THE RESERVOIR at Atlantic Theatre Co

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 8:47am

Anyone seen this yet?

Previews started last week -- top-notch cast of theater veterans. Plot sounds interesting.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 9:21am

I’m going tonight. I am also quite interested by the premise, even though I’m not a huge fan of Noah Galvin. 

Mary Beth Peil and Chip Zien could be reading a takeout menu on stage and I’d be down for it.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 10:49am

The Denver production was pretty dang great. Not sure I love the idea of Noah in this role.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 11:08am

Falsettolands said: "The Denver production was pretty dang great. Not sure I love the idea of Noah in this role."

I hated it and left at intermission because I found Noah so insufferable in the role.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 12:18pm

iluvtheatertrash said: "Falsettolands said: "The Denver production was pretty dang great. Not sure I love the idea of Noah in this role."

I hated it and left at intermission because I found Noah so insufferable in the role."

Oh no. I can handle being single on Valentine’s Day, but not single AND at the mercy of Noah being insufferable.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 12:26pm

iluvtheatertrash said: 

I hated it and left at intermission because I found Noah so insufferable in the role."

I unfortunately stayed for Act 2 thinking he would improve.....

Nope.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 1:24pm

To be honest, I thought the play was weak too. But I would have stayed if the lead performance was more likable. He made an already selfish character even more insidious and vapid than the text requires. I'll be curious to see more reviews, but I fled. I wanted to be home, warm, hanging with my pets.

[blug]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 2:37pm

That video on the Atlantic website makes the set design look like an episode of Zoom. 

Updated On: 2/15/26 at 02:37 PM

[qafgenius122]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 10:39pm

iluvtheatertrash said: "To be honest, I thought the play was weak too. But I would have stayed if the lead performance was more likable. He made an already selfish character even more insidious and vapid than the text requires. I'll be curious to see more reviews, but I fled. I wanted to be home, warm, hanging with my pets."

To those of you who left at intermission, (or just somehow didn’t enjoy this play) I believe you missed out on something really cute and cathartic. And I personally found Noah extremely likable and not grating in the least.

i thorouhh th ky enjoyed this. Laughed a lot, got choked up, and to see some of these legends on stage was truly a treat.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 10:43pm

I just got out and I echo the thumbs down chorus.

This was a play that said a LOT…without actually saying anything meaningful. It spends the first half of the play attempting to reconcile a gay man crashing out from alcoholism to the mental decline of his older relatives (padded with psychoblather and sitcom schtick) and, while there might have been potential in that thread of thought, it essentially abandons it by the end of the first act for a basic Lifetime movie of the week. The main character is already insufferable  enough, but when you factor in Noah Galvin basically epiloguing for the latter half of Act II, it just because extremely dull.

Mary Beth Peil and Chip Zien are very much wasted here, basically being scenery until they are used to drive either a dramatic moment or a Borscht Belt-esque schtick. Zien’s character could’ve been cut entirely and saved us a good 20 minutes. The only time anyone on stage truly came alive was Caroline Aaron. She made a buffet out of pure scraps and she was the only person who made me laugh in earnest, even if she got mired a bit in the “sassy acidic grandma” schtick.

The whole play is about 30-40 minutes too long and relies on too many tropes to push it along. Audiences might find it charming, but I expect the critics to unload their kvetching en masse for this.

That said, I need an effing drink…

 

Updated On: 2/15/26 at 10:43 PM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 11:23am

qafgenius122 said: "To those of you who left at intermission, (or just somehow didn’t enjoy this play) I believe you missed out on something really cute and cathartic. And I personally found Noah extremely likable and not grating in the least.

i thorouhh th ky enjoyed this. Laughed a lot, got choked up, and to see some of these legends on stage was truly a treat."

Thanks for entering the conversation, Ben Platt.

I thought this was god awful and grating. Noah Galvin had the most irritating style of acting where he was constantly closing his eyes and showing off the black nails. Mary Beth Peil is one of my favorite stage actresses but she was given little to nothing here other than be pitied having dementia. Caroline Aaron fared the best with the material even though she was playing the character she always plays. The wig was atrocious and the makeup made her look dead though. 

The set design was so ugly and multiple times the actors couldn't find the slit in the curtains to exit the stage. I wanted to stop having to look at it.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 11:41am

ClydeBarrow said: "The set design was so ugly and multiple times the actors couldn't find the slit in the curtains to exit the stage. I wanted to stop having to look at it."

