McNeal @ Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater

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The Play: McNeal; a Nobel Prize-winning author wrestles with his mortality, his moral failings as a husband and father and the lure of using artificial intelligence when his own creative powers begin to fail him.  

Written by: Ayad Akhtar        Directed by: Bartlett Sher

One good thing: It’s fun to get an up-close look at the Oscar-winning actor Robert Downey Jr., acquitting himself nicely in his Broadway debut

One not-so-great thing: The play is so determined to cram in all the major issues of the day—art, technology, racial diversity, divisive politics, plagiarism, parenting, sex, death, Harvey Weinstein—that it all collapses into a mind-numbing muddle and the waste of a talented cast that includes the Tony-winning actresses Andrea Martin and Ruthie Ann Miles

 

 


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