"A low-key but likable new comedy-drama...'Kingdom Come' often grows slack when we are listening in on the chats between 'Courtney' and 'Dom.' Like most such interactions, they are fairly banal...And Ms. Weiner and the director, Kip Fagan, cannot really surmount the naturally untheatrical nature of watching two people typing away at their computers...Both the play and its characters are livelier when they are having real human interactions...'Kingdom Come' ends on a moving note."
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"This internet-dating premise already seems dated—virtually any episode of MTV's 'Catfish' maps the same territory more entertainingly—and Weiner, a current playwriting student at Juilliard, doesn't take it in any surprising directions. Despite some perky comedy by Stephanie Styles as Layne's self-involved young coworker, it all feels pretty contrived, and as inert as Samantha in her bed."
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"A sweet if unconvincing romantic comedy that offers some surprising twists...Plot convolutions strain credibility, resembling the sort of contrivances found in a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie. Still, the play is at times both funny and affecting, thanks to the sensitively drawn central figures. The characters are beautifully played by Herlihy and Finn, who convey these women's underlying emotional strengths as well as their vulnerabilities."
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"What the play does have the unique opportunity to offer, however, is three-dimensional characters who deeply feel the effects of both executing and being the victims of this kind of deceit. Weiner does achieve that task to a certain extent, but the play still begs more specificity from both Samantha and Layne...As the plot unfolds and no new details about the inner workings of our protagonists are revealed, not even Herlihy and Finn's palpable chemistry can keep us fully invested."
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"Weiner seriously skimps on the details of Samantha's life, including what triggered her binge eating and what her family is like. Still, even when less than convincing, the playwright's unsentimental compassion for her characters is such that you are avid to find out what happens next. Kip Fagan's direction goes a long way toward reining in the script's excesses and his cast is especially skilled at navigating the hairpin turns from farce to sadness."
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"Human is the best way to describe Weiner's thoughtful, if imperfect, play and Kip Fagan's inconsistent production of it...The plot becomes increasingly improbable as it gets more complicated, with the events and attitudes stretching credulity well past the snapping point...Most of the actors are commenting on their roles rather than living inside them...Only Herlihy and Hernandez get everything right...Their performances are complex, just like 'Kingdom Come' at its best."
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"Weiner’s clearly got a bright future ahead of her. Unfortunately, I don’t think 'Kingdom Come' is going to be her breakout vehicle. What she’s got is a good idea...But see, the playwright has to make the characters real. Or at least behave believably...The small plot twist at the end only confuses things and leaves us feeling right back where we started...Certainly the characters haven’t gotten their heart’s desires, and the audience, well, we’re frustrated. Which is not how we walked in."
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"It’s a compelling piece of playwriting by Jenny Rachel Weiner that begs us to question ideas about love and loneliness...This is one of those plays that I couldn’t help myself getting sucked into. I was so curious to see how it was all going to turn out in the end...Weiner does a good job keeping us intrigued as does director, Kip Fagan, but not so well with our understanding of these souls, especially Samantha...The picture isn’t quite complete. A few pieces are still missing."
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