The reviews are in for The Morbs, Jen Diamond’s new play for the Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective, now running at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres under the direction of Lily Kanter Riopelle. Three former sorority sisters flee their fifth reunion when a mysterious disease breaks out again, and sit out a snowstorm in a New Hampshire cabin, where they are met by an aunt whom the illness has left hollow. The critics are kinder to the friendship than to the fever: some find the world-building thin or the thriller slow to arrive, but Emma Kikue, Rachel Ravel, Alexandra Templer and Jennifer Regan are praised in every notice.
The verdict: five reviews in, and none of the outlets puts a score on it. Talkin’ Broadway, Off Off Online and This Week in New York are the warmest, finding a funny, touching story of female friendship dressed up as a cabin-in-the-woods thriller. Exeunt NYC and TheaterScene are cooler on the script, which both find thin on explanation, and TheaterScene also short on tension. What every one of them agrees on is the company: Emma Kikue, Rachel Ravel, Alexandra Templer and Jennifer Regan, with the cluttered cabin set by Christopher and Justin Swader a close second.
What are critics saying about The Morbs?
Talkin’ Broadway
Reviewer: Moshe A. Bloxenheim
Moshe A. Bloxenheim admits the title did not draw him in, but he comes out calling the evening first-rate ensemble work. He reads the women’s slide back into their college roles as the play’s smartest idea, a way of hiding from a world that is falling apart.
"The amazing cast of The Morbs truly makes this play an emotional experience with laughter, sadness, and a good measure of suspense."
He singles out Ravel for letting the audience see, piece by piece, the limits of Trish’s loyalty.
Off Off Online
Reviewer: Adrienne Onofri
Adrienne Onofri thinks the invented disease is more framing device than engine, and that the real heart of the play is the reunion. Her highlight is a rapid run of blackout scenes charting the friends’ tequila-fueled night, which she credits to the direction, the lighting and the cast’s chemistry.
"It’s an enthralling cascade of moments that takes sharp direction, perfect timing, and terrific cast chemistry to pull off."
She also admires Regan’s excellent, deliberately flat Harriet.
This Week in New York
"Memories and Dreams"
Reviewer: Mark Rifkin
Mark Rifkin argues that the comedy-thriller label undersells the piece. He notes a few small slips, from the absence of snow on anyone who comes in from the storm to an unexplained silence about Trish’s husband, but says they do little damage.
"it is a deeply touching and affecting story of female friendship amid the outbreak of a disease"
He calls the three sisters electrifying, finds Regan heartbreaking, and picks out a tipsy dance to the Cranberries as the scene that anchors the play.
Exeunt NYC
Reviewer: Loren Noveck
Loren Noveck admits she could not stop copy-editing the play’s timeline, and finds its imagined society thin. What wins her over is watching Kikue, Ravel and Templer flicker between old affection and present resentment, and Riopelle’s careful control of the horror-movie tension.
"I didn’t entirely believe the play’s world, but I believed those people."
She also credits the set, the props and the lighting for the cabin’s off-kilter mood.
TheaterScene
Reviewer: Victor Gluck
Victor Gluck is the hardest to please. He thinks the play tries to be both a thriller and a study of friendship and lands neither fully, with too many short scenes and too little tension until the last stretch.
"The cast directed by Lily Kanter Riopelle is excellent but they can’t fill in the gaps of what is not there."
He does praise Diamond’s ear for dialogue and the remarkably detailed set.
Production photographs by Geve Penn.
For the backstory, see our report on The Morbs extending its run to November 21, and for what the critics made of another new play this month, see our roundup for the ripple, the wave that carried me home at Playwrights Horizons.
The Morbs is playing at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres, 502 West 53rd Street, through November 21. For more information, visit the official website.
