The Public Theater - Ethan Lipton’s “The Seat of Our Pants”

[Melissa25]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 1:32pm

What an ambitious undertaking! There are lyrically rich songs that I definitely would like to hear again. My favorite moment in the show was “Stuff It Down Inside” sung by Mrs. Antrobus, a marvelous Ruthie Ann Miles, Sabina (the maid) played terrifically by Michaela Diamond and Telegram Boy, an earnest Michael Lepore.  

The Newman theater at the Public has been rearranged so that the stage is set with audience members on each side of the stage.  I really liked that the 11 piece orchestra is split with each half having a prominent space on either side of the performance space. 

There is a dinosaur and mammoth that show up during the Ice Age that won me over just when I was starting to roll my eyes.  In Act II during “Everybody Loves to go to Conventions” sung effectively Shuler Hensley, the parade of animals appear all wearing masks or complete head-pieces.  I felt a bit mesmerized and thoroughly enjoyed all of the animals especially the monkey for some reason.  My mistake, I guess, was going in cold without much knowledge of the source material, Thornton Wilder’s play “The Skin of Our Teeth.” Now that I have reviewed the Wikipedia page for that play, I feel a bit better and recommend it as a pre-course.

Ally Bonino is the Fortune Teller and has two solo’s. She sings a song “The Future” which I had a hard time hearing because the band was drowning her out. This song I definitely want to hear again as it fondly reminded me of “Our Disease” from Kimberly Akimbo.  It felt like Bonino pointed right at me and predicted a cirrhosis death. Yikes.

The pacing at points especially during act 3 felt glacial. It needs trimming as it was getting hard to sit after 2.5 hours.  There was a brief stop 1 minute in and a restart. The scenery, especially the application of wall paper multiple times, seemed to be eating up a lot of time. I’d rethink that element for sure.

If you’re a fan of the source material then it is a must see. Otherwise know what you’re getting into and fasten your seatbelt. See Oscar Eustis’ playbill note.

[inception]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 1:50pm

Thank-you.  

I've seen The Skin of Our Teeth a couple times over the years. It runs long as a play.

I'm seeing it 4 weeks from now, so I imagine it will tighten up by then.

If the band is loud I'll try to remember to bring earplugs.

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 4:35pm

This was on TDF for a hot second for Sunday night for $42 so I figured I’d scoop it up. Worse comes to worst, the cast is top tier. I have no knowledge about this play since I skipped the revival a few years ago 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 5:31pm

Totally forgot it started previews last night. I love The Skin of Our Teeth, so I grabbed a rush ticket for $40 and got a great third row center seat tonight. Very much looking forward to this.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 7:23pm

I loved the LCT revival of THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH and can’t wait to see this in a couple weeks! 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 7:55pm

It's interesting that the Wilder estate has sanctioned this, after pulling the rights from the long in development Kander and Ebb version (which had some of their best late-era music, but to be fair was in development with various regional productions, maybe the estate just felt they had enough time to try to get it right.)

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 8:17pm

Thanks for the report! Definitely intrigued by this (and loved Lincoln Center's recent SKIN OF OUR TEETH, one of my favorite productions of the post-lockdown era), good to hear about something new, Off-Broadway, and interesting. Feels like these things are getting rarer in these trying times...

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 10:48pm

I largely thought this was wonderful. Ethan Lipton nails the sincerely strange and strangely sincere tone of Thornton Wilder’s play, with the added layer of musical theatre on top of the existing metatheatricality making the whole piece feel fresh. It’s far from perfect - it’s an oddball adaptation of an odd play - but, by opening, I think it’ll be in excellent shape.

Micaela Diamond, Ruthie Ann Miles, and Ally Bonino absolutely devour this show. This isn’t a slight to rest of the ensemble, they’re just given the best material to work with and they each have several memorable moments. You miss them when they’re not onstage. I don’t think I’ll forget Ruthie breaking down over her lost son, Micaela’s bizarre “Music and the Mirror” homage, or Ally’s fortune telling number for quite some time.

