PURPOSE Reviews

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 5:07pm

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 10:12pm

11 PM embargo lift... stay tuned.

Updated On: 3/17/25 at 10:12 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 10:58pm

NY Stage Review

PURPOSE: TOUGH NEW BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS TRAGICOMEDY LOSES SIGHT OF PURPOSE

By David Finkle

★★★☆☆ Phylicia Rashad keenly directs a first-rate six member-cast featuring LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Kara Young

https://nystagereview.com/2025/03/17/purpose-tough-new-branden-jacobs-jenkins-tragicomedy-loses-sight-of-purpose/

PURPOSE: THE PAINFUL LEGACY OF DREAMS DEFERRED

By Bob Verini

★★★★☆ Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins explores a prominent family's ethical drifts in the muscular Steppenwolf Theater tradition

https://nystagereview.com/2025/03/17/purpose-the-painful-legacy-of-dreams-deferred/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:01pm

‘Purpose’ Review: Dinner With the Black Political Elite

A family not unlike Jesse Jackson’s gets barbecued on Broadway by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/theater/purpose-review.html

"You may have trouble catching your breath from laughing so hard during the first act of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s sophomore Broadway outing, “Purpose,” which opened Monday at the Helen Hayes Theater. Deeply imagined and grave beneath its yucks, it unspools like a brilliant sitcom.

Then, also like a sitcom, it jumps the shark.

Ah well, mixed emotions go with the territory. If “Purpose” is primarily a merciless dissection of hypocrisy in an important religious-political Black American family — the Jesse Jackson dynasty comes to mind — it is also a grudging love letter to them in all their God-praising, backroom-dealing, self-promotional glory. The problem is that in the constant switchback of perspectives, the play, directed by Phylicia Rashad, grows too hectic and attenuated to maintain a line of conviction."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:03pm

Theatermania

Review: Purpose, An Explosive New Family Drama on Broadway

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony Award winner for last year’s Appropriate, returns to the Helen Hayes Theater.

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-purpose-an-explosive-new-family-drama-on-broadway_1767756/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:04pm

The Wrap

‘Purpose’ Broadway Review: The Tonys Have a New Frontrunner for Best Play

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins follows the award-winning “Appropriate” with another rousing family showdown

https://www.thewrap.com/purpose-broadway-review-branden-jacobs-jenkins/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:06pm

WSJ

‘Purpose’ Review: Dramatic Overdrive on Broadway

Directed by Phylicia Rashad, the new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins heaps various resentments and revelations onto the stage as it observes a fractious family gathering.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/purpose-review-dramatic-overdrive-on-broadway-41ba9476

"Although it runs an hour and a quarter, the first act of “Purpose” flies by, aloft on Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins’s sharp wit and astute delineation of the barely hidden conflicts among the characters, even if some of the revelations that pop up like unwanted birthday gifts are predictable."

...

"“Purpose” doesn’t sustain the same level of excitement in its longer second act, as the humor declines in reverse proportion to an ever-mounting series of dark revelations: ...

These are meant to lend the play greater meaning, as are long ruminations about the importance of having faith and finding purpose in life. But Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins risks dramatic overkill. After the savory meal of the play’s first half, many are likely to leave feeling more overstuffed than satiated.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:07pm

Washington Post

A riotous Broadway play inspired by Jesse Jackson’s family scandal

“Purpose,” by Tony-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, tackles the legacy of the civil rights movement through one eventful snowy night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2025/03/17/purpose-broadway-review/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:08pm

NY Daily News/Chicago Tribune

BROADWAY REVIEW: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ blistering drama ‘Purpose’ eviscerates a powerful Black family

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/03/17/broadway-review-branden-jacobs-jenkins-purpose-eviscerates-powerful-black-family/

"In the end, “Purpose” is a major new American play about what it’s like to be trapped by powerful parents whose public personas their children can easily see through, even as they are condemned to try and live up to their import. A thumping blend of tragic-proximate horror and schadenfreude, it’s riveting to watch. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:08pm

Variety

‘Purpose’ Review: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Latest Family Drama Is a Brilliant Examination of Legacy, Ambition and Shattered Expectations

https://variety.com/2025/legit/reviews/purpose-review-broadway-1236339772/

[chanel]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:08pm

"The play deftly balances comedy and tragedy and Jacobs-Jenkins even manages to show empathy for his deeply flawed characters."

https://www.facebook.com/michael.musto.96

 

 

Updated On: 3/17/25 at 11:08 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:09pm

The Guardian

Three stars

Purpose review – dysfunctional family drama hits highs and lows

Tony-award winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has crafted an ambitious and bold new play but not all of his big swings hit their mark

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/mar/17/purpose-play-review

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:10pm

Theatrely

An American Family Finding Its PURPOSE — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/an-american-family-finding-its-purpose-review

"After setting the dramatic world ablaze last season with Appropriate, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins returns to Broadway with another lacerating look at familial heritage. Purpose, a handsome Steppenwolf production sharply directed by Phylicia Rashad, follows a fraught reunion at the Chicago home of a Black civil rights hero. Each performance is exquisitely tuned, and though its second act spends too long on the reverberations of its perfect first, this is drama at its finest."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:12pm

Deadline is generally positive

https://deadline.com/feature/broadway-show-reviews-2024-2025-season-1236284911/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:16pm

Vulture

A Storied Black Family Faces Itself in Purpose

A household very much like Jesse Jackson’s has a brutal, if overdetermined, birthday celebration.

https://www.vulture.com/article/purpose-branden-jacobs-jenkins-theater-review.html

"in all that speechifying, these people aren’t much further from their public personas. They’re still performing. That they are doing so, even at home, is both a solid critique of the Jaspers’ self-importance and something that makes it harder to know them as people — to surprise, delight, or horrify us with idiosyncrasy. Purpose has so much ambition and forward momentum, but its little vagueries increasingly rankle. The levers and pulleys of Jacobs-Jenkins’s whole construct are too often visible. Young’s a recurring highlight in any production, and here she’s as ace as usual, but she may simply read as too intelligent for the obliviousness Jacobs-Jenkins asks of Aziza to keep his premise on its rails."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:18pm

NY Post

‘Purpose’ review: A hilarious and blistering family clash on Broadway

https://nypost.com/2025/03/17/entertainment/purpose-review-a-hilarious-and-blistering-family-clash-on-broadway/

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/17/25 at 11:49pm

DTLI Consensus: Back on Broadway with Purpose and authority, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins delivers once more with another invigorating family drama.

10 positive, 3 mixed (including the NYT). 

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/purpose/