The Skin of Our Teeth
Closed 2h 30m
The Skin of Our Teeth
78

The Skin of Our Teeth NYC Reviews and Tickets

78%
(89 Ratings)
Positive
87%
Mixed
11%
Negative
2%
Members say
Ambitious, Great staging, Relevant, Thought-provoking, Great acting

About the Show

Theatre for a New Audience stages Thorton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning, tragicomic paean to human perseverance and indestructibility.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (89)

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265 Reviews | 116 Followers
75
Ambitious, Funny, Great staging, Edgy, Clever

See it if You're looking for a fresh take on an older play, revived for the right period. You want to be engaged.

Don't see it if You don't like long plays. You're not willing to go on a journey with them.

542 Reviews | 82 Followers
75
Entertaining, Great staging, Intelligent, Relevant, Resonant

See it if you want to see a play that was way ahead of its time back in 1942. It predicted the future...TODAY.

Don't see it if absurdity combined with intellect is not your thing. It makes you think.

124 Reviews | 35 Followers
75
Ambitious, Confusing, Entertaining, Indulgent, Great acting

See it if you like busy meta theater that is fairly well executed.

Don't see it if you don't like being bombarded with lots of ideas at once without much subtlety.

197 Reviews | 74 Followers
74
Great staging, Great acting, Slow, Dated, Thought-provoking

See it if you know and like this odd, disjointed, allegorical play; or just to see Mary Wiseman - as funny and beautiful as the young Lucille Ball

Don't see it if you want your plays linear, fast-paced and fully understandable; this one is not! Yet somehow entertaining and, in the end, hopeful

117 Reviews | 23 Followers
74
Ambitious, Great writing, Epic, Quirky, Relevant

See it if you want to see a thought-provoking, quirky show about the human experience, and be amazed how relevant it is right now.

Don't see it if you can't handle allegories, you can't handle the 4th wall being broken, chaos on stage bothers you. Read more

461 Reviews | 98 Followers
73
Ambitious, Clever, Dizzying, Edgy, Quirky

See it if You like a non traditional story that is clever and quirky and requires a bit of thought on your part. And if you enjoy Thornton Wilder work

Don't see it if You don't like non-linear/circular stories, the breaking of the fourth wall, and are undeniably odd and at times confusing.

270 Reviews | 58 Followers
70
Worthy, Transgressive, Funny, Nutty

See it if You are up to the challenge of a difficult old notable play. From an earlier challenged time, it speaks to us. You will enjoy Mary Wiseman.

Don't see it if You want easy, this isn't that. Art does not exist independent of it's audience. You bring your history & must engage & do your part.

139 Reviews | 19 Followers
70
Entertaining, Confusing, Ambitious, Funny, Thought-provoking

See it if you want to see something different and adjusted to the contemporary

Don't see it if you have a hard time following events and confuse easily

Critic Reviews (21)

Village Voice
March 7th, 2017

“Wilder's text demands a directorial one-two punch — a joyous spirit that can sustain the superficial brightness while keeping a firm grasp on its dark underpinnings. Arin Arbus's production gets more of both than I've experienced in any previous staging…Arbus sometimes wavers...But these minor flaws shrink in the larger context: A big, important American play has been reawakened for a historical moment that desperately needs it.”
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BroadwaySelect
March 6th, 2017

"'The Skin Of Our Teeth' now seems as apt as ever...Kecia Lewis is truly extraordinary as Mrs. Antrobus...Just as Wilder predicted that the human race would always get by albeit by the skin of their teeth, so too has Wilder’s play managed to survive and be constantly revived despite those who can’t begin to get into it. Considering the bang-up job Arbus has done with this masterpiece, just go with the flow, the allegory and the achievement."
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NY Theatre Guide
March 9th, 2017

"Arin Arbus’s current Theatre for a New Audience production, the first of the 1942 tragicomedy in New York City since 1998, reveals its – and Wilder’s – relevancy...Theatre for a New Audience proves at once that this is not an impossible play to stage. That is, if audiences allow themselves to hear Thornton Wilder’s definition of family values: Survival is assured when everyone works together and keeps their books safe."
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Reclining Standards
March 7th, 2017

"The resulting production is flawed—for me, key elements of Wilder’s tone are sometimes missing—but I’m very grateful to have seen it...'Skin of Our Teeth' needs to begin with at least a superficial connection to a real, recognizable world. In Arbus’s production, there isn’t much of that...Still, there are lovely, memorable things throughout Arbus’s production...I wish that 'Skin of Our Teeth'—an allegory and a fable for sure—didn’t look quite so allegorical as it does here."
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New York Theatre Review
March 2nd, 2017

"A brilliant and timely production...A miracle of theater, and one that probably should be seen by anyone who worries about where all of us are going...This production is, simply put, is a revelation. As directed by Arbus, it combines just about every theatrical element that exists under the sun...The giant cast crowd the stage and the audience, and almost every single one of them, from lead performers to members of the chorus, have moments to shine...I can’t praise this show enough."
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