Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence. Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play is a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity – and increasing inhumanity – of the stories we tell.
"The cast was great and their performance was great. I loved the plot and the kind of emotion and questions it induced in me. Great use of lighting. The crescendo of intensity was amazing and I'd love to relive that.
My only knock would be that it took them a long time to create that tension. I would've loved a tinge less humor (or humor to be more subtle in some cases) to allow for more time spent living in the drama and the tension.
All in all, I truly loved the concept."
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Dhruv S from New York on Nov 24, 2024
Great performances. A bit long
"The lead, agent and reporter were very well acted. Intelligent dialog. It was thought provoking. It felt like a run on sentence and it could have been done a tad shorter. Definitely happy we went. "
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Broadway.com Customer on Nov 22, 2024
AI elements really make you think
"Acting is superb with a story that takes an eerie look at how far AI is or is not infiltrating art. Makes you think and keep wondering long after the performance. One hour and 40 minutes with no intermission. Would recommend!"
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Broadway.com Customer on Nov 18, 2024
Superb acting- tough subject
"Robert Downey Jr. delivers a stellar performance as a NY Times best seller writer who is waiting to hear if he has received a Nobel Prize.
Andrea Martin lend humor to the exhausting, serious script which deals with AI.
The story is dark and caused me great distress. "
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Robin K from New York on Oct 23, 2024
Great performances, good show, meh ending
"This was the first play I've seen that really attempted to grapple with the addictive, probably malignant future of using AI as a creative. Why sweat over a new book as a has-been writer when you can have AI invent new books in your style? Why do the deep work of grappling with your wife’s death when you can just throw her journals and manuscript into an AI generator to make a coherent, more palatable version. In your voice no less!
Let’s not mince words though, this was a play driven very much by RDJ's starpower. He’s on stage pretty much the whole time, no intermission, and with that distinctive style of speaking you’re hearing RDJ so he’s very much there as an avatar of himself. This may as well be an alternate universe RDJ who took his talents to writing instead of acting and even went through similar peaks and valleys.
I don't want to spoil the ending of the show but rather than any kind of resolution or statement (which is seems to intentionally try to subvert) we end up with what best can be described as anti-plot. It's all a little sudden and left a bad taste in my mouth."
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ALEX C from Garrison on Sep 11, 2024
Ambitious play that is both well acted, yet missing something.
"The actors were fantastic. The story was interesting, but too many unanswered question. Expect a very diciotomous conversation with those who attended with you."
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Broadway.com Customer on Oct 28, 2024
Uneven
"I thought the play itself was rather clichéd. The debate over AI felt heavy handed. Robert Downey Jr’s performance was good but the characters were all two dimensional. "
