Losing Louie Reviews

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:46pm

The AP is Negative:

""Losing Louie" could be subtitled "Same Bedroom, Different Generations."

Simon Mendes da Costa's crude comedy of sexual indiscretion, which opened Thursday at Broadway's Biltmore Theatre, gets an equally crude production from director Jerry Zaks and a valiant cast that struggles mightily against the coarseness of the material.
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"Losing Louie" originally was done in England - with an English setting - and it was surprisingly successful. The action has been transplanted here to the New York suburbs. The change doesn't improve the play.

In its American incarnation, Mendes da Costa's dialogue sounds crass, while the Jewishness of the characters is uncomfortably stereotypical without being satiric. "Losing Louie" ends up being vulgar and unfunny, a particularly deadly combination."



http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/entertainment/15743427.htm

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:50pm

Talkin Broadway is Positive:

"The funniest Neil Simon play in 15 years opened last night in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at the Biltmore. It's most notable not for proving that the old guy still has it in him, but for not being the work of Simon at all.

With just one set (an elegantly middle-class bedroom, the typically fine work of John Lee Beatty), an assortment of crazy characters, and an ominous, deceptively dark storyline with a silver-hearted lining, this play feels like Simon through and through. It is, however, the work of a different Simon: Simon Mendes da Costa, who is making his notable New York playwriting debut with the nicely entertaining Losing Louie.

The play, though, doesn't exactly announce the arrival of an exciting new voice to these shores: Da Costa doing Simon isn't the same as Simon doing Simon. (Then again, Simon hardly does Simon anymore.) But looking back just over the past year, Losing Louie makes a far stronger case for the Simon comedy as a cure for the contemporary blues than did last season's anemic Broadway revival of Barefoot in the Park.

Da Costa's ability to find humor and pathos in the saddest of life experiences feels similar to Simon's, if not yet fully developed, though da Costa does diverge drastically in terms of his destination: a meditation on masculinity. Rather than setting out to rout every imaginable laugh and tear from this story about a dead father (the titular Louie) and the feuding family he leaves behind, da Costa sees the real story in how men cope with life, death, sex, and everything in between. It's neither a broad nor an original topic, but da Costa and director Jerry Zaks do surprisingly well by it, as they're exploring a wide range of character possibilities with a great set of actors to snugly fit into them.
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Those four actors do considerably better: If Linn-Baker is playing the same schlub he's played for ages, it's an honest, close fit for Louie that matches up well with Arkin's more lubricated, self-assured Reggie. Kalember and especially Pawk, who can pop even the corniest of lines into a hearty, showstopping snack, turn in the strongest work, inflating Losing Louie's comedic core to dizzying proportions.

In a way, they're mirror images of each other: One the model of a sophisticated femininity, the other a picture of an earthy tomboy forced to grow up and put on a dress (a restrained William Ivey Long designed the costumes). But each demonstrates, with pinpoint accuracy, how they were able to catch their respective men. Through their performances, we see how men are ultimately defined by the women who land them. Again, this isn't news, but Losing Louie makes the same old story some surprisingly fresh fun."



http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/LosingLouie.html

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:59pm

We really enjoyed it

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:37pm

Murray's review is so strange. The whole "Simon" thing is utterly confusing and just weird.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:41pm

http://www.broadway.com/gen/general.aspx?ci=538566

The mortician liked it. He got all the jokes.

But it was the first play he saw.
Updated On: 10/12/06 at 10:41 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:44pm

That Broadway.com thing is STUPID.

Brantley didn't bother, and sent Isherwood.

The Times is negative:

"For some time now Broadway has been bringing the best of the London theater to New York. Apparently a new regulation has just been enacted regarding the importing of British work. It seems that, in the interest of parity, we are now required to welcome to our shores the worst of the lot too. Hence “Losing Louie,” the dull-witted and vulgar comedy-drama by Simon Mendes da Costa. This negligible transcription of a London success, directed by Jerry Zaks and raggedly acted, comes courtesy of the Manhattan Theater Club, which most recently presented in the same theater terrific productions of “Shining City” and “Rabbit Hole.” How distant and sweet those halcyon days seem after a mere two hours in the irksome company of “Losing Louie.” Having satisfied fans of eloquent theater last season, Manhattan Theater Club now feels it necessary to sate the tastes of its less serious-minded loyalists with jokes about masturbation, oral sex and a pierced clitoris."

