Review Roundup: John Leguizamo's THE OTHER AMERICANS

THE OTHER AMERICANS, a new play about the American Dream colliding with Latino reality written by Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, is now playing at The Public Theater.

Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo is Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner in Queens grappling with a failing business and buried secrets in his new play THE OTHER AMERICANS. When his son Nick returns from a mental wellness facility after a traumatic incident, Nelson's world unravels. Committed to protecting his family and business, he tackles racial and identity challenges to achieve his dream, proving his success. Nelson must navigate morality's murky waters to salvage his future. Will he emerge victorious, or will his past consume everything he holds dear? Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs this gripping tale of resilience. 

The complete cast of THE OTHER AMERICANS includes Rosa Evangelina Arredondo (Norma), Kimberli Flores (Understudy), Sarah Nina Hayon (Veronica), Jaime José Hernández (Understudy), Rebecca Jimenez (Toni), John Leguizamo (Nelson), Trey Santiago-Hudson (Nick), Bradley James Tejeda (Eddie), Luna/">Luna Lauren Velez (Patti), and Juan Francisco Villa (Understudy). See what the critics are saying...

Juan A. Ramírez, The New York Times:  The cultural specificity in Leguizamo’s work is airtight, and in his first effort at writing for a full cast, he clears two important hurdles: a good ear for dialogue and an understanding that everyone needs strong intentions. His career has long established him as an insightful American artist, so to succeed in this new field, he should only trust in his uniqueness.

Sara Holdren, Vulture: The play is earnest and ambitious, clearly trying to strike a balance of humor and hurt, to invoke both sitcom patter and Pulitzer profundity while offering a specific vision of American brokenness — but despite his gift for character comedy, Leguizamo stumbles hard when it comes to writing dialogue. 

Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal: “The Other Americans” is not without flaws. With judicious trimming, particularly of the occasional puddle of expository or repetitive dialogue, the play would gain a tauter pace. But while the revelation that brings the play to a painful climax has a faint whiff of contrivance about it, the angry confrontation that ensues between Nelson and Nick has a bruising, brutal power. It also recalls, without feeling derivative, the classic American dramas—Miller’s and others—in which fathers and sons, despite their best efforts to avoid it, turn into mortal enemies.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap: Short scenes that gives us Nelson’s own traumatic childhood and Toni’s inferiority complex are introduced and resolved only minutes later. What’s needed is a setup in Act 1 and then a slow festering in the second act. What Leguizamo achieves, fortunately, is far greater: a true American tragedy.

Howard Miller, Talkin' Broadway: For two hours, plus an intermission, we are invited to join this family's own relentless journey into night, suffused with predictable plot turns and unfortunately clichéd dialog, along with an ending that is foreseeable long before it unfolds. Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill wrote their own masterful dysfunctional family plays in the 1940s with what were then original and significant voices. The Other Americans is set in the late 1990s but, other than the insertion of Latino characters and a lingering stench of racism, it offers precious little that is new or revelatory.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theatre: Director Ruben Santiago-Hudson has assembled a cast (including his own son as Nick) that largely does justice to the authentic-feeling rhythms of Leguizamo’s characters, especially Luna Lauren Velez as Patti and of course Leguizamo himself. Although one wishes that Leguizamo the writer had been kinder to his character, Leguizamo the actor makes him more likable and charismatic than he deserves.

Kyle Turner, New York Theatre Guide: Despite the attempt at specificity — nods to Jackson Heights’s gentrification, a bilingual script, and a family dynamic detailed by favorite dinner recipes and classic Denroy Morgan tracks — The Other Americans has a staleness about it. The show disappointingly fails to convey the urgency it wants to, particularly in a cultural landscape where conversations about who counts as American are as potent as ever. Its alarming relevance does not compensate for a lack of momentum in the show and an often by-the-numbers script: No one knows how to communicate, characters are ticking time bombs, and dark bargains are made