I’m ready for a cast recording immediately. Lipton’s score really runs the gamut - Micaela Diamond’s Sabina sounds like Fiona Apple morphed into Lola from Damn Yankees, while Damon Daunno alternates between his country warble and a dead ringer for Disturbed’s David Draimon, and Ruthie Ann Miles is straight out of Adam Guettel’s roster of tortured wives.

Agree with Melissa25 that there’s some glacial pacing that lets a bit of the air out of the tires in the third act, but it’s all worth it to get to that final moment. “We’re a Disaster” ties the evening up in a way that I can only liken to seeing the final moments of Sunday in the Park with George for the first time. It hit me harder than I was expecting, but I think this play does that to me every time I see it. It’s just that good a model to work off of.

Definitely highly recommend, and I’ll be looking forward to revisiting later in the run.

Updated On: 10/26/25 at 10:48 PM

[kurtal]

Posted: 10/25/25 at 11:22pm

I wasn't as sold on this as some of the other posters.  I'm familiar with the source material and also really loved Lileana Blain-Cruz's LCT production.  

The cast is doing some great work, and there are some excellent moments.  But it took FOREVER to get through.  I wanted every aspect of the show tightened and sped up.  But perhaps I've just gotten too used to listening to podcasts at 1.5x speed.  

I went in wondering why this needed to be musicalized, and I didn't leave fully believing that it did.  I appreciated it, mostly because I really like the source material, but I don't think I liked it.

[halfhourcheckwithmerman]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 12:15am

I thought this was pretty dreadful. A shame because I love Lipton's work, and love the play. It's three torturous hours. Everybody on that stage is working very hard, but in support of a book and score that is not supporting them. Maybe I'll elaborate later, but now I'm just tired. 

I loved the dinosaur. 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 9:44am

I absolutely loved this! I thought the score was fantastic and Lipton really understand this material. He does a great job pairing lovely melodies with silly and absurd lyrics in a way that somehow makes them seem deep and introspective. It’s a perfect fit for the show.
 

The cast was great across the board, but I’d agree that Miles, Diamond, and Bonino were the standouts. All three have cracked characters that can be tough to crack and also really get the material. 
 

What I will say is that I doubt this changes anyone’s mind on the story. I love the play and adored the LCT production. I think if you also love the play, you’ll probably love the musical. I also know a lot of people who really do not like the play and I have a hard time imagining anything in this eliciting a different reaction than their previous interactions with the material. 
 

I also don’t know that anything was gained from presenting it with seating on both sides of the stage. 
 

Overall though, it gets a big thumbs up from me! I definitely want to go see it again later in the run and need a cast album ASAP!

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 6:40pm

The ushers told us that Act I is only 50 minutes and Act II is about 1:35. I don’t often see musicals as being bottom-heavy, especially by this much. Have there been other musicals like this?

(I’m seeing this tonight and will report back later.)

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 9:17pm

quizking101 said: "The ushers told us that Act I is only 50 minutes and Act II is about 1:35. I don’t often see musicals as being bottom-heavy, especially by this much. Have there been other musicals like this?

(I’m seeing this tonight and will report back later.)"

It’s because it’s a 3-act show but they’ve decided to only have an intermission between acts 1 and 2. I think they really should have a break of some kind between acts 2 and 3. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 10:36pm

I…really don’t know what I just watched. I’m convinced everything on that stage was just something that felt like Stefon from SNL got really high and created an entire three hour metatheatrical special based on a really bad trip.

”This show has EVERYTHING! Dinosaurs, war, line dancing, a vaudeville number in mammal heads, and Tony nominee Micaela Diamond singing an 11 O’Clock number about ice cream.”

The pacing is absolutely TORTUOUS. That second/third act pairing was painful to sit through. They did not need to add a musical interlude while we all sat in the dark as stagehands changed the scenery. One of those “brief 5 minute pauses” would have sufficed and given us a chance for our brains to reset.

