HAND TO GOD (B'way) Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 12:18am

HAND TO GOD, starring Steven Boyer in his acclaimed performance as a boy and his foul-mouthed hand puppet, officially opens TONIGHT, April 7 at the Booth. This incarnation marks the Broadway debuts of playwright Robert Askins and director Moritz von Stuelpnagel. Best wishes to all involved!

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 12:23am

Saw it last night haven't laughed that hard for such a long time, congrats to all involved. May these reviews be raves.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 9:42am

Here's hoping it receives the same raves it did at MCC and EST. 

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 1:12pm

Hoping for a New York Times love letter. I would think they would just resubmit their last MCC review, but the show has gotten tighter and Tyron more terrifying. 

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 8:26pm

The AP is mostly positive!

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-ambitious-hand-god-mixes-violence-puppets-30147678

Askins at times seems to fumble for a deeper meaning about the individual getting lost in the collective, but while he comes close to profundity, it's really his cast that leaves an impression. Especially Tyrone. He'll keep you up at night.

 

 

The Huffington Post is a rave!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-finkle/first-nighter-robert-aski_b_7021128.html

Askins's greatest accomplishment -- in what could arguably be called the best play of the 2014-2015 Broadway season -- isn't that he's imagined Jason and Jerome as bigger than life. He's done that, yes, and bravo to him, but he's been just as creative, just as three-dimensionally human with Margery, Greg, Jessica and Timothy.

 

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 8:29pm

AMNY is a rave!!!

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/hand-to-god-theater-review-3-5-stars-1.10217185

"Hand to God" -- a dark, irreverent and smart comedy by the young, previously unknown playwright Peter Askins -- is one hell of a great success story, having graduated step by step from off Off-Broadway to Off-Broadway to finally Broadway itself.

This is the kind of raw and raunchy play you don't typically see on Broadway, but once there ends up making Broadway a more exciting place.

The Hollywood Reporter is a rave!! 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/hand-god-theater-review-786761

But as crazy or gory or raunchy or profane as the play gets — and it's not lacking in any of those qualities — Hand to God is not merely a wacky sacrilegious comedy. Askins is clearly interested in exploring the psychology of grief, repression of human nature and adolescent unease on his own unconventional terms, while also making what for many will be quite provocative statements about the moral ambiguities of Christianity.

 

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 8:32pm

NBC New York is mostly positive.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/the-scene/Review-Hand-to-God-298893931.html

Structurally, “Hand to God” never quite adds up to the sum of its brilliant parts. There are only so many ways we can be told that faith isn’t quite enough, and that we need to find specific ways of dealing with our problems. Much of the dialogue seems designed merely to shock, though it builds with such intensity you may be too busy rolling in the aisles to notice.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 8:47pm

Who the heck is Peter Askins, AMNY?

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 8:47pm

"The AP is mostly positive!
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/review-ambitious-hand-god-mixes-violence-puppets-30147678
Askins at times seems to fumble for a deeper meaning about the individual getting lost in the collective, but while he comes close to profundity, it's really his cast that leaves an impression. Especially Tyrone. He'll keep you up at night.
 
 
The Huffington Post is a rave!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-finkle/first-nighter-robert-aski_b_7021128.html
Askins's greatest accomplishment -- in what could arguably be called the best play of the 2014-2015 Broadway season -- isn't that he's imagined Jason and Jerome as bigger than life. He's done that, yes, and bravo to him, but he's been just as creative, just as three-dimensionally human with Margery, Greg, Jessica and Timothy.
 "

 ...Who's Jermone? LMAO.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 8:52pm

Adam Feldman in Time Out is a 5-star rave.

Praise be to the angels behind it: Hand to God has made it to Broadway. No need for heavenly choir music, though, because the reception the play deserves is the one it gets nightly at the Booth: roars of gleeful laughter. Some have wondered whether Robert Askins’s outrageous dark comedy—about a sweet Christian teen, Jason (Steven Boyer), and his demonic puppet, Tyrone—would work as well in a larger venue as in its two hit Off Broadway runs. The answer is a resounding, full-throated yes.

Time Out NY

Updated On: 4/7/15 at 08:52 PM

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 9:08pm

I hope these reviews help to make Sarah Stiles the star she SHOULD have become after "Vanities".

