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The critics are weighing-in on the world premiere of The Balusters, a new play by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon. Read the reviews and learn more about this new comedy now at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in our review roundup!
The Balusters features Drama Desk Award winner Marylouise Burke as Penny Buell; Kayli Carter as Willow Gibbons; Ricardo Chavira as Isaac Rosario; Emmy Award nominee Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Brooks Duncan; Drama Desk Award nominee Margaret Colin as Ruth Ackerman; Michael Esper as Alan Kirby; Maria-Christina Oliveras as Luz Baccay; Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose as Kyra Marshall; Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas as Elliott Emerson, and Jeena Yi as Melissa Han.
The Balusters is a raucous, wild ride through a small community with big feelings. The Vernon Point Neighborhood Association is a passionate bunch, whether squabbling over historically inaccurate porch railings or debating trash can protocol. Still, no one is prepared for the neighbor-versus-neighbor battle royale that ensues when a newcomer to the board suggests the unthinkable: installing a stop sign on the corner of the enclave’s prettiest block.
Helen Shaw, The New York Times: *CRITIC’S PICK* This psychological delicacy comes as no surprise: Lindsay-Abaire wrote one of our most persuasive dramas on social collision, “Good People,” which explores the two ends of the class struggle in New England. I may have quibbles with the way his plot here unfolds, particularly the way it incorporates Luz, whose circumstances must be manipulated in unrealistic ways. But all boulevard comedies lean on coincidence, and I guess that applies even when the boulevard is a residential esplanade. (I laughed while I watched “The Balusters”; I only grumbled while thinking about it hours later.)
Brent Lang, Variety: *CRITIC’S PICK* Written by David Lindsay-Abaire with a keen understanding of human nature and directed by Kenny Leon with a master’s skill for building onstage drama to a fever pitch, “The Balusters,” which debuts tonight at Manhattan Theatre Club, may be the most vital and timely show on Broadway this season. It’s definitely the funniest.
Greg Evans, Deadline: While The Balusters is never less than entertaining, the play suffers in comparison to similar recent Broadway works, notably The Minutes and, especially, Eureka Day, both of which had sharper laughs and singular executions. Eureka Day, in particular, found its universality in the specificity of its liberal, well-to-do day-school officials and the panic that the hot topic of vaccines unleashed. The characters in The Balusters, despite an unassailable cast led by Richard Thomas, Anika Noni Rose, Margaret Colin and the delightful Marylouise Burke, never reach that level of pinpoint precision, its characters as often as not seeming little more than voices for their demographics, as uni-dimensional as the poster board demonstrating exactly where that stop sign should go regardless of which hypocrite stands to benefit.
Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly: And while the Vernon Point Neighborhood Association finds a resolution that satisfies most of its members, it leaves some hurting, a few wondering if they’ve done the right thing, and others deciding to push the burden of responsibility onto others. A prime example of when art imitates life. Grade: B–
Jesse Hassenger, The Guardian: Even more egregious, several emotional turns depend on offstage action that, through its on-stage unveiling, feel like cheap gotchas. Is this a multifaceted discussion or a series of cute writers’ tricks? The Balusters feels more like the latter – which makes it both more fun and less resonant than it probably should be.
Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: For the record, the playwright also said in that interview that he lives in a Victorian home in the relatively affluent Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, where his wife served on the board of the local neighborhood association. Whether or not it was real conflicts in the past that informed the hilarious and pointed squabbling in “The Balusters,” it won’t be too surprising if the play causes some squabbling in the future.
Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: The Balusters is the latest in a series of contemporary stage comedies that are less interested in traditional drawing rooms than in drawing blood — skewering the foibles and hypocrisies of progressive lefties who also happen to be theater’s most reliable ticket buyers. It doesn’t stray into over-the-top horror fantasy like Tracy Letts’s The Minutes or the extremes of cultural appropriation like Larissa Fasthorse’s Thanksgiving Play. Nor does it boast a show-stopping comedic detour like the suburban parents’ Zoom meeting from hell in Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day. Lindsay-Abaire’s play more closely resembles the century-old Victorians of Vernon Place, boasting a sturdy frame on which the first-rate cast can express themselves with great craftsmanship. It doesn’t seek to push the genre into bold, modern directions — no glass-walled modern extension, thank you — but to embrace the virtues of a well-constructed contemporary satire. A gut renovation isn’t needed. The Balusters has good bones.