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:08pm

USA Today gives it 3 stars:

"The resulting twists and turns are more evocative of a smart sitcom than a drama that graduate students will be analyzing in years to come. But as briskly directed by Jerry Zaks, this Manhattan Theatre Club production offers a thoroughly diverting couple of hours."


http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2006-10-12-louie-review_x.htm

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:35pm

Theatremania is Negative:

"After being assaulted by Simon Mendes da Costa's Losing Louie for two relentless acts, I had a vision of Manhattan Theatre Club subscribers massing in front of the Biltmore, shouting for their money back while wielding signs reading "Phooey on Louie" and "Louie Is a Loser." Indeed, for much of the comedy -- which was first performed at London's Hampstead Theater in January 2005 -- I thought there was no excuse whatsoever for it being presented by any reputable company. But during the work's final stretch, and I do mean "s-t-r-e-e-e-e-t-c-h," a partial reconciliation occurs between two long-estranged brothers that the MTC powers-that-be must have believed gives the piece a touch of gravitas. Sadly, it's a case of too little too late."
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Perhaps the MTC folks thought the dramedy's structure -- in which Louie, Bella, and Bobbie alternate loud scenes with the next generation on the same set, a spacious blue-and-white bedroom by John Lee Beatty -- confers quality on the script. If so, they've woefully miscalculated. Each time one brace of characters exits, another pair or more enters, and the contrivances the playwright has dreamed up to get these peregrinations underway are not to be believed.

It's not always a mistake to craft a play with scenes set in different time periods, the point of which is to outline how the lies and secrets of one generation impinge on succeeding generations. Actually, this can be a strong concept, as Richard Greenberg proved in Three Days of Rain. But Losing Louie, which proudly dispenses references to Secaucus and small-penis jokes for humor, and relies on acrimonious exchanges for drama, doesn't measure up to that prior MTC triumph in any way."


http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/9214

Updated On: 10/12/06 at 11:35 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:36pm

surprise, surprise.

Have you seen the show, Margo?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:37pm

Ouch.

I hate the Bway.com thing. I mean, it's funny - but look at their favorite musicals....

Margo, have you seen it?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:39pm

Nope. I think I'll be skipping this one.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:40pm

I will go if I get a comp. It sounds pretty harmless to me.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:50pm

Variety is Negative:

"As a character in "Losing Louie" observes in one of the play's many puerile jokes, "There should only be one stiff at a funeral." The corpse in this U.S. premiere of Brit playwright Simon Mendes da Costa's stunningly minor work is the embalmed Manhattan Theater Club production -- though whether it might have had more life in other hands is debatable. Perhaps there are still audiences eager to laugh at jokes about masturbation and clitoral piercing wrapped in the palatably bourgeois packaging of a comedy about Jewish sibling rivalry, but that doesn't mean they should be encouraged.

A hit early last year at London's Hampstead Theater before transferring to the West End, the play has been adapted from its original English setting to Westchester County, N.Y., with cultural references suitably Americanized.

Robin Lefevre, who directed the U.K. production, presumably opted for the meatier challenge of Shaw's "Heartbreak House," opening concurrently on Broadway, over this inconsequential piece. In any case, in Jerry Zaks' uninterestingly cast production, it appears something vital was lost in translation -- assuming something was there to begin with.

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But the comedy is hackneyed and toothless. A writer like, say, Donald Margulies might have breathed more heart and poignancy into similar material, but despite elements including infidelity, the loss of a child and a lifetime of fraternal envy and gnawing guilt, there's no pathos to give texture to the humor. Every time da Costa starts to flirt with emotional depth, he undercuts it with a cheap line like, "What's it like to have a foreskin?"

Much of the comedy rests on Linn-Baker's shoulders, playing a whiny character in a singularly unappealing performance. He's less awkward, however, than Arkin or Creskoff, whose work here is self-conscious and amateurish. Only Cohen and Kalember manage to remain aloof from the general staleness."




http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931840?categoryid=1265&cs=1

Updated On: 10/12/06 at 11:50 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:05am

Wow...most of these approach scathing!

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:06am

Talkin' Broadway always seems to be very differentand is usually the one positive in a bunch of negatives.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:20am

"dull-witted"
"vulgar"
"irksome"
"stunningly minor"
"embalmed"

Yeah, I'll be skipping this. I can think of 100 better ways to waste two hours than this one.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:22am

Talkin' Broadway seems to always go the opposite. His negative review of HEARTBREAK HOUSE was totally on-par with my thoughts, but completely different from all the other critics.

Though, I find that Murray is generally more negative than positive.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:24am

This play frustrates me. A. LOT.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:25am

Care to say way, luv?

[helloagain]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 12:39am

I’m really sad that this has been received so badly. I saw this show in its original form at the Hampsted Theater in London. I felt that it was a really enjoyable night of theater but I can see how this would not work. When I saw the play it was wonderfully characterized around a British Jewish family, which is amazingly completely different from an American jewish family. I guess I related to a lot of the jokes as I went to a Jewish school in East Finchley and trust me it does not get more quintessentially British Jewish than that. I really feel that is a case where the play was lost in translation and would have benefited from staying to its original concept.

