THE ROOMMATE Reviews

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Chris Jones NY Daily News/Chicago Tribune

BROADWAY: Farrow, Lupone outshine an imperfect script in ‘The Roommate’

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/09/12/broadway-farrow-lupone-outshine-an-imperfect-script-in-the-roommate/

"Farrow is familiar as a complex, long-time celebrity and thus has a persona one thinks one knows even though she’s acted only very rarely over the past decade. But at the Booth, you start to see that her main gift is exquisite control over everything: text, character, audience, the whole shooting match.

Even Patti LuPone, for goodness sake.

LuPone is Farrow’s co-star in “The Roommate,” a play I’ve seen twice before, once at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and later at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. It’s a simple structure. Farrow plays Sharon, a naive, divorced, 60ish woman who lives outside Iowa City and has decided to take a roommate to cut down on costs. In prior productions, Sharon was played as a traditional gee-whiz Midwesterner, more naive than most. Not this time. Farrow suggests from the start there is a lot more going on, locating this character somewhere between potluck suppers and the world of sister wives. And yet she still makes sure that you fear for her wellbeing at every moment."

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Green in NY Times is positive toward the stars, not on much else.

Review: Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow Clean Up in ‘The Roommate’

A Bronx grifter and an Iowa homebody share a house and eventually learn from each other in this Broadway star vehicle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/theater/the-roommate-review-lupone-farrow.html

"Though LuPone and Farrow remain compelling throughout, they are not done any favors by O’Brien’s heavy underlining. Sharon’s naïveté (she wonders whether Robyn, a vegan, can eat carrots) is pushed toward dopiness at the start; her disappointment toward pathos at the end. (But Farrow does pathos exceedingly well.) LuPone’s Robyn has the opposite trajectory, arriving in full dudgeon (and we know how well LuPone does dudgeon) yet departing with an unlikely lesson in her heart."

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The Guardian

The Roommate review – Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow elevate so-so play

Booth Theatre, New York

Two living legends command the stage in uneven new play as two different women who share a house and form a tentative, transformative relationship

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/sep/12/the-roommate-review-patti-lupone-mia-farrow-play

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Holdren in Vulture is negative

The Roommate Barely Unpacks Its Own Boxes

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-roommate-lupone-farrow-silverman.html

"Before the play begins, its title appears in pink block letters splashed across the back wall. When the play begins, its stars walk in side by side, and the big pink text on the wall changes to show us their names in capital letters almost as tall as they are: MIA FARROW & PATTI LUPONE. They half-smile politely. They receive applause. They leave. Lights up, music down, they come back, and the play gets going.

One could easily argue that O’Brien is simply dealing with the inevitable: People are going to clap for Mia and Patti, so let’s just get it over with. But it does matter. Because “let’s just get it over with” is no kind of first event. Nor is “clap for the celebrities.” If this drop of water reflects the whole ocean, what it’s showing us is that we’re being set up for a superficial encounter: Appreciate the presence of these two famous actors, laugh when they say something funny, and watch them get whisked away in their Uber Blacks afterwards. (Seriously, I’ve never seen actors flee a theater so fast; my show companion and I had been standing outside the Booth for what felt like 30 seconds getting ourselves in order before the applause went up and the SUVs pulled past, one with a Patti-focused vanity license plate … so I guess not an Uber after all.)"

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It seems like a lot of these reviews want the play to be more than it is. It's a Fish in the Dark-type lark that's not saying anything especially profound, but that doesn't mean it's not entertaining. Love all the praise for Mia though

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Variety:

‘The Roommate’ Review: Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone Bring Out Each Other’s Best in a Charming Double Act

https://variety.com/2024/legit/reviews/the-roommate-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone-broadway-1236142188/

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Village Voice loves the ladies, is mixed on the play.

https://www.villagevoice.com/review-the-roommate-relies-on-star-power-to-transform-bad-into-good/

 

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Theatermania is positive

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-patti-lupone-and-mia-farrow-cohabit-in-the-roommate-on-broadway_1749815/

"Silverman has some astute and unsettling things to say about the invisibility of older women in our society, and how that could be a superpower in the right (or wrong) hands. The Roommate is not exactly the feel-good comedy of the year, but it will make you laugh and think a little harder about whom you discount in life — at your own peril. It may also make you want to give your mother a call. You never know what kind of trouble she might be getting up to."

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4 stars from Time Out

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/the-roommate-broadway-review-mia-farrow-patti-lupone

"But these two deeply seasoned actors—Farrow is 79 and LuPone is 75, though their characters are somewhat younger—transcend the schematics of their roles. LuPone is justly celebrated as one of our great musical-theater divas, and here she reminds you that she can also be highly effective in nonmusical parts. She is convincing both as a tough nut and a cracked one; her Robyn has just enough hurt behind the necessary toughness. Her function in The Roommate is largely supportive, however; the play is essentially Sharon’s story, and Farrow tells it masterfully: Her voice spans octaves to dazzling effect, and she positively glows as she peels behind Sharon’s mild mannerisms to reveal an exultant shrewdness. While Farrow has been funny in the past—her diction-class scene in Radio Days is priceless—she is not an actor we associate primarily with comedy, which makes her triumph in this role all the more all the more satisfying. What a delightful surprise. "

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MemorableUserName said: "Holdren in Vulture is negative



The RoommateBarely Unpacks Its Own Boxes

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-roommate-lupone-farrow-silverman.html

"One could easily argue that O’Brien is simply dealing with the inevitable: People are going to clap for Mia and Patti, so let’s just get it over with. But it does matter. Because “let’s just get it over with” is no kind of first event. Nor is “clap for the celebrities.” If this drop of water reflects the whole ocean, what it’s showing us is that we’re being set up for a superficial encounter: Appreciate the presence of these two famous actors, laugh when they say something funny, and watch them get whisked away in their Uber Blacks afterwards. (Seriously, I’ve never seen actors flee a theater so fast; my show companion and I had been standing outside the Booth for what felt like 30 seconds getting ourselves in order before the applause went up and the SUVs pulled past, one with a Patti-focused vanity license plate … so I guess not an Uber after all.)""


WTF is she talking about (besides apparently now reviewing the actors’ car service)?  Is she saying she was out in the street “getting herself in order” before the end of the show and she heard the applause start, and that while the audience was still clapping the stars sped away in their vehicles?? 
 

What a weird, weird paragraph from one of those critics who always need to try and show us all that they’re the smartest person in the room. 

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DTLI Consensus: An especially fantastic Mia Farrow enlivens the proceedings inside this rather bland Iowa house.

7 mixed (including the NYT), 4 positive, 2 negative. 

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/the-roommate/

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In the photos associated with the reviews I'm surprised at how low budget the set looks.