Review Roundup: CELEBRITY AUTOPBIOGRAPHY On Broadway

Read the reviews for the Broadway premiere of the long-running Off-Broadway hit CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, the Drama Desk Award-winning comedy created by Eugene Pack.

The production features a rotating lineup of performers from television, film, theater, sports, and politics reading excerpts from celebrity memoirs live onstage. In addition to solo readings, the show incorporates ensemble “mash-ups” combining passages from multiple autobiographies into comedic scenes and exchanges.

The Monday, May 18 opening night cast included Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick, Scott Adsit, Matthew Broderick, Mario Cantone, Jeff Hiller, Jackie Hoffman, Gayle King, Andrea Martin, Bobby Moynihan, Ben Mankiewicz, Kenan Thompson, Nia Vardalos, Rita Wilson, and creators Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel.

The expanding roster of performers also includes Brooke Adams, Pamela Adlon, Lewis Black, Christie Brinkley, Danny Burstein, Bob Costas, Tate Donovan, Chloe Fineman, Will Forte, Gina Gershon, Kathy Griffin, Christopher Jackson, Ken Jeong, Susan Lucci, Ralph Macchio, Eric McCormack, Molly Shannon, Tony Shalhoub, Jennifer Tilly, Bruce Vilanch, Alan Zweibel, and others.

Greg Evans, Deadline: The phrases “low hanging fruit,” “hit or miss” and “luck of the draw” come to mind as one not very funny moment after another counts down to the end of the 90-minute Celebrity Autobiography, the much-staged oddity finally making its Broadway debut tonight.

Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide: At the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, a bit less so. The conceit of the comedy revue, developed and directed by Eugene Pack and Dayle Rayfel, is simple: celebs read bits of other celebs' memoirs that weren't meant to be funny but are, whether for being excessively detailed, oozing ego, or else just so badly written it's comical. More accurately, Celebrity Autobiography is intermittently comical, with much of the material intact from the show's Off-Broadway premiere in 2008. To those who know who Neil Sedaka and Suzanne Somers are, it may feel timeless; to those who've watched Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus mature from when they released their first memoirs as teenagers, it may feel dated.

Average Rating: 40.0%