I think part of my issue is that I have no familiarity with the source material, but even at that, I still think the essential message I took from it was that there’s always another chance to restart life from a new approach, but by the end, my synapses were so fried that I kinda just sat mouth agape in abject disbelief looking like I had a stroke.At least HERE WE ARE had a basic throughline and a method to the madness. This was just incomprehensible.

The cast seemed game for all the shenanigans that went into this painful slog, and good for them, but I would only recommend this show only if I was feeling a sadistic need to torture my worst enemy.

[brenway]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 10:45pm

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

I had a rush ticket from TodayTix, and was sat on the side where the stage usually is, and I felt fully immersed by the show, they make good use of running around the stairs, and platforms surrounding the seating.

On my way home from tonight’s performance. I had very little expectations going in, I have never read/seen The Skin of Our Teeth. I LOVED IT. I was expecting this to be good but not walk out with music in my head. 

Act One is about 50 minutes with Acts 2 and 3 being about 1 hour 45 minutes combined. And honestly didn’t think the run time was awful at all, I was so enamored, it could have been 3 hours solid and I wouldn’t have minded. Standouts were Micaela Diamond, Damon Daunno, Ruthie Ann Miles and Shuler Hensley. Not a single weak link here, though. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 11:12pm

I was also there tonight, and I had been excited since I loved the LCT revival of Skin of Our Teeth and also thought Ethan Lipton's We Are Your Robots was great, and I pretty much adored this whole show.  I'm no Skin of Our Teeth scholar, but from what I saw at Lincoln Center, this matches the tone pretty well and makes some clever expansions.  The third act of the play which kind of lost the plot for me was handled with a bit of a tighter focus here, and I found it more digestible. The songs are tuneful (a mix of jazz and folk, along with a few other genres) and for the most part seem well-placed, though there's a monologue Mr. Antrobus gives in the third act that I thought could've been musicalized.

I agree the pacing was a little off at times.  Act 1 felt pretty tight and did a good job of setting up the family dynamics while also balancing the impending disaster, but I don't know why acts 2 and 3 of the play were combined into the same one in this, since there's a 5 minute or so musical interlude where we just watch the stagehands change the set (it also made me wonder if there wasn't a quicker way to do the set change or to just simplify the act 2 set.  I think there should at least be a pause between acts 2 and 3, but I think a pause between 1 and 2 and then a full intermission between 2 and 3 would be a better way to do it (which is the way LCT did the play), since act 1 sets up a lot of crazy things, but the stark difference and upheaval in act 2 probably requires more time to wrap your mind around and process just what the show is.  I assume the way it is the way it's done is due to the set requirements, but like I said, I spent most of that musical interlude thinking of ways the set could be more efficiently utilized for the turnover, which I don't think is necessarily what you want your audience to be thinking.  For the most part I think acts 2 and 3 individually didn't drag too much, though there are things that could be trimmed in each, but the combination of them is what makes it feel a bit like a slog to get to the end.

Though I want to reiterate that I really did enjoy the show.  All the actors are wonderfully cast, with Ruthie Ann Miles and Micaela Diamond being standouts, as others have mentioned.  But also a special shout out to Andy Grotelulueschen as the announcer who really managed to capture the dry but somewhat off-kilter spirit of the show to deliver the openings for each act.

I was seated on the "back side" of the stage, and while I didn't have any issues, I'd say most of the show is more designed to be seen from the front side.  Actors seem to cheat out in that direction more, and it didn't quite feel even between the two sides.  There were some sound balance issues, though I'm not sure if that was specific to this side, but Damon Daunno's mic in particular didn't seem to capture his singing all that well (though it's also still previews so hopefully that gets fixed).  The last row on the back side has free-standing chairs rather than the usual theater seats, for people that might prefer that.

I'm very curious to see this again later in the run to see if they change anything in previews (there was a reprise in the song list that might've been cut already, but I also could've just missed it)

[inception]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 11:13pm

quizking101 said: "I…really don’t know what I just watched.

Probably goes over better if you have some familiarity with the original play.  Even that is a head scratcher on first viewing.  

