laurence Lau as Austin gives a finely etched rendering of a polite, chronically reserved fellow."
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"If America has its own Chekhov, it would have to be A. R. Gurney. As Chekhov, in his short career as a playwright (he died of tuberculosis at 44), illuminated and elucidated the woes of landowning Russians, Gurney in his long career (the playwright died last June at 86), has chronicled the trials and tribulations of that native American species, the WASP."
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"We are solidly in A.R. Gurney territory: waspy, and well-heeled...Secondary characters are inhabited with brio and wit by Jodie Markell and Liam Craig, even if some of them as written are a bit dog-eared and thematic: the computer geek, the newly transplanted couple from the South, the prematurely retired Brandeis professor who channels his philosophical disquiet into an effort to quit smoking, the retired couple who can’t agree on their retirement."
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"The revival is most notable for its lucidity. It’s a gentle production that lets Gurney speak for himself, without flashy interpretive obstructions...I came away from this production with new respect for 'Later Life'...This production doesn’t ultimately provide the emotional payoff we were hoping for, but it reminds us of what a craftsman Gurney was, and how many rueful shades of warmth he could find in frozen lives."
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"Under Jonathan Silverstein's direction, 'Later Life' looks terrific but ultimately has the emotional excitement of a game of solitaire....These two characters could have been enough for a solid two-hander if Gurney had spent more time unpacking their lives, fears, and hidden desires, but instead he chose to include several other characters who act as cartoonish foils to Austin...That's not to say that director Silverstein hasn't inflated the tires of this 80-minute one-act as much as he could."
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"It keeps us guessing until the end and offers its quartet of actors ample opportunity to shine. Which these four certainly do...While we're aware that it's well-formed stage dialogue, dangerously close to repartee, we get quite actively involved in their dilemma and root for somebody to make a move...They're a touching twosome, and the Keen Company has presented them admirably in this 25th anniversary production of a work that shows even lesser Gurney is well worth a visit."
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"Capably directed...Agreeably acted...Lau gives Austin a sense of wistfulness...Garrick seems a tad coy...but she relaxes into a more genuine personal mode...'Later Life' is not an especially profound psychological study. But it succeeds as an effective portrait of a gentleman whose cautious restraint prevented him from joining the party...Congenial in tone, economic in form, and a thoughtful, if affectionately satirical, consideration of old-school values and manners."
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