Were Off-Broadway Critics Sweet to John Cariani's Almost, Maine?

Most people know John Cariani from his performance on Law & Order or his Tony-nominated work in Fiddler on the Roof, but he is also a playwright. Cariani's Almost, Maine, a series of stories about folks living in one small town in the northern state, officially opened at the Daryl Roth Theatre on January 12 with a cast composed of Todd Cerveris, Justin Hagan, Miriam Shor and Finnerty Steeves. Did the critics warm up to this romantic comedy?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Rob Kendt in his Broadway.com Review: "In John Cariani's utterly endearing new anthology play Almost, Maine, characters in love have to run their engines a while to get going, but the warmth is no less palpable for being so closely guarded… The marvelous four-member cast, directed by Gabriel Barre, does crisp, laconic work that's as impressive for its consistency as for its range… No mistake, Almost, Maine is conspicuously engineered to be a crowd pleaser, right down to the cutesy scene-change antics of a pair of stagehands in parkas. But it's hard not to warm up to a show in which the most aggressive, malevolent gesture in sight is when one character petulantly slams a snowmobile helmet against another."

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "In John Cariani's Almost, Maine, set during one wintry night in the mythical town of Almost, a series of short playlets depict the encounters among a group of lovelorn New Englanders in a whimsical manner that suggests Thornton Wilder crossed with The Twilight Zone. The balance doesn't really work, and at times the evening is too precious for its own good. But it's hard not to be occasionally caught up in the charms of the piece, though it probably played better at the Portland Stage Company than in its new home in the big bad city."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News "Most of these playlets end happily, radiating warmth and cheer. The evening could have been shorter, but the performances - by Todd Cerveris, Justin Hagan, Miriam Shor and Finnerty Steeves - are expert at conveying the sweetness and poignancy of the material. James Youmans' snow-filled backdrop sets just the right tone, and Pamela Scofield has found an odd visual poetry in the garments necessary for survival through Maine winters."

Marilyn Stasio of Variety: "In nine sketches set on the same cold, starry night in the middle of winter, a cross-section of the love-starved inhabitants of this tiny township tentatively reach out for human warmth. While a measure of bile or bitterness might have made these overly sweet oddballs more genuinely engaging, they are just weird enough not to cross the line from quirky character comedy into brittle sitcom territory… Helmer Gabriel Barre faithfully renders the bags of love and blazing stars and other miraculous effects that mean so much to the playwright, even when they come across as pure whimsy. But the real value of his work on this script… emerges in the care that he has taken to keep the characters real and their emotions honest."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "Almost, Maine could take place Almost, Anywhere. In fact, a generic setting might be more in keeping with John Cariani's generic play, a feather-light comedy that attempts to say something about the quirkiness of romance and relationships. That's not to say that there aren't references to lobster, cold weather and a bar with the inevitable name of the Moose Paddy in this series of sugary vignettes that opened Thursday at off-Broadway's Daryl Roth Theatre. But the mentions are in passing, and they don't provide enough atmosphere to disguise the fact that much of the material here is sitcom thin… Four hardworking actors--Todd Cerveris, Justin Hagan, Miriam Shor and Finnerty Steeves--play all the roles. They are a talented crew and manage to make the many quick changes with surprising ease under Gabriel Barre's fast-paced direction."