Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington, Paul Rudd & Ed Asner in "Grace". Photo by Joan Marcus.
In a suspenseful new play by Craig Wright and starring an award-winning cast, a religious couple is forced to reexamine their beliefs when they encounter their cynical, damaged neighbor.
“But if Grace is remembered in years to come…it will most likely be as the production that brought Mr. Shannon’s electrically anxious acting to Broadway.” New York Times
“Ultimately Grace turns out to have a simple, affecting point: It’s about the stories we tell ourselves to make it through life.” New York Post
“A dream cast (Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington and Ed Asner) brings so much humanity to these oddball characters…that even an atheist would send up a prayer that these lost souls will find their faith.” Variety
“…one of those glibly funny but flawed dramas about faith in 21st-century America in which the evangelical Christians are hypocrites, or worse.” Entertainment Weekly
Mizer’s Two Cents: While some might find the crime at the play’s center not entirely persuasive, the moment to moment human interactions as portrayed by a rock solid cast are more than enough to make this a worthwhile and at times very moving experience. In particular, the scenes between an astonishingly compelling Michael Shannon (Oscar nominee for Revolutionary Road) and an achingly open-hearted Kate Arrington crackle with feeling and unexpected contours. It is in the searching conversations between these two vulnerable souls that the play upends our expectations about where we think it will go and achieves the electricity of life — deeply human and inexplicable.
Also, I lerve Paul Rudd. As we have frequently established. Even his committed performance as a man who should perhaps BE committed here does nothing to scare me off. In fact, it makes me like him even more. Let’s finish by looking at another picture of him:
Paul Rudd & Ed Asner in "Grace". Photo by Joan Marcus.
