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Daily Beast

June Squibb, 96, Delivers Acting Tour de Force in ‘Marjorie Prime’

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/june-squibb-96-delivers-acting-tour-de-force-in-marjorie-prime/

"Squibb’s Majorie contains multitudes, and Squibb shows them all so tangibly and without airs that her character feels recognizably real right from the beginning of the play. She may be ailing, but in Squibb’s compelling rendering—under Anne Kauffman’s fine, sensitive direction—we see that Marjorie is not to be wrapped in cotton wool or patronized."

TimeOut

Review: Marjorie Prime

4 out of 5 stars

Jordan Harrison's moving AI drama returns for a timely revival with June Squibb and Cynthia Nixon

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/marjorie-prime-broadway-revival-review-june-squibb-cynthia-nixon-jordan-harrison-danny-burstein-artifical-intelligence-ai

"Much of the pre-opening press about this revival has revolved around the 96-year-old Squibb, who might be the oldest actor ever to play a principal role on Broadway. She merits that attention with a remarkable performance that combines frostiness and fogginess into a firm coat of rime. But the other actors are equally good. Burstein, who radiates human tenderness, is perfectly employed as the play’s kindest character, and his final scene is devastating; Lowell finds the appropriate levels of stiffness and charm for his faux Walter. And Nixon is simply the best I’ve ever seen her onstage: As Tess labors to connect with her mother—or alternatively to give up any hope of connecting with her—Nixon invests her testiness with complex underlying notes of bitterness and exhaustion."

Two five star reviews from NY Stage Review

Marjorie Prime: The Future is Now

By Frank Scheck

★★★★★ June Squibb, Cynthia Nixon and Danny Burstein in this Broadway revival of Jordan Harrison's sci-fi-tinged drama.

https://nystagereview.com/2025/12/08/marjorie-prime-the-future-is-now/

 

Marjorie Prime: A Very Real Exploration of Memory and Loss, Powered by AI

By Melissa Rose Bernardo

★★★★★ A superb cast of four anchors Jordan Harrison’s future-set drama

https://nystagereview.com/2025/12/08/marjorie-prime-a-very-real-exploration-of-memory-and-loss-powered-by-ai/

Holden in Vulture is lukewarm

Return of the Replicants: ‘Marjorie Prime’

Marjorie Prime, starring June Squibb, Cynthia Nixon, and Danny Burstein, is a thoughtful, well-wrought play and production that's a little too cool to the

https://www.vulture.com/article/return-of-the-replicants-marjorie-prime.html

"In our present reality, with the floodwaters of AI slop licking at the rolled cuffs of our pants, it’s a pretty sure bet that Second Stage’s elegant revival of Harrison’s play will be applauded for its (then) prescience and (now) timeliness. Yet watching Marjorie Prime — staged on Lee Jellinek’s set of crisp angles, with its green hues engineered for tranquility, by Anne Kauffman, who directs with spare, delicate rigor, as if she’s conducting Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel — I kept waiting to feel … well, more. More rapt, more heartbroken, more rattled by the harrowing questions presented by the long, slow, terribly seductive suicide humanity seems bent on carrying out via technology. Harrison is a formidable craftsman and Marjorie Prime is built very well, but in a way it resembles one of its own artificial humans: It’s an extremely palatable version of the thing. It has studied how to be a play, and it’s a good one — if only the feeling of study weren’t quite so palpable in that goodness."

4 stars out of 4 from NYP

‘Marjorie Prime’ review: June Squibb is a marvel in an early highlight of the Broadway season

https://nypost.com/2025/12/08/entertainment/marjorie-prime-review-96-year-old-june-squibb-is-a-marvel-in-an-early-highlight-of-the-broadway-season/

"Much in the same way Squibb has only gotten finer with age, so too has Harrison’s complex 11-year-old play about artificial intelligence, its possibilities and the deeply intrusive role it could have — hell, it already does — in our own lives. "