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 1:00am

I totally loved Losing Louie, as did most of the people around me in the audience who were laughing along at all of the jokes. Just like I loved a lot of the other MTC Broadway shows in the same "sitcom" style - the one with Cynthia Nixon last season, Tale of the Allergists Wife, Proof, etc. I would ignore the opinions of 3 or 4 people who wrote negative reviews(the "critics") and instead make up your own mind. The talkinbroadway.com review was quite (deservedly) positive.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 1:50am

NY Sun is Negative:

"It's far too early to say with any confidence that "Losing Louie" will be the worst play of the season. Given Manhattan Theatre Club's woeful track record at its Biltmore Theatre space ("After the Night and the Music," "Drowning Crow," a tin-eared revival of "Absurd Person Singular"), Simon Mendes da Costa's numbing exercise in familial hostility may even see some inhouse competition before the year is out. But it sets the bar mighty low.
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Broadway has a total of four subscriber-based spaces — the Roundabout's two theaters, Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont, and the Biltmore. Tom Stoppard's mammoth "Coast of Utopia" is putting down anchor at the Beaumont for the entire season, while the Roundabout has four revivals in the works.The Biltmore, meanwhile, will follow this with a revival of Brian Friel's marvelous play "Translations." (Both the Roundabout and MTC have a slot yet to be announced, and to be fair, the Roundabout is primarily known for its revivals.)

So, to recap, those four theaters — the only ones that, thanks to their subscriber base, can guarantee a legitimate Broadway run for a new play that may otherwise be a tough sell — have on tap a towering, years-in-the-making epic by the most intellectually vibrant playwright alive … and "Losing Louie." And, since the first part of "Utopia" doesn't begin previews until next week, this exhausted retread and "Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!" are the only new plays currently on Broadway.

I don't claim to understand the deliberations and variables involved in programming a season, but I do know this: Broadway can — and must — do a better job of finding and producing new plays. "Losing Louie" isn't just taking up two hours of your time. It's taking up space.

http://www.nysun.com/article/41520

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 3:02am

Newark Star Ledger is VERY Negative (ouch):

"This dismal U.S. premiere did not open yesterday so much as sink with all hands at the Biltmore Theatre.

Were this a commercial Broadway attraction rather than one scheduled by Manhattan Theatre Club for an 11-week run, "Losing Louie" would probably die (of shame) this weekend.
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Busy with figured wallpaper and upholstery, the bedroom designed by John Lee Beatty looks as lifeless as the script. Marching back and forth across it, the poor actors try to wring some good humor out of the miserable people they portray. They must have needed jobs pretty badly to sign up for this thing.

At terrible times like these, let's recognize that Manhattan Theatre Club also has given audiences "Doubt," "Rabbit Hole" and "Shining City" in recent seasons. Staging new plays is a risky business. But whoever picked this little lulu needs a vacation.

Unfortunately, thousands of MTC subscribers will have to suffer through "Losing Louie." Don't let any so-called friends foster tickets off on you.

Worse, as the company did with its execrable "Drowning Crow" two years ago, it's likely that schoolkids will be bused in to occupy all the empty seats -- thereby causing them to hate the theater for the rest of their lives. "

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/116072013957820.xml&coll=1

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 3:06am

NY Post gives it two-and-a-half stars:

"Originally presented in London (where Louie was Louis), the play has been sea-changed in idiom and locale to Pound Ridge, N.Y., with far more success than usually greets such hopeful attempts at the Americanization of British imports.

On the other hand - or, rather, the other side of the Atlantic - you might note the influence of British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, since it uses the very Ayckbourn-like device of time-traveling action locked in the same room.
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The dramatic outcome - that skeleton shivering in the family closet - is obvious from the get-go, and the preposterous incidental jokes along the way are more feeble than funny.

Yet the play's structure is adroit - even if some of the gear-shifts of time are too sudden for comfort - and da Costa's writing, given every chance to shine by Jerry Zaks' smooth staging and the cast, is often engaging.

Linn-Baker, his very face a sliding scale of defiantly abject failure, makes the most of the play's meatiest role, but Arkin also scores as the hard-nut of a trial lawyer, and their wives are played sympathetically if abrasively by the gorgeous Kalember and the constantly hilarious Pawk.

This is only da Costa's second staged play, and its promise is such that it makes you look forward to, say, his fifth.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10132006/entertainment/theater/no_losing_proposition_theater_clive_barnes.htm

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 9:05am

The mostly negative reviews make me so sad...I really enjoyed this play. Oh well...
Updated On: 10/13/06 at 09:05 AM