“Thomas Caruso directs with a light hand, delivering a well-paced staging that mostly stays out of the way of the performers...As contrived as it is, ‘Madwomen of the West’ still fascinates with its unapologetic and humorous depiction of older women and their grievances, and would make an ideal post-brunch activity for you and your close circle of friends. It’s sure to get you talking.”
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“The conversation rambles wildly, allowing everyone to lament, at length, that they no longer occupy the center of the cultural universe. The script strains for relevance with lame jokes about sugar cleanses, trigger warnings, and crypto. But, mostly, it's the same old song: Men are dismissed as cheaters, gamblers, or targets for gunplay. Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, and Eve Ensler are reverently invoked. Everyone worries about top surgery, pronouns, and cancelation. Really -- you'd never know the twenty-first century ever happened.”
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“Perhaps playwright Loh has modeled her stand-in characters so closely on the originals that they are already speaking as and for themselves — and as themselves are also representing women everywhere when talking candidly with no men present. One certainty: Playing either themselves or versions of themselves, they’re extremely convincing at it.”
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Playing women of a certain age, four women stars of stage and screen who became famous a while ago play friends of a certain age who meet for a birthday brunch in Sandra Tsing Loh’s "Madwomen of the West." The ensuing hilarity will be of most interest to baby boomers who still worship Gloria Steinem, Mary Tyler Moore and Hilary Clinton, but others will also find this an entertaining show as breezily directed by Thomas Caruso. The roles fit actresses Caroline Aaron, Brooke Adams, Marilu Henner and Melanie Mayron (returning to the New York stage for the first time in years) so well that one might think they were playing facets of themselves or of their screen personas.
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“Admittedly, Sandra Tsing Loh’s ‘Madwomen of the West,’... is not really a play in any structural sense of the word; it’s more like a barely blended mélange of one-liners, mini-TED talks, trenchant monologues, and idle chit-chat...More importantly, it provides a superb showcase for four actresses we don’t see enough of on stage.”
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“Throughout, the significance of the women’s stories is usurped by larger issues...It is ironic that a production so fueled by feminist power thus falls prey to two qualities that are anathema to the cause: an overeagerness to please and insecurity over how best to get its message across.”
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