The Guardian

Three stars

Marjorie Prime review – Cynthia Nixon steals sad, and spotty, sci-fi revival

The return of the 2014 play, now starring June Squibb as an octogenarian using a tech program to speak to her dead husband, veers between poetry and cliche

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/dec/08/marjorie-prime-cynthia-nixon-review

The Wrap's Hofler seems unimpressed

‘Marjorie Prime’ Broadway Review: Cynthia Nixon and June Squibb Make the Case for Everybody Becoming a Robot

Jordan Harrison’s sci-fi tale about robots that help people grieve receives its first Broadway production

https://www.thewrap.com/marjorie-prime-broadway-review-cynthia-nixon-and-june-squibb-make-the-case-for-everybody-becoming-a-robot/

"two performances in this revival throw off the play’s take on what’s most different about people and robots.

The real Marjorie is a very bright, edgy, opinionated woman, and that’s the way Lois Smith played her in the movie and the 2015 stage production. When the character dies, her daughter, Tess, turns Marjorie into a prime. Suddenly, now that Tess’ mother is a robot, she is a caring, wonderful, non-messy creature. Smith played two very different creatures. Squibb does not. She’s perfectly nice and charming as a robot, but she is never that much of a pill as a house-bound octogenarian widow with a failing memory. In fact, her human Marjorie is downright cute, the archetypal cuddly and adorable old lady who suffers only that one unfortunate bathroom call."

(then complains about Burstein being too cute)

Theatrely is positive.

June Squibb Finds Post-AI Humanity in MARJORIE PRIME — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/june-squibb-finds-post-ai-humanity-in-marjorie-prime----review

"Lowell ably fuses the tender warmth for which his character has been created with the icy distance of its reality. Burstein radiates an empathy that grows as his character must navigate murkier emotional realities. Nixon, as always, is extremely skilled at portraying women long backed into a hardened corner – equal parts their own steely volition and as a result of the world’s apathy – but with a bittersweet warmth at this knowledge.

At the center of this, even as the story cleverly shifts focus, is Squibb and her masterfully expressive face. In contrast to her younger costars, the veteran often plays out towards the audience, finding her light somewhere between our hearts and minds; this is someone who understands the art of stage performance. Her organic turns between girlish glee and instantly heartbreaking anguish are genuinely staggering."

B from Entertainment Weekly

Marjorie Prime review: June Squibb stars in a sci-fi family drama with more questions than emotions

The Pulitzer Prize-nominated play features Squibb in a history-making Broadway role.

https://ew.com/marjorie-prime-review-broadway-june-squibb-11863980

"For all the grief boiling over in Marjorie Prime, I walked away yearning to be more thoroughly wounded. But Harrison's script is less interested in piercing the heart than it is the mind. It's much too busy prodding at the bounds of humanity. What makes us who we are? How much can we rely on technology? Can it soothe us, numb us, replace us completely? Marjorie Prime offers few clear-cut answers, but does make one thing clear: There is no replacement for the power of human love and connection. And the absence of that is what keeps this show from truly leaving a mark on its crowd. Grade: B"

There are comparisons of the two in the reviews thread:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/thread/THE-QUEEN-OF-VERSAILLES-reviews/10

Wow. I love her...but always remember that Green was great when he was at NY Mag too. Will hope she is able to maintain her greatness and whatever being at the Times did to Green doesn't happen to her.

Defector is primarily a sports blog, but they have a Chess review posted today. I'm posting it mainly because some have claimed around here that the only people who hate the narrator are theater snobs and Chess fanatics, and that regular theatergoers love him and find it helpful how he explains the plot. This particular regular theatergoer, who seemed to know nothing about it going in and only went for a free ticket and the promise of Lea Michele, hated him too. (It's a pretty amusing review on the whole, and interesting to see a non-fan's reaction.)

