May 2018 – reclining standards

REVIEW: Our Lady of 121st Street and Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Desire to Shock

Phylicia Rashad’s flashy, shallow production reveals how close this play is to TV comedy.

Less here would be so much more.

This show needs two key ingredients—Englishness and charm. Here, it had neither.

This accomplished, moving production puts the audience’s imagination to work.

The wonderful Corinna Burns shines especially brightly in this droll, delightful show.

But whether this earnest, winning piece is a successful play is an open question.

The “semi-staging” seen here delivers less theater than no staging at all.

This brilliantly acerbic, absurdist comedy gleefully thumbs its nose at trigger warnings.

The group is among the most distinguished AVA has had in memory.

Is this once-iconic satire still viable, or a historical curiosity? That is the question.