Men on Boats NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
This joyfully anachronistic retelling of the 1869 Powell expedition, originally produced by Clubbed Thumb, transfers to Playwrights Horizons as part of its Company Residency program.
Show-Score Member Reviews (72)
See it if You like original theater that is well done, thought provoking and makes you think in new ways.
Don't see it if You are put off by gender reversals or making fun of male macho stereotypes.
See it if you're a history buff, enjoy the Grand Canyon, like theatrical twists (the men are all played by women), like satire and inspired commentary
Don't see it if you can't wrap your head around gender switching satire and history bending, must have literal staging
See it if you like fresh new ideas presented in fun original ways. No bells and whistles but that adds to the charm. Immense story from small stage.
Don't see it if you don't like small stories. This is the kind of show that you're not really sure where it's going till you've gotten there.
See it if You want to see a humorous tale about exploring the American frontier with an all female cast. Great staging and colorful characters.
Don't see it if You want an intricate plot
See it if women telling men's tales, both historical and hysterical, is a new experience. Great casting, funny and very clever.
Don't see it if you get motion sick easily. This is a fast and furious ride down the Colorado River into Grand Canyon with this troupe. Wonderful!
See it if A quirky, spoof-ish telling of the true story of an 1869 Wild West river expedition - macho males played by an all female cast. Very funny!
Don't see it if You're annoyed by over-the-top parody and silliness. Which is the whole point. Ensemble acting was excellent.
See it if skewing gender, historical sagas
Don't see it if slight camp, no real plot
See it if you enjoy all-female casts and explorer stories.
Don't see it if you are expecting men and actual boats.
Critic Reviews (26)
"The play is a theatrical adventure, and, despite some rough patches, a rather lively and engaging one...The performances are appealing in their basic sincerity; they’re amusing, but far from caricatures...On the evening’s negative side, the playwright’s notion of inserting contemporary jargon into the story doesn’t really come off...'Men On Boats,' for all its inventiveness, works for the oldest and simplest of reasons: It draws us into its story; we want to know what happens next."
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"These 'men' are back and are funnier than ever…When I glanced at the synopsis, it didn’t strike me as the stuff of gripping theater. Boy! Was I wrong. Director Will Davis keeps the action as brisk as the rapids themselves with the help of Backhaus’ rollicking script…For theater lovers awaiting the fall season, 'Men on Boats' will 'tide' you over until the busy season resumes. For casual theatergoers, it will be equally as enjoyable."
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"It's a smart, funny, poignant meditation on gender and historical memory, speaking as convincingly to our own time as any drama set in the present day…The distance between those macho white explorers and the racially diverse group of women playing them turns the performance into a study in learned male behaviors. It's hilarious, but also pointed, as Backhaus shows us the link between the pressures of white masculinity and the drive for territorial conquest."
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"The acting is, for the most part, natural and comfortable. And, as a result, the situations and the dialogue are often really hilarious...The play and its players do a fine job of commenting frequently on American heteronormative masculinity as a sociocultural construct. This is all the more impressive since the direction and the cast's interpretations never get mean, snarky, or cheap…Lags a little near the end, but the conclusion dispenses with the jokiness and is suddenly, strangely moving."
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"The potentially jarring juxtapositions of language and costume, of gender, race, and age, are presented ingeniously by Davis and this phenomenal ensemble cast, all of whom do a stellar job bringing Backaus’ play to life...Theatre with social commentary has the potential to feel preachy and heavy-handed, but 'Men on Boats' is written and produced in such a way as to leave all of the commentary in the hands of the audience, who are also free to simply enjoy a well-made play."
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"Backhaus applies a wildly ribald sensibility to the saga...Under Davis's impeccable direction, the diverse all-women cast is superb. The actors are at their best in sequences, almost balletic in choreography, when the explorers run rapids and shoot down a massive waterfall...A majority of playgoers will find this antic entertainment and its skeptical commentary on traditional historical storytelling bracing, insightful, and just plain fun."
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"Ms. Backhaus’s lively script and Will Davis’s highly ingenious direction leave no room for nudging references to any gender gap between cast and characters...'Men on Boats' makes canny use of the obvious distance between performers and their roles to help bridge the distance between then and now...The tone is comic, but never cute or camp...The cast, the director and the design team delightfully recreate the rhythms, rush and terror of life on the water."
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"If at times it meanders a bit, what we see on stage is almost always engaging...Director Davis is perhaps at his best in these 'travel' scenes–the excitement is palpable as the explorers navigate the often treacherous waters. But the scenes 'on land' are equally enjoyable...The entire ensemble is excellent...Whereas theatre that aims to be politically subversive often makes its points at the expense of the story, here we get both, and 'Men on Boats' is all the more wonderful because of it."
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