Critics Take In Kid Stars Culkin and Paquin in After Ashley Off-Broadway

Gina Gionfriddo's After Ashley, a big hit at the respected Humana Festival, has come to Gotham. Headlined by Keiran Culkin and Anna Paquin, the play about celebrity and loss opened at the Vineyard Theatre on February 28. Did critics think it was worth its previous fanfare?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

William Stevenson in his Broadway.com Review: “Despite its wry observations, believable dialogue and well-rounded characters, After Ashley eventually runs out of gas. That's not to say it isn't worth seeing. It is. And that's partly because the cast is so good. Culkin, who has done more film work than theater, is a very natural actor who makes us care about Justin even when the character is at his most obnoxious. From time to time Culkin gestures too much, but overall he's terrific. In a similarly well-written teenage role, Paquin makes Julie more than just a typical black-clad kid who wants to sleep with a quasi-celebrity. Eskelson and Hopper are fine as Justin's utterly incompatible parents, and Shaud displays the comic timing he honed during his years on Murphy Brown. As the creepy Roderick, an odd character who doesn't fit in with the rest of the play, Mark Rosenthal does his best but isn't altogether convincing.”

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: “If the last two hours of Gina Gionfriddo's After Ashley, which opened last night at the Vineyard Theater, were as fine as the first 15 minutes, we'd have a new play worth cheering about. As it is, the spark of interest ignited by the fresh opening moments is all but extinguished by the time this finger-wagging satire has concluded… Despite some fine work from Ms. Paquin and particularly Mr. Culkin, the director Terry Kinney's production is sabotaged by the conflicting impulses in the writing. Ms. Gionfriddo does not fully embrace the satiric potential in the material, but its cartoonish aspects subvert its power as a poignant drama about a young man's attempt to come to terms with his mother's death.”

Linda Winer of Newsday: “Gionfriddo has a lovely and merciless way with the worst of our no-shame, cheeseball, self-help, victim-junkie culture. Unfortunately, she loses control of her tone in the last three crucial scenes, then slaps a psychological smile button on the end. After all her delightful fury about just such sentimental manipulation, we find ourselves hoping that the final uplift is going to be a joke. Alas. And Culkin is way too old to play Justin. But no matter, really… With skin that looks too thin to protect him and eyes like boiled eggs, Culkin creates a bitter, smart lost boy who probably has always been wise beyond mere age.”