‘Chess: The Musical’ Is Somehow More Of A Musical About Chess Than You Can Imagine

https://defector.com/chess-the-musical-broadway-review

"The worst part of Chess is this character called the Arbiter, essentially a chess judge. This revival doubles his role, as both judge within the show and omniscient narrator, meant to help us understand the musical's plot through a sarcastic, present-day lens. To do this, he treats the audience like we are children, spoonfeeding us painfully unfunny jokes about the worm in RFK Jr.'s brain and Joe Biden. I did not enjoy this character, how he took stage-time away from the sexy chess boys, and how some not insignificant part of the audience lapped up his non-jokes. Ha ha! they libbed out, hee hee! At one point, the Arbiter announced that Ronald Reagan had become president (not a joke, unfortunately), and a member of the audience unironically cheered."

Call_me_jorge said: "They also claim they’re a contributor to this very site. I have no idea if that true, but literally anyone can be a contributor to broadwayworld."

I don't have any strong feelings about the guy but it's a little odd to claim you don't know if it's true when their posts include links in same place they "claim" to be a contributor. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1p6skq6/grosses_analysis_week_ending_november_23/

"I'm a contributor for Broadway World now! My most recent article can be found here- looking at the rising costs of musicals (a popular subject at the moment). A full archive of my work can be found here!"

If the reason you don't know is that you can't be bothered to click on a link to see one way or another, that's on you.

Hilty extends for a week (maybe because Simard is out that following week so they really need at least one of them and asked her to stay? Sales aren't looking great that week.)

People who bought their tickets for January 4 thinking it was her last show may be mad, but 1/4 may still be the last time to see them together.

Megan Hilty Extends Run in DEATH BECOMES HER by One Week

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Megan-Hilty-Extends-Run-in-DEATH-BECOMES-HER-by-One-Week-20251125

Variety:

‘Wicked’ Sequels Being Figured Out at Universal Pictures: ‘Things Are Underway’ to See How ‘We Can Continue in This Universe’

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/wicked-for-good-sequel-universal-continue-franchise-1236591573

Huss417 said: "VernonGersch said: "A Must See - do whatever you can to grab a ticket - and the closer to the stage the better.

With that being said, Ms. Manville was none too pleased with folks filming the curtain call. She gestured quite strongly for those two folks to put their iPhones down during bows. And the looks she was giving one particular gentlemen as the final curtain fell, daggers.

An incredible, riveting piece of theater that MUST be seen."

I must be losing my mind as I am sure I read this a couple of days ago on here as I recall the Manville shooting daggers comment.."

There was at least one post about it on Reddit last week:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1oys6hl/go_see_oedipus_but_maybe_leave_your_phone_in_your

And someone just posted an hour ago that they've seen it four times and she's glared at people filming four times:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/comments/1p6f038/oedipus_fyi_if_you_are_in_the_first_few_rows_do

 

Daily Beast

Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York—and Onto Broadway

MEET CUTE

A Yank and a Brit share an unforgettable few days in the Big Apple in the new musical rom-com.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/two-strangers-carry-a-cake-across-new-yorkand-onto-broadway

"“Two Strangers” is funny in places, occasionally moving in others, and just a little off-feeling throughout, as if it is trying too hard to charm across the storytelling and whimsy chasms it creates for itself. Its flaws are not fatal, thanks to the singing skills, charm, and likeability of Pitts and Tutty who generate the right kind of tricky, rather than star-crossed, chemistry. (Can and should a would-be step-aunt and nephew really get together?)"

Three stars from NYP

‘Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)’ review: A hilarious new star bursts onto Broadway

https://nypost.com/2025/11/20/entertainment/two-strangers-carry-a-cake-across-new-york-review-a-hilarious-new-star-bursts-onto-broadway

"Tutty’s co-star in the two-hander, Christiani Pitts, is lovely as the Brooklyn-born city dweller who picks him up at JFK. Chemistry is essential here, and the well-cast pair blindingly spark. But the truth is that Tutty is not only carrying a cake, but an entire show."

B+ from Entertainment Weekly

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) review: A delightful rom-com musical comes to Broadway

A show all about connection connects in all the best ways.

https://ew.com/two-strangers-carry-a-cake-across-new-york-review-delightful-rom-com-musical-broadway-11850800