BITTER
It’s a play that probes the obvious and discovers almost nothing amidst some sweet repartee, and a quartet of performances (Zoe Lister-Jones plays the hustler’s sardonic girlfriend) that are convincing enough to add the illusion of substance.
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly
SWEET
We’ve seen countless send-ups of the crass Hollywood film industry, but Douglas Carter Beane’s Tony-nominated play — driven by the fiendishly manipulative focal character of a barracuda agent — is among the most resonant and bitingly funny, skewering its targets with unbridled glee.
Les Spindle – Backstage
SWEET
The monologues, dialogues and quartets crackle, and the final plot twist is audacious.
Don Shirley – LA CityBeat
SWEET
There are two realities at work here; the reality of the “biz” which is barely tolerant of gay material unless, like Brokeback Mountain, the actors involved are straight. To make a gay movie if you are gay isn’t daring or a stretch but is, to quote the agent, “showing off”. The other reality is that of the real feelings people may have for each other but in the face of money, fame, or ones sexual identity, better to go for the obvious rewards. The result of all this is a wicked satire.
Robert Machray – Stagehappenings
SWEET
Underneath this adorable fluff with zingers is a very sad bitter play and a hero’s journey. Playwright Douglas Carter Beane skewers the Hollywood movie industry astutely only occasionally overreaching with a quip that falls flat such as, ” We don’t have a problem with cell phones in the theatre in this town. We’ve simply stopped doing theatre altogether.” This in a town where theatre is soaring.
Laura Hitchcok – Curtain Up
SWEET
Beane is as sure-handed a writer as [insert top NASCAR draw here] is a race car driver. Audiences can relax for the two-hour, two-act ride through wildly revved scenes over dangerous curves for every gender. This would all be a disaster, however, without a masterful director to meet Beane’s demands. Scott Ellis – who recently helped bring out the best
in ‘9 to 5: The Musical’ at the Ahmanson – again lets his actors and designers work their magic with tonal unity without leaving his fingerprints on anything.
Cristofer Gross – theatertimes.org
