IN THE NEXT ROOM Reviews- Page 2

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:02pm

Show Showdown is Mixed, leaning Negative.

"The text itself is problematic--it's around a half-hour too long, with a failed coup-de-theatre at the end--but the caliber of acting makes it an extremely worthwhile experience."

http://showshowdown.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-next-room-or-vibrator-play.html

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:03pm

Great reviews. I was quite surprised, based on the general consensus of everyone on the boards, with the reviewer's general delight.
Updated On: 11/19/09 at 11:03 PM

[A Director]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:05pm

For his cheap opening paragraph, Charles Isherwood should be fired!

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:08pm

I, for one, loved this show. Additionally I am in the vast minority of people who actually liked the play itself better than the production.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:10pm

Wow I'm going to need intense psychotherapy if I watch one of those Word of Mouth reviews again.

He was sitting next to Meg Ryan and it was cool to watch her reaction? Seriously? Does Meg Ryan come to every performance, so we can watch her reactions too? What a douchebag.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:11pm

This play sounds really dirty.
Are they selling vibrators in the Lobby?
A friend said she "enjoyed" the Second Act
better than the first after visiting the merch booth at Intermission.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:16pm

Okay I think I just enjoy torture. I just watched the Ragtime Word of Mouth.

"It's like there movie Crash..."

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:20pm

NY Mag is Mixed to Positive.

"In fact, the play overflows with images of milk and electricity, zapped elephants and unfinished paintings and “the incomplete lines of God.” That theme of messy overabundance spills into the architecture of the play itself. (Ruined’s Quincy Tyler Bernstine, as Mrs. Givings’s black wet-nurse, Elizabeth, does a sensational job making an unnecessary role feel less so.) What does Ruhl make of all this? In the end, it’s hard to tell. She brings the night’s proceedings in for a soft landing, and we leave with the sense that In the Next Room may be diddling itself. But who cares? A little onanism never hurt anyone. Ruhl’s a great intellect, a true entertainer, an authoritative American voice that Broadway desperately needs. Let her milk it a little. — S. B."

http://nymag.com/arts/theater/reviews/62196/

[lull89]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:25pm

Entertainment Weekly gives it a B-:

"From such fascinating Women's Studies 101 material Ruhl has crafted a genial, well-mannered play about a somewhat cold science-obsessed physician (a stolid Michael Cerveris) and his effusive, overly chatty wife (Laura Benanti).

The plotline of In the Next Room, which just opened on Broadway, is not nearly as ribald as you might expect. (The female characters undress to their dainties, it's true, but period underwear is considerably more chaste than most contemporary outerwear.) That restraint is almost a shame, because Ruhl's play could have benefited from a broader, farcical touch. As it stands, In the Next Room occasionally seems like a barely dramatized version of a college lecture about the treatment of women in the 19th century (both medically and otherwise). Too often, the characters seem like types, stand-ins for some period point of view, rather than flesh-and-blood individuals."
EW: Stage Review: In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play by Thom Greir

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:45pm

"He was sitting next to Meg Ryan and it was cool to watch her reaction? Seriously? Does Meg Ryan come to every performance, so we can watch her reactions too? What a douchebag."

Meg Ryan has visible reactions? I didn't think that was medically possible for her anymore.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 11:58pm

Meg Ryan was seen purchasing a souveneir
of the show
before sitting on it,
she enjoyed the show.

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 2:37am

SO happy for the show.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 2:47am

Robert Feldberg for Northjersey.com is very Positive, with a rave for Benanti.

http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/70597397.html?c=y&page=1

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 8:50am

New York Post is Very Positive: 3 1/2 stars out of 4.

"Ruhl's previous plays, like "The Clean House" and "Dead Man's Cell Phone," have been accused of being too whimsical. Working within a fact-based frame imposed a welcome discipline on her. The style may appear more conventional, but its dryness and humor are perfect for the subject matter. And Ruhl works in a poetic finale that redeems the second act's occasional wobbliness.

As well written as the play is, it could easily have gone astray in the wrong hands. But director Les Waters and his cast proceed with great sensitivity."

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/only_good_vibrations_xEICNMijHvJr7zBwZPQVlL

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:01am

"I have to confess that I'm surprised by the strong reviews."

With the level of theatre criticism being what it is nowadays, no one should be surprised by anything they write.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:02am

Time Out New York is Positive.

"Ruhl's subject is rich with comic possibilities, many of which, I'm glad to report, she elegantly and thoughtfully teases out. More, she doesn't just point at historical ignorance and cackle, but probes sympathetically, to portray a marriage warped by shame and secrecy, in which scientific ritual occludes common sense and instinct."

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/theater/80789/in-the-next-room-or-the-vibrator-play-theater-review


Updated On: 11/20/09 at 09:02 AM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:12am

Newsday is Mixed.

"'In the Next Room or the vibrator play" is a great big idea with a mildly amusing play tacked onto it. The comedy is more substantial and less self-consciously whimsical than the three previous Sarah Ruhl plays that also have been luxuriously produced in New York in the past three years. But I still wish I understood the appeal.

Finally, Dr. Givings is provoked to throw off the corsets of scientific inquiry for a moment of literal nakedness. Hate to be a buzz kill, but the play fakes its climax."

BOTTOM LINE Big idea, minor play

http://www.newsday.com//entertainment/theater/picking-up-good-vibrations-in-the-next-room-1.1602543

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:22am

Bergen Record is a Rave.

"Can I persuade you that a play that centers on the invention of the vibrator is warm, romantic and affecting, in addition to being very funny?

That's the case with the offbeat, extremely entertaining "In the Next Room or the vibrator play," by Sarah Ruhl, which opened Thursday night at the Lyceum Theatre.

There's a lot of stimulus-related humor in the play, but "In the Next Room" isn't at all smirky.

The play, directed with a dead-on sensibility by Les Waters, is not really about the vibrator. It's about what happens when feelings are suppressed, the toll taken by the absence of emotional connections between people.

Ruhl is a quirky writer, but there's an accessible, compassionate bedrock to her work."

http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/theater/70597397.html?c=y&page=1

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:27am

NY Daily News is Mixed-to-Negative

"Les Waters' uneven direction of the Lincoln Center production doesn't help matters. His actors seem to be in different plays. Benanti is a charmer in a tricky part, and Dizzia is slyly delicious. But both are so contemporary in cadence and rhythms they recall Lucy and Ethel on a misadventure. A stiff Cerveris is still doing last season's "Hedda Gabler."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2009/11/20/2009-11-20_in_the_next_room_or_the_vibrator_play_.html
Updated On: 11/20/09 at 09:27 AM

[jeffmiele]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:35am

i cant believe the word of mouth crew actually disliked something

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 9:42am

Well Randi basically hates everything and has no taste. And you could tell that Joe was INCREDIBLY uncomfortable talking about the subject. My guess is that he was outside of his comfort zone too much to give a positive review.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 10:56am

Or Randi just recognized what a sh*tty play this is.

Updated On: 11/20/09 at 10:56 AM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 11:07am

Yup, that must be it Roscoe. Randi from Word of Mouth go what ALL of the other critics missed...

[Roscoe]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 11:13am

Exactly! Because if the critics like it, it MUST be good!

[bjh2114]

Posted: 11/20/09 at 11:19am

I didn't say that. But Randi not liking it also doesn't make the play a piece of crap.