ALL IN: COMEDY ABOUT LOVE Previews

Love is in the air!

The very highly anticipated All In: Comedy About Love starts its Broadway run tomorrow evening (December 11) at the Hudson Theatre. Written by Simon Rich, the play will feature rotating casts of four throughout the run, featuring some of the funniest comedians in entertainment. The company for the preview period includes John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Richard Kind, and Renée Elise Goldsberry; later in the run, look for appearances from Chloe Fineman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Aidy Bryant, Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Jimmy Fallon, Annaleigh Ashford, Tim Meadows, David Cross, and Hank Azaria. All In opens on December 22 and runs until February 16; Alex Timbers directs.

“Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is complicated… and so is All In: Comedy About Love, a series of hilarious short stories about dating, heartbreak, marriage and that sort of thing — written by Simon Rich — and read live by some of the funniest people on the planet, with different groups of four taking the stage each week.

In some stories, the stars will portray pirates, in others they will play dogs, and in one, we make them talk in British accents. But even though the show’s kind of all over the place, it’s meant to tell one simple story: that the most important part of life is who we share it with. We hope everybody will relate to it, even if it was their date’s idea to come and they are starting out from a place of quiet resentment.”

Who’s going All In?!

Once anybody knows about hte cancellation line/rush policy/student tickets please let me know. Because if not this is becoming my splurge of the season, I adore one of the cast lineups! 

There will be a $45 digital lottery on TodayTix launching tomorrow.

Runtime should be around 90 minutes, no intermission. 

I heard from a friend at first preview that its staged so they all have their scripts in hand. Sounds more like a staged reading?

GottaGetAGimmick420 said: "I heard from a friend at first preview that its staged so they all have their scripts in hand. Sounds more like a staged reading?"

I found that to be a terribly distracting (and distancing) directorial choice in Pre-Existing Condition, the last thing I saw with a rotating cast. 

GottaGetAGimmick420 said: "I heard from a friend at first preview that its staged so they all have their scripts in hand. Sounds more like a staged reading?"

I mean, it does say the following in the show description in the press release in the first post: “written by Simon Rich — and read live by some of the funniest people on the planet”

honestly, it could have been anyone, I love them but I feel like I would have enjoyed them performing original songs versus covering someone else...

jacobtsf said: "I mean, it does say the following in the show description in the press release in the first post: “written by Simon Rich — and read live by some of the funniest people on the planet”"

Oof, I somehow missed this in the show description. I definitely remembered, "...the stars will portray pirates, in others they play dogs, and in one, we make them talk in British accents," which indicates some level of actual acting and stagecraft. 

I have tix to see this next Thursday. I paid $400 for reader's theater? 

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but am preemptively annoyed. With a rotating cast of mostly non-Broadway celebs and a short rehearsal period, I wasn't expecting anything polished. With the high ticket price and the involvement of Alex Timbers, I assumed there'd at least be more to the production than chairs and story time.  

At the very least, I'll be one actor closer to fulfilling my goal of seeing the 'Beau is Afraid' supporting cast live on stage. And it's always nice to sit inside the Hudson. 

Pretty glad we didn't get tix to this yet.   I can't imagine it is worth the cost.

Yes that was meant to indicate I read it incorrectly. I was not implying conspiracy. 

Also. It's entirely possible (even likely) that this is a warm, lovely show. The certainly look like very opulent chairs. I wouldn't hate to have stories read to me by celebrities I like. Just. You know. Not what I (or I think anyone else) was expecting.

Updated On: 12/12/24 at 12:04 PM

jacobtsf said: "I mean, it does say the following in the show description in the press release in the first post: “written by Simon Rich — and read live by some of the funniest people on the planet”"

To clarify, the original synopsis provided by the production did say, "...performed by a rotating cast of some of the funniest people on the planet." (emphasis mine)

Not sure when they changed the "performed by" to "read by." According to what's available on the wayback machine, the language was updated on the 'All In' website sometime between September 24 and October 1. (Tickets went on sale on September 30.) Even after the synopsis was changed to accurately reflect that this is a reading, the subheader on the site continued to promote, "All In is performed by..."

I hope the "performers" and the production impresses within the context of a reading, but you can't blame ticket buyers for feeling mislead, especially at these prices. What a marketing misfire. If I was in the cast, I'd be pissed that the pre-show promo did not appropriately set expectations. I suspect they'll be facing a lot of disappointed and disinterested audiences.