Marvin's Room
Closed 2h 15m
Marvin's Room
73

Marvin's Room NYC Reviews and Tickets

73%
(445 Ratings)
Positive
72%
Mixed
22%
Negative
6%
Members say
Great acting, Slow, Thought-provoking, Disappointing, Funny

About the Show

Roundabout Theatre Company presents the Broadway premiere of Scott McPherson’s award-winning play about the laughter that can shine through life’s darkest moments. Starring Janeane Garofalo and Lili Taylor.

Read more Show less

Show-Score Member Reviews (445)

Sort by:
  • Default
  • Standing in our community
  • Highest first
  • Lowest first
  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Only positive
  • Only negative
  • Only mixed
336 Reviews | 46 Followers
87
Absorbing, Funny, Great acting, Great writing, Quirky

See it if you're interested in very well done dramedies. All performances are terrific.

Don't see it if you don't enjoy seeing serious family issues handled with sensitivity as well as humor.

258 Reviews | 104 Followers
86
Absorbing, Great acting, Resonant, Relevant, Poignant

See it if you favor family dramas sensitively portrayed and you're okay with unresolved story lines; you love Lili Taylor, who is terrific here.

Don't see it if you are sensitive to themes of dying, loss, caregiving, fraught sibling dynamics, and/or to welcome humor that surfaces at any time. Read more

144 Reviews | 110 Followers
85
Great acting, Intelligent, Relevant, Intense, Slow

See it if this play explores the challenges of elder care and teens gone arye. Although beautifully acted the director needed to pick up the pace.

Don't see it if If eldercare and sickness is a chalange in your life

102 Reviews | 46 Followers
85
Absorbing, Intelligent, Resonant, Thought-provoking, Great acting

See it if You like a contemporary, serious, straight play with solid acting and a solid plot

Don't see it if You want "lite fare" or fast paced action.

1136 Reviews | 336 Followers
85
Great acting, Great staging, Thought-provoking, Resonant, Entertaining

See it if you enjoy a first-rate cast bringing the pain and joy of family relationships to light with multiple messages.

Don't see it if you cannot enjoy a lot of back and forth between estranged siblings and among other family members.

180 Reviews | 54 Followers
85
Absorbing, Intelligent, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if family reuniting and going through their issues due to illness sounds appealing. all relevant . be prepared to strain to hear at times

Don't see it if if this type of stories don't appeal to you.

115 Reviews | 35 Followers
85
Entertaining, Great acting, Great writing, Riveting, Thought-provoking

See it if You like dramatic stories set in current times. A beautiful play, very well written, with a dynamic cast.

Don't see it if You are sensitive to sad stories or struggling with an illness.

55 Reviews | 28 Followers
85
Absorbing, Entertaining, Funny, Great acting, Intelligent

See it if You love Lili Taylor and/or Jeneane Garofalo. Looking to see an emotional story. Great acting. Really enjoyed the performances.

Don't see it if Want an uplifting happy story. Want a light hearted show. This is a tear jerker.

Critic Reviews (49)

CurtainUp
June 29th, 2017

"As helmed by Anne Kauffman and as performed by an able ensemble, 'Marvin's Room' remains a moving, well-constructed portrait of a woman who has spent her adult life as the loving caretaker of a terminally ill father...The rather too-slow pacing is picked up by the heart-tugging emotional interactions...Even if all the comic business still landed throughout instead of rather sporadically, it's not as a comedy that 'Marvin's Room' survives but as a very human look at life, love and death."
Read more

TheaterScene.net
July 18th, 2017

"If you saw the original New York production of 'Marvin's Room,' you may find yourself feeling that the play was more effective when it was presented in the far more intimate environment of Playwrights Horizons. The otherwise fine cast--which also includes Luca Padovan as Charlie and Carmen Lacivita and Nedra McClyde in various roles-- simply gets lost in the expansive space of the American Airlines Theatre."
Read more

Theatre is Easy
July 13th, 2017

"There isn’t anything really groundbreaking here; if 'Marvin’s Room' is a solid play, it isn’t an especially challenging one, and in lesser hands the whole thing could get a bit humdrum. Fortunately this is a great cast...Less effective is Laura Jellinek’s set design...If you’ve seen 'Marvin’s Room' before, I won’t say that it is essential viewing. But it still works, and thanks largely to the cast, it is at times incredibly powerful."
Read more

Theater Pizzazz
June 29th, 2017

"While the imbalance of emotions is undeniably inherent in the script, Anne Kauffman’s unevenly cast and directed production at the American Airlines Theatre further tips the scale towards lightness...After the nursing home scene, though, and for the rest of the play, Kauffman and the cast smartly probe the play’s depths, and the final few scenes are quite moving. Strangely, though, Kauffman lets the show end too abruptly."
Read more

Front Row Center
July 12th, 2017

"Seems to have lost much of its vigor in the intervening decades...While the writer’s choice to introduce mildly comedic elements is commendable, this production, directed by the otherwise extremely talented Anne Kauffman, jarringly turns these moments into incongruous variety skits...Unfortunately this production makes such a studied effort to avoid any emotional overindulgence that it turns the play into a rather bland effort."
Read more

Front Mezz Junkies
June 29th, 2017

"The actors have it together, delivering their roles with truth and sincerity, but the staging is on less solid ground...They all come together well, especially with the assist from Weston and Taylor. The simpleness of their phrasing illuminates the piece, and DiFalco brings it home in the end. I almost cried. Almost...Directed well, although not inspiringly, by Anne Kaufman, she somehow finds traces of intimacy on the acres of open space."
Read more

Exeunt Magazine
July 5th, 2017

"Despite the compelling human stories at its core, ultimately ‘Marvin’s Room’ never quite hits you where it should. Even the most poignant elements do not provoke an especially strong response and there are few surprises. With that being said, a well-written play, with damn-fine actors, and a strong production team may indeed be reason enough to bring 'Marvin’s Room' to Broadway. If what you are looking for is simply an enjoyable few hours at the theatre, this production offers that.”
Read more

New York Theater
June 29th, 2017

"So much is so sad in the lives of Bessie and Lee as to make the audience fully justified in wondering: Should we be laughing at this? Yet laugh we do, thanks to the playwright’s subversive worldview, and a production directed with unflashy effectiveness by Kauffman. She steers the uniformly credible cast through a sometimes flighty comedy ultimately grounded in compassion...They get away with the wackier of these comic touches because they are counterbalanced by the more realistic ones."
Read more