Were Critics Attracted to Paul Weitz's Show People?

Writer Paul Weitz and director Peter Askin found success at Second Stage Theatre last season with Privilege. Now they are trying to duplicate it with Show People, a four-person theatrical comedy starring Debra Monk, Lawrence Pressman, Judy Greer and Ty Burrell, which opened at Second Stage on April 6. Did critics think these People were the luckiest in the world?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Rob Kendt in his Broadway.com Review: "Weitz's play is blandly pleasant and doesn't stand much scrutiny, but it does stand up. And given that Weitz-one half of the brotherly duo behind such films as American Pie and About a Boy-has set out to write a clever-ish theatrical backstager with a twisty hook and something of an insider's bitchy flair, that Show People works as well as it does is a tribute to his first-rate craftsmanship, if nothing else… This rangy but eminently presentable foursome would be ideal for a sitcom version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?-which I mean as a backhanded compliment to the ironic ambition, and the winking success, of Show People."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "The ruling philosophy here seems to be that if you keep those watching you off guard with enough reversals of plot and joke-laced suspense, maybe nobody will spot that the folks onstage are four very talented actors in search of characters to call their own. Show People is an undercooked, mildly spiced soufflé that mixes ingredients from Edward Albee's Virginia Woolf, the Ira Levin mystery potboiler Deathtrap and the personality-blurring antics of Pirandello… Directed by Peter Askin and featuring a terrific cast that includes Debra Monk, this latest offering from the exceptionally gifted Mr. Weitz does indeed feel like one long, occasionally amusing party game whose players don't know when to call it a night."

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "Despite some amusing moments and skillful comic performances, it quickly runs out of steam… Ultimately, the play is revealed as both a gently satirical portrait of the desperation of actors to perform and a wicked commentary about the artifice inherent in even the closest of relationships. Unfortunately, Weitz is unable to stretch out his concept for the length of the play, and once the central surprises are revealed the jokes become both repetitive and predictable. There are delicious moments to be sure, most of them provided by Monk and Pressman's hilariously droll performances as the acting couple who are sort of a low-rent Lunt and Fontanne."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "I'm afraid Show People is at heart a one-act, if not a skit. Stretching its increasingly implausible plot to two acts benefits no one - except, perhaps, Debra Monk, playing a veteran actress. She gets laughs from even the most primitive material."

David Rooney of Variety: "Peter Askin's polished production and a talented cast highlighted by the ever-reliable Debra Monk in a droll turn bolster a play that's probably a draft or two away from its ideal incarnation. While the fleet-footed first act is buoyed by its crisp setup, entertaining banter and the first of the play's revelations, act two struggles with the conflict between sophisticated comedy and overreaching meta-theatricality, wearing out its welcome by striving too hard for cleverness."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "This genial play, which opened Thursday at Second Stage Theatre, is Weitz's third major off-Broadway effort in three years. It's his most accomplished work to date, even if the evening is a bit messy, notably in a convoluted second act. Yet there are some genuine laughs and a surprising amount of affection for those who toil-often fruitlessly-in the theater… Monk knows her way around a zinger… [Weitz] provides her with some acerbic comic retorts as she castigates her husband for getting them into such a strange situation… Designer Heidi Ettinger's expansive oceanfront setting-with a full view of the crashing waves-is inviting. But then so are the characters on stage. These Show People are folks who deserve a visit even if the world they are trying to create is totally make-believe."

Linda Winer of Newsday: "The best joke in Show People, the slim but diverting Paul Weitz comedy-thriller-inside-theater spoof that opened last night, is the one played on the old-time genre itself. The real pleasure, however, comes from watching the irresistibly curdled Debra Monk and three other pros pretend to be caught up in the trifle's sightly surprising plot twists and disillusioned theatrical romanticism… The surprises aren't exactly shockers, and the absurd idealism of theater people is hardly revelatory. As a play on artifice about the theater of artifice, however, the thing is a lark."