[theatergoer3]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 9:23pm

Variety is very positive 

"Askins’ most impressive talent, though is his ability to make us laugh while juggling those big themes that make life so terrifying: death, depression, alcoholism, sexual guilt, emotional repression, religious hypocrisy and the eternal battle between your good puppet and your bad puppet. "

http://variety.com/2015/legit/reviews/hand-to-god-review-broadway-1201467612/

 

Vulture is very positive 

"Broadway’s unlikeliest new must-see play. I say “unlikeliest” in part because it’s the kind of intelligent, blood-dark comedy — disturbing as often as it is funny, vile as often as it is violent, and, to my mind, better for both — that would seem more at home in a small, subsidized venue patronized by locals."

http://www.vulture.com/2015/04/theater-review-hand-to-god.html

[Kad]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:13pm

Isherwood is a RAVE

In a Broadway season dominated by the usual fodder — musicals new and old, and a healthy serving of Important British Dramas — Mr. Askins’s black comedy about the divided human soul, previously seen in two separate Off Broadway runs, stands out as a misfit both merry and scary, and very welcome.

Review: ‘Hand of God’ Features a Foul-Talking Puppet

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:21pm

great reviews all around so far.

[Sophiia]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:31pm

so happy to see such positive reviews for a show SO deserving. more new shows on Broadway, please! 

[bdn223]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:33pm

I am on my phone so it is a little hard to quote, but all of the reveiws seem to be mostly positive to flat out raves. The only exception being Newsday, who makes herself seem like an elitist by saying:

"Nasty little downtown satire misplaced on Broadway."

 

But then again for a comedy that is to be expected. I hav to say though, I am amazed by the amount of thought Isherwood put into his review.  I applaud him for looking passed the funny to see the play for its merits, and stating its a play that required multiple viewings. In all honeslty though, i would only use his for the show's Tony  campaign as it is too intellectual of a review to sell tickets.

 

I do have to say though in my opinion though Hand to God will give The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime a run for its money for Best Play because although TCIOTDITN may be a brighter production Hand to God is truly a better written play.

 

 

Updated On: 4/7/15 at 10:33 PM

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:35pm

"great reviews all around so far."

 So far? Who's left that matters? 

 

BRAVO H2G!!!

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:35pm

Happy dance! Happy dance!! 

 

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:38pm

I'd say in no way is Hand to God a better written play than Curious Case. Case is brilliantly structured and subtle. While Hand to God has some clever lines, I think it's a messy play. The ending is terrible. The whole morality part felt lame, and it got a little too dramatic for a comedy. And Simon Stephens gave us Punk Rock, which got good reviews as well.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:40pm

Yay!! So happy to see fantastic reviews for this play- they're very well deserved, and I hope the returns show at the box office.

And after these reviews, especially Isherwood's, Boyer has to be considered a frontrunner for the Tony, yes? 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:42pm

Newsday's review is odd; she seems to indicate she thought the play was better downtown and is lost in the transfer, but the bulk of her criticisms are at the text itself (which has only changed very slightly from MCC). Definitely mixed-negative, though.

NEWSDAY

NYPost's review, however, is very positive.

But it’s Boyer’s virtuosic performance that defines “Hand to God,” as he seamlessly toggles between Jason and Tyrone — and if the actor doesn’t win a Tony for this, there’s no justice in this world. Boyer endows a sock puppet with fabulous expressiveness. Just watch how the little fellow’s arms shake with rage when he reaches out to strangle someone — it’s simultaneously hilarious and scary, like the play itself.

NY Post

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 10:48pm

"I'd say in no way is Hand to God a better written play than Curious Case. Case is brilliantly structured and subtle. While Hand to God has some clever lines, I think it's a messy play. The ending is terrible. The whole morality part felt lame, and it got a little too dramatic for a comedy. And Simon Stephens gave us Punk Rock, which got good reviews as well."

 TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH YOU...but I'm out with friends and don't have the time at this juncture to do so with any amout of thoughtfulness.  But, I've been almost anxious about these reviews and couldn't stay away. Now that the Times is in...to be continued.  

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/7/15 at 11:02pm

I think it's clear the Best New Play is between CURIOUS INCIDENT & HAND TO GOD. Just a matter of which direction the voters lean.

[Annetteiago]

Posted: 4/8/15 at 4:05am

"I think it's clear the Best New Play is between CURIOUS INCIDENT & HAND TO GOD. Just a matter of which direction the voters lean."

 this will WIN !!!!! Curious is rather annoying play

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/8/15 at 6:46am

I'm so happy about these reviews and hope the cast, crew and creatives are still on cloud 9 this morning. These are the types of reviews that should have made for a very merry cast party the next before   :)