But even in 1942 I'm sure Stefon thought it had everything: Frederic March, Tallulah Bsnkhead, Florence Eldridge, and a young Montgomery Clift. 

It's sort of Our Town on poppers.

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/26/25 at 11:28pm

Honestly, the only time I truly laughed was in the final act:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Mr. Antrobus is pointing a loaded gun at his son and is about to shoot him, but then he forgives him…and proceeds to CASUALLY HURL THE GUN SOMEWHERE OFFSTAGE. 

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 9:32am

Could this move uptown? Pretty dry season for new musicals. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 10:12am

RippedMan said: "Could this move uptown? Pretty dry season for new musicals."

This would be a good fit in Circle in the Square, but it’s a pretty small, quirky show - despite its narrative expansiveness - and I don’t think it would fare well in a traditional space. That said, as much as I loved it, I can see this being divisive with critics, so I think the prospects of a transfer aren’t super high.

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 10:40am

RippedMan said: "Could this move uptown? Pretty dry season for new musicals."

DEAR GOD NO!

Give me GODDESS and get Amber Iman her Tony.

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 10:54am

RippedMan said: "Could this move uptown? Pretty dry season for new musicals."

I wish, but I doubt it unless another nonprofit wants to take it on. The LCT revival was a massive flop, so what producer would want to take on a musical version? 

I will also say that Quizking posted their same post on Reddit and received a lot more concurring opinions than they did here. R/Broadway has its own type of niche theatre people, I’m not sure it’s SOOO much more representative of the broader audience than here. But, it probably is a bit more representative and if they don’t like it, I have a hard time imagining a commercial general audience liking it. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 11:18am

ColorTheHours048 said: "This would be a good fit in Circle in the Square, but it’s a pretty small, quirky show - despite its narrative expansiveness - and I don’t think it would fare well in a traditional space. That said, as much as I loved it, I can see this being divisive with critics, so I think the prospects of a transfer aren’t super high."

I'm curious why you don't think it would fit a traditional space, since I didn't really think there was anything to be gained by having audience on both sides of the stage.  A smaller venue might benefit it, and CITS would provide the intimacy, but it's a large cast and it would hard to justify the Broadway costs in a small venue.  I suppose the main question would be what to do with the band, but I think they could still have a similar set up in a proscenium house.

I do wonder how the show will be received in general for people who don't know the play, as it seems to skew much more negative from the reports so far.  But because I went into the play blind and came out liking it, I could see myself liking the musical even without prior knowledge.  I think absurdity is usually polarizing to some degree, but if word of mouth turns into "you have to know the play to like this show" then I don't think that would bode well for it either.

[No Leg Room]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 11:54am

quizking101 said: "I…really don’t know what I just watched. I’m convinced everything on that stage was just something that felt like Stefon from SNL got really high and created an entire three hour metatheatrical special based on a really bad trip.

”This show has EVERYTHING! Dinosaurs, war, line dancing, a vaudeville numberin mammal heads, and Tony nominee Micaela Diamond singing an 11 O’Clock number about ice cream.”

The pacing is absolutely TORTUOUS. That second/third act pairing was painful to sit through. They did not need to add a musical interlude while we all sat in the dark as stagehands changed the scenery. One of those “brief 5 minute pauses” would have sufficed and given us a chance for our brains to reset.

I think part of my issue is that I have no familiarity with the source material, but even at that, I still think the essential message I took from it was that there’s always another chance to restart life from a new approach, but by the end, my synapses were so fried that I kinda just sat mouth agape in abject disbelief looking like I had a stroke.At least HERE WE ARE had a basic throughline and a method to the madness. This was just incomprehensible.

The cast seemed game for all the shenanigans that went into this painful slog, and good for them, but I would only recommend this show only if I was feeling a sadistic need to torture my worst enemy."

I felt the same as you did. I sat through this long slog and kept looking at my watch as three hours passed bye ever so slow.

[No Leg Room]

Posted: 10/27/25 at 11:59am

No way this would be a financial disaster if moved uptown.