Tell Hector I Miss Him NYC Reviews and Tickets

"While it is populated by some sharply drawn characters dangling eccentricities and pathologies, and features some passages of biting humor, this darkish comedy-drama lacks focus and narrative drive...It comes to feel like a few short plays spliced together to form a full-length one, a collage that lacks an overarching design...Still, under the sympathetic direction of David Mendizábal, the ample cast brings defining individuality to their characters."
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"The everyday struggles of the underprivileged can be imbued with poetry and epic emotion. Unfortunately, the dozen downtrodden characters in Lázaro’s debut play are more likely to try your patience than inspire your empathy. This is no fault of the production’s capable actors, nearly all Latino, who bring authenticity to somewhat stereotypically written roles...Some of their intertwined stories are engaging...others are tedious...Too many of Lázaro’s neofolktales fall into the second category."
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"Lázaro is a spinner of vivid tales possessed of a sharp ear for language and a keen eye for the humane comic detail...Stories combust into such glinting shards that the play unfolds with giddy energy...Lázaro has been blessed with a superb company and, in David Mendizábal, a director who keeps a firm hand on the chaos, establishing an engaging balance between comedy and pathos as these characters work their way under our skin. I’d have happily spent more time with them."
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"The ample profanity, like the rest of the frank, funny and touching talk, including bits in Spanish, feels real. The same goes for the colorful characters, each expertly played by the ace ensemble, in a slice of life of loners and down-and-outers determined to connect. It’s a familiar theme and eventually the play wilts from overstatement...But the author wisely refrains from tying up any plot threads with a bow. Life’s not tidy. The play isn't either, and it’s better for it."
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"There are lots of vivid characters and plentiful subplots in this colorful San Juan underworld — enough to keep director Mendizabal’s excellent ensemble on their toes and dancing like mad...Lazaro writes characters who live and breathe on their own...Individually and collectively, the inhabitants of this community are no cliched caricatures but characters with multi-layered dimensions. The idiomatic dialogue Lazaro puts into their mouths is as realistically filthy as it is fluent."
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"The play reveals a young playwright of considerable talent, who needs to gain some discipline in her storytelling style...The play features numerous plot lines that waver in holding our attention...Under the assured staging of David Mendizabal, the play certainly feels lived-in. The nearly all-Hispanic ensemble delivers consistently strong performances...While 'Tell Hector I Miss Him' would have benefited from a sharper focus and judicious trimming, it contains much to admire,"
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"With a beautifully lyrical but unwieldy style, Lázaro explores an entire community...She impressively captures the essence of her subjects through raw and honest dialogue. Unfortunately, she opens so many doors in the first act that it proves difficult to close them all in a satisfying way in the second...Whatever Lázaro lacks in finesse, she more than makes up for by crafting believably round and dynamic characters...A sophisticated, brutally honest take from a promising young playwright."
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"Lázaro paints a sympathetic community portrait that, while not ignoring the darker issues, gives proper focus to the humanity...It's a colorful mix and Lázaro displays a talent for language made of natural street poetics, finding tonal and rhythmic beauty in the harsh dialogue. Director David Mendizábal glides a fine company through a play that suffers a bit in the second half for lack of a clear dramatic arc, but the playwright never allows too many pages to go by without an interesting turn."
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