The Way West
Closed 1h 40m
The Way West
72

The Way West NYC Reviews and Tickets

72%
(28 Ratings)
Positive
75%
Mixed
18%
Negative
7%
Members say
Great acting, Funny, Entertaining, Disappointing, Absorbing

About the Show

Labyrinth Theater Company presents a new comedy about a modern-day, falling-apart California town, where Mom shares death-defying tales of pioneer crossings as she waits for her bankruptcy to come through.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (28)

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TT
146 Reviews | 28 Followers
100
Delightful, Great acting, Quirky, Hilarious, Must see

See it if You like original clever new work with great acting.

Don't see it if You don't like small theaters

754 Reviews | 127 Followers
86
Absorbing, Entertaining, Funny, Great acting, Original

See it if you can laugh through your tears. This is an American Mother Courage. Deirdre O'Connell sings and tells stories while her world falls apart.

Don't see it if you cannot sit for almost 2 hours without an intermission.

120 Reviews | 40 Followers
85
Great acting, Funny, And sad

See it if Like outstanding performance by Deirdre O'connell or as we know her as Didi. As well as the other females cast members.

Don't see it if if you do not like off broadway theater.

197 Reviews | 531 Followers
82
Different, Great acting, Quirky, Original, Funny

See it if A refreshing and quirky story of a mom facing bankruptcy and her avoidance of reality; wonderful, endearing performance by Deirdre O'Connell

Don't see it if It goes on a bit too long and fizzles out without a satisfying ending, but mostly I was entertained. O'Connell knows how to spin a yarn.

570 Reviews | 87 Followers
82
Clever, Entertaining, Edgy, Great acting, Great writing

See it if like great acting. Diedre OConnell is breathtaking. She is spot on. Set is terrific. Directing is excellent. Parts are a bit overwritten

Don't see it if you are looking for family fun

995 Reviews | 946 Followers
75
Thought-provoking, Funny, Moving, Great acting

See it if funny and poignant. True and whimsical. Great acting all around. Entertaining.

Don't see it if you don't like small shows.

175 Reviews | 30 Followers
75
Entertaining, Funny, Relevant

See it if You like stories of real people facing real challenges

Don't see it if you want a happy ending

62 Reviews | 35 Followers
74
Entertaining, Great acting, Relevant

See it if you enjoy Diedre O'Connel. Great acting. Interesting premise.

Don't see it if you don't like workshop productions. Needs work and re-writes.

Critic Reviews (11)

The New York Times
March 17th, 2016

"Ms. Mansour’s dialogue can be bleakly funny...While the dialogue often has a comic crackle, the characters’ fecklessness is less charmingly kooky than exasperating...Under the direction of Mimi O’Donnell, O’Connell displays an earthy good humor that partly makes up for her tedious forays into a fantasyland...Mansour seems to be striving not just for laughs but for pathos, too. The trouble is these people behave so absurdly that it’s hard to have much sympathy for them."
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Time Out New York
March 19th, 2016

"When the production itself becomes unsteady the play turns clunky and mean-spirited. But Mansour's sympathy for her central character and one casually wonderful performance mean that 'The Way West' occasionally lives up to the playwright's own ambitions…O'Connell is indispensable—a sympathetic tragedy-in-motion…O'Donnell handles the play's two farce scenes with quick confidence, but the wide spectrum of performance destabilizes an already tonally challenging play."
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Theatermania
March 16th, 2016

"With this challenging, important new play, Mansour holds a mirror up to America: where we've been and where we might be going...One of the most watchable actors in New York, O'Connell gives a typically memorable performance...You are likely to leave 'The Way West' feeling deeply ambivalent. Mansour does not create likable characters. They are marked by delusion, jealousy, irresponsibility, sloth, and blind faith. Still, few among us can claim to be completely free of those foibles."
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Lighting & Sound America
March 18th, 2016

"'The Way West' suffers from a certain monotonousness--things just keep getting worse--that undermines one's interest in the characters. Watching them repeatedly screw up, it becomes increasingly difficult to care what happens to them...Mimi O'Donnell's direction can't bring urgency or a rooting interest to this situation but her cast is fairly solid...As 'The Way West' follows a predictable path to ruin, Mansour's editorializing fails to take it to state-of-the-nation play status."
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CurtainUp
March 16th, 2016

"A little of Mom's soliloquizing goes a long way and, in less capable hands than Deirdre O'Connell's, these sequences would be wearing. O'Connell, however, is one of the most adroit, compelling actors currently working, and her performance is reason enough to see 'The Way West'...[The designers] have found clever ways to deliver the whopping physical surprises in Mansour's wild and woolly script...Even in its most poignant moments, 'The Way West' is very funny."
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Theatre is Easy
March 24th, 2016

"If there was ever any doubt that Deirdre O'Connell is one of the best actors working in New York City, head down to Labyrinth...It's predictability that makes 'The Way West' wander from its otherwise playful and engaging path...There's a lot to admire about a story focusing on women fighting for dignity...But since the women are victims of their own poor decisions more often than not, by the end when things are in total disarray I didn't really feel sorry for anyone."
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Theater Pizzazz
March 17th, 2016

"Played masterfully by Deirdre O’Connell, Mom is a plain-talking spitfire...'The Way West' feels like a play long overdue. Three strong female characters fill the ensemble. Musical interludes weave through a plot driven by sharp dialogue and brilliant comedy...Mimi O’Connell provides pinpoint direction here to seamlessly transition the plot’s momentum into these metaphorical explorations of theme, without sacrificing an inch."
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Front Row Center
March 17th, 2016

"There are a lot of laughs in 'The Way West' about a family’s descent into debt and insolvency. With humor in pathos, playwright Mona Mansour captures the tenuous way many Americans are living nowadays, financially over their heads with no job security, or worse, permanently unemployed...Mimi O’Donnell’s crisp direction strikes the perfect balance needed to pull off this comedic tragedy. Together with Ms. Mansour, they evoke the family’s back story that you see as plain as day."
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