Yeah. What fresh hell was that set design? I wanna guess it has something to do with that water/fluid metaphor that the playwright was keen on shoving down our throats, but all I could think of was hospital curtains.

Also, see below re: Matthew Saldivar’s character.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Considering the ludicrousness of making Hugo (the coworker) gay, I really expected the playwright to make them a couple and was actually really shocked (and relieved) when he didn’t.

 

[AlmostFamous3]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 3:39pm

I didn’t have strong feelings about Noah - I thought he was perfectly fine. But that set design… woof. Who approved this? One of the worst I’ve seen in a while. If they had no inspired ideas, they should’ve just sat everyone on chairs on a bare stage.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 10:01pm

I couldn't wait for intermission so I could look for a horse doctor to shoot this play and put it out of it's misery!

I had to settle for fleeing the building as fast as I could.

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 10:24pm

Yeah, the play we saw this weekend was a college/juvenile first write.  Was the director in the room for this?  They approve THAT set and some of the lighting?  The general storytelling?   Not good.  

the whole cast had potential yet they were not helped into anything.  it felt without a strong enough writer or a guide to shepherd the play and cast.  

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 10:43pm

CoffeeBreak said: "Yeah, the play we saw this weekend was a college/juvenile first write. Was the director in the room for this? They approve THAT set and some of the lighting? The general storytelling? Not good.

the whole cast had potential yet they were not helped into anything. it felt without a strong enough writer or a guide to shepherd the play and cast. "

She was there last weekend. Seemed very community theatre for a director with that pedigree regionally.

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 10:58pm

iluvtheatertrash said: "CoffeeBreak said: "Yeah, the play we saw this weekend was a college/juvenile first write. Was the director in the room for this? They approve THAT set and some of the lighting? The general storytelling? Not good.

the whole cast had potential yet they were not helped into anything. it felt without a strong enough writer or a guide to shepherd the play and cast. "

She was there last weekend. Seemed very community theatre for a director with that pedigree regionally."

I just read the director's bio on the Atlantic website, immediately smelled some "boasting" when I saw "Shelley has directed and developed work" 

 

Recent shows at Atlantic were not good. I am a subscriber but may not be subscribing any more next year : / 

Updated On: 2/15/26 at 10:58 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/15/26 at 11:08pm

ill speak up for this play.

i agree with much of the criticism here. it feels like a first draft. the set feels like one big hospital room from the jump. it turns on a central character that is not very likable, compounded by the fact that noah galvin isnt very likable, compounded again by the fact half the play is galvin subconscious ranting at us without any structure.

but i am surprised that the four grandparent characters are tossed aside by the critics in this thread. to each their own, but i thought all four of them were well developed, accessible and performed absolutely beautifully. mary beth piel plays the same character healthy and not, and her switch between the two is masterful. she also sings, considerably and magnificently. so does chip zien, who is sharp and then not when he needs to be. his big scene in act 2 brought me to tears.

and caroline aaron brought the whole room to tears- a little manipulative work by the playwright, but shes WAY more than her usual shtick (which she does to perfection for most of the show). its frustrating that these characters/vignettes are so poorly held together by a premature script but i could not help but enjoy what i saw tonight.

glad i went. imperfect is sometimes still worthwhile.

[James885]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 12:25am

I saw this in LA at the Geffen Playhouse last year with Lee Wilkoff and Liz Larsen in the cast. Echo a lot of the sentiments here. Good performances, but the play felt unfocused and too long. But I thought the first act was stronger than the second. There was definitely potential but it felt like the playwright needed a stronger directorial hand to shape the material better.

From the video it looks like the set is different from the one at the Geffen.

Updated On: 2/16/26 at 12:25 AM

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 12:59am

The scenic designer is the same from Geffen to Atlantic.  Somehow it's worse.  Not sure how this has been produced by larger respected theaters with this writing and a director incapable. 

[Melissa25]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 4:41am

CoffeeBreak: …Not sure how this has been produced by larger respected theaters…

Perhaps driven by a senior citizen market?

[tomwsjr]

Posted: 2/17/26 at 3:59pm

Unfortunately, this was a major disappointment. The writing felt amateurish, the stereotypes were tired, and the overall look and tone seemed dated and uninspired. I had high expectations given the talented supporting cast, but even they couldn’t elevate what ultimately turned out to be a dud.