Matthew Wexler, 1 Minute Critic: Director Kenny Leon (This World of Tomorrow) keeps the stellar cast laser-focused as the banter unfolds—a herculean task in scenes with the entire cast onstage. Eventually, it becomes clear that nearly everyone will have their moment of racial reckoning, despite Penny’s reminder that “everyone in this room is a decent person.”
Melissa Rose Bernardo, New York Stage Review: Speaking of aesthetic curation, we must discuss Derek McLane’s Architectural Digest–ready set. From the floor-to-ceiling drapes to the turquoise tiled fireplace to the burnt-orange and olive walls through the parlor doorways, every detail is stunning, right down to the artwork and the throw pillows (two of which I have already tracked down and purchased). Top-notch comedy and covetable home decor—all in a tidy 100-minute package.
Frank Scheck, New York Stage Review: MTC has afforded the play its typically expert production, with Derek McLane’s gorgeous set and Emilio Sosa’s incisive costuming making important contributions. The Balusters ultimately doesn’t have enough thematic heft to feel like much more than an entertaining diversion. But like the object that gives the play its title, it provides sturdy support for an evening of solid laughs.
Ron Fassler, Theater Pizzazz: With so many outrageous lines done to a fare thee well from this sensational acting ensemble, The Ballusters provides more gut-busting laughter than any show this season. And at the preview I attended, Marylouise Burke was greeted with an ovation at her curtain call that was so euphoric it seemed to take her aback. Let’s hope in two weeks’ time she’s equally stunned by the news of a first time Tony Award nomination for Featured Actress in a Play. Personally, no other nomination would make me happier.
Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour: If there was ever a case to be presented for why the Tony Awards desperately needs to add a “Best Ensemble” category – and there have been many – it’s watching 10 remarkable actors spar and strike their way through David Lindsay-Abaire’s new comedy, “The Balusters,” at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Under Kenny Leon’s superb direction, each performer offers up a precise characterization and peerless line deliveries, all of which make this extremely enjoyable show even funnier and more profound than it is on the page.
Robert Hofler, The Wrap: Kenny Leon’s direction levels some of the imbalance in the play’s humor. He gives the supporting characters just enough edge to inflict pain without ever spilling so much blood that someone turns into a villain. He also sets up a marvelous two-person fight between Richard Thomas, the HOA’s long-time president, and Anika Noni Rose, the new member who hosts the meetings. Thomas and Rose deliver two completely different performances that make beautiful dissonance. From the beginning, Thomas exudes bonhomie to the HOA and the entire world beyond, while Rose remains reserved, almost faceless. But just you wait. She’s a tiger waiting her turn to pounce.
Christian Lewis, New York Theatre Guide: What do you call a gathering of like-minded, well-meaning but annoying, virtue-signaling liberals? A community association board meeting, of course. David Lindsay-Abaire’s new play for Manhattan Theatre Club, The Balusters, takes up this decidedly of-the-moment subject, finding depths of comedy and critique within what is becoming well-trodden territory. After Tracy Letts’s The Minutes and Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, it might have appeared this emerging genre was already played out, but The Balusters reaches new heights. Lindsay-Abaire’s searing wit makes an almost anthropological study of liberal hypocrisy, offering an effective and highly entertaining callout.
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune: Clearly, we’re in a moment in the American theater when, after years of caution, writers finally are beginning to find the courage to expose the hypocrisy of our newly sensitive language, tiptoeing toward reminding us that the mercenary, Edward Albee-like characters of the previous generation are still very much with us, only better schooled in progressive buzz words like “holding space” or “I see you.” People desperately holding onto power, or trying to acquire it while pretending otherwise, are a time-honored structure for tragedy and comedy. And even if credible veracity comes and goes, Lindsay-Abaire mines them for plenty of laughs. Including a couple of total howlers.
Joey Sims, Theatrely: Lindsay-Abaire’s new play The Balusters makes a highly entertaining if specious argument for the eventual triumph—bad-faith cultural backlash be damned—of social justice in left-leaning America. Solidly staged by director Kenny Leon, this world premiere from Manhattan Theatre Club is witty and always engaging, though its ham-fistedness might leave you longing for the nuance of Lindsay-Abaire’s past triumphs.
Average Rating:
80.6%
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