The New York premiere of the Olivier Award-nominated thriller 2:22 – A Ghost Story officially opens tonight, November 5, 2026, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.What do the critics think of the production? Read the reviews below!
The production began previews October 20 and will continue its limited engagement through January 17, 2027.
Written by Danny Robins and directed by Matthew Dunster and Gabriel Vega Weissman, the play stars Anna Camp as Lauren, Jasmine Cephas Jones as Jenny, Finn Jones as Sam, and Martin Marquez as Ben.
In 2:22 – A Ghost Story, Jenny believes her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam remains skeptical. When their friends Lauren and Ben arrive for a housewarming dinner, a debate unfolds over whether ghosts really exist. As the evening progresses, tensions rise and unexplained events challenge the group’s beliefs. Determined to discover the truth, the four agree to stay awake until 2:22 a.m.
The production marks the New York premiere of the supernatural thriller, which received an Olivier Award nomination following its London debut.
Jerry Portwood, 1 Minute Critic: For the record, mating foxes really do scream like banshees. At the Lucille Lortel, they turn out to be the most convincing thing haunting the house, and they never pipe down long enough for anyone else to get a word in. By 2:22, the scariest thing left is the next sound cue.
Frank Scheck, New York Stage Review: But much as it does for the characters wearily counting down the hours and minutes to the titular time, 2:22—A Ghost Story ultimately feels like a long slog.
Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide: I’ll admit, 2:22 rarely frightened me — save for those fox screams — but it made me dryly laugh at its central thesis, which it also shares with Paranormal Activity: The only thing scarier than a phantom haunting is a very real, very condescending know-it-all. Ain’t it the truth.
Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania: 2:22 – A Ghost Story is a play that somehow manages to explain too much while also leaving us with big questions, which you can contemplate on the way home depending on how much you care. But that’s the hazard of embracing unreason: a logical or convincing explanation for the events onstage is not always forthcoming.
Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: Ultimately, directors Matthew Dunster and Gabriel Vega Weissman are more interested in the clever mechanics of their horror yarn — the jump scares, the wonky Alexa, the introduction of a cursed teddy bear — than in grounding it in a recognizable world of human beings placed in extreme circumstances. There is craft here, particularly in the just-before-the-final-curtain twist that forces you to reassess much of what came before. It’s a doozy. Like the show’s title, though, 2:22 is a clockwork exercise that merely dabbles in the supernatural.
Kristy Puchko, Mashable: Undeniably, I was giddy over The Lost Boys: A New Musical for its refreshing blend of fun and fright. However, after much buzz out of the West End, Paranormal Activity’s transfer to Broadway left me underwhelmed. Sure, it had some solid jump scares. But the play as a whole wasn’t as haunting as its playwright Levi Holloway’s previous Broadway offering, 2023’s chilling Grey House.
Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal: Still, those vulpine shrieks and a seance aside, the tale isn’t packed with clutch-your-seat-in-terror moments. The climax does inspire a shivery gasp or two, causing us to pore over the details of the evening past to search for telltale clues. But “2:22” will be of most interest to connoisseurs of the heretofore generally shrinking stage-thriller genre, and those who want to fill their dance card with this fall’s comparative bounty of options.
