Outside Mullingar BROADWAY REVIEWS

• NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF Outside Mullingar

  

  Weary, Brooding and Made for Each Other

  Charles Isherwood

  January 23, 2014: The rain pours down in steady streams, shrouding in gloom the Irish countryside of Outside Mullingar, the new play by John Patrick Shanley that opened on Thursday night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. Gloomy, too, is the talk of lost loves, deaths and other grim subjects dear to the hearts of the Irish, or at least those who populate Broadway stages. As is also regularly the case in plays set there, the reaper will pay a house call before the curtain has fallen.

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• HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW OF Outside Mullingar

  

  Outside Mullingar: Theater Review

  David Rooney

  January 23, 2014: Hitting a sweet spot that recalls his Oscar-winning screenplay for Moonstruck, John Patrick Shanley’s Outside Mullingar is a charmer of a play about a hesitant romance stalled by petty grievances and misunderstandings. Unapologetic sentimentality without too much treacle isn’t easy to do, but the playwright pulls it off with confidence. In his first work set in Ireland, he lovingly tends the roots and tills the soil of his ancestry, spinning a tale suffused with melancholy humor and a deep yearning for heart, home, land, faith and a sense of belonging. It also provides wonderful roles for Brian F. O’Byrne and Debra Messing, the latter making her Broadway debut.

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• NBC NEW YORK REVIEW OF Outside Mullingar

  

  Review: Debra Messing Searches for Romance in Charming "Outside Mullingar"

  Robert Kahn

  January 23, 2014: Debra Messing slides effortlessly into a foursome of Irish actors in the wistful Outside Mullingar, a new romantic comedy — that is, by the time it resolves an identity crisis — from award-winning writer John Patrick Shanley (Doubt). A world premiere, Mullingar has just opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

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• ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY REVIEW OF Outside Mullingar

  

  Outside Mullingar

  Thom Geier

  January 23, 2014: Judging from the lonesome, relationship-phobic Irish farmers at the center of John Patrick Shanley's sweet put peculiar new comedy Outside Mullingar, it's a wonder that the Irish ever gained a reputation for large families. Anthony (Brían F. O'Byrne) is a 40-something glumly tending his family's farm, still smarting from the rejection of a girl when he was 16. Rosemary (Debra Messing) is the proverbial girl next door, a 30-something on the verge of spinsterhood though she's been carrying a passive-aggressive torch for Anthony since she was 6.

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• NEWSDAY REVIEW OF Outside Mullingar

  

  'Outside Mullingar' review: Debra Messing, Bryan F. O'Byrne transcend

  Linda Winer

  January 23, 2014: Debra Messing and Brian F. O'Byrne are so, what's a more grown-up word for adorable? -- charming? irresistible? combustible? -- together that we wish this romantic comedy would go on for hours. The problem is that Outside Mullingar is only a romantic comedy for the last altogether enchanting scene. For the rest of John Patrick Shanley's 95-minute oddity, we are thrust into some cartoon universe, where rural Irish folk speak wisdom in kooky locutions, fester on peculiar grudges and debate whether shy, middle-aged, hardworking Anthony Reilly (O'Byrne) loves the farm enough to inherit it from his cranky old dad.

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• AM NEW YORK REVIEW OF Outside Mullingar

  

  Theatre review: 'Outside Mullingar' -- 2.5 stars

  Matt Windman

  January 23, 2014: Playwright John Patrick Shanley, who achieved phenomenal success with his compelling, Pulitzer-winning drama Doubt and its starry film version, has been far less lucky with his subsequent plays. Defiance and Storefront Church, which completed his politically-oriented "Church and State" trilogy that began with Doubt, turned out to be far weaker works. And Romantic Poetry, a tender-hearted musical which Shanley directed and also wrote book and lyrics for, was absolutely awful. So it’s not surprising to find Shanley going in a new direction with Outside Mullingar, a sentimental mix of family drama, romantic comedy and Irish accents.

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