“ ‘Regretfully, So the Birds Are’ resembles its title: initially intriguing but ultimately incomplete.”
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“Despite the heavy topics, Julia Izumi’s farcical tragedy ‘Regretfully, So the Birds Are’ is a joyful romp...Izumi offers a whimsical meditation on self-discovery — and a reminder to take stock of what (and who) you have in your life at this moment.”
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“However amusing individual moments are, the cumulative effect feels airless, less a thoughtful examination of the cultural issues it raises than a monument to its creator’s own perceived cleverness.”
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“A gaggle of contemporary tropes – identity politics, white-savior syndrome, and the ever-popular dysfunctional family – gets taken for a ride in this wild tour of life in the jittery, mixed-up twenty-first century. Playwright Julia Izumi may not have a knack for catchy titles, but in this debut work she executes a nearly faultless high-wire act, nimbly treading the thinnest of lines between farce and tragedy.”
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“Let's cut ‘Regretfully, So the Birds Are’ some slack and thank Playwrights Horizons for it. It's funny. It introduces an original, promising new voice.”
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“Izumi’s play is crazy, chaotic, but also cleverly plotted and energetically paced by director Jenny Koons...The script is a mold-breaker, a convention-twitter. The only guarantee is hilarity at regular intervals.”
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Silliness and whimsy can often be admirable qualities in a play, but not when taken to the degree playwright Julia Izumi has in her new work, "Regretfully, So the Birds Are," a co-production of and WP Theater and the Playwrights Horizons where the show has been well launched. "Regretfully," directed by Jenny Koons, centers on the trials and tribulations of the Whistler family: mother, Elinore, in prison for burning her husband alive; Illy and Neel, brother and sister who want to marry each other; sister Mora the cynical third sibling; and Cam, the dead father who has morphed into a snowman.
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“Great acting, great directing, great writing...what’s great about ‘Regretfully, So the Birds Are,’ is that it is not a book, movie, television show, or online presentation. It can only be a play in its fantasticalness.”
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