Review Roundup: NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME Off-Broadway

The New York premiere of NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME, a bold, behind-the-scenes look at the launch of one of America’s most iconic shows, is officially open Off-Broadway tonight.  Written by Erik J. Rodriguez & Charles A. Sothers and directed by Conor Bagley, the production will initially run through November 30 at The Newman Mills Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space. Watch the trailer here!

Arriving during a milestone anniversary season for the legendary show that inspired it, NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME is set in 1975 and follows nine soon-to-be legends—Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Lorne Michaels, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner—as they navigate the chaos, creativity, and comedy that changed television forever. This new play pulses with live music, quick wit, and backstage mayhem, capturing the electric atmosphere of a cultural revolution in the making.

From the writers’ room battles to the live-on-air adrenaline, this fast-paced and irreverent play dives into the personalities, clashes, and lightning-in-a-bottle moments that built an American institution.

The cast includes Ian Bouillion as Lorne Michaels, Ryan Crout as John Belushi, Jared Grimes as Garrett Morris, Caitlin Houlahan as Jane Curtin, Nate Janis as Bill Murray, Kristian Lugo as Dan Ackroyd, Woodrow Proctor as Chevy Chase, Taylor Richardson as Laraine Newman, and Evan Rubin Gilda Radner with Understudies Gilbert L. Bailey II, Jacob Millman, and Jake Roberson.

Kyle Turner, New York Theatre Guide: It’s all a bit humdrum, victim to obvious bio-play problems: It's narratively scattered and thematically unfocused, without much of a perspective about any of these people. The first act hits the biggest points in the show’s timeline, but it sells short the feeling of being swept up in any of it. An attempt to do a “show within a show” gimmick fails. The performances are generally competent to enthusiastic, but the actors are routinely trapped between doing impressions vs. individualistic takes. Caitlin Houlahan (as Jane Curtin) and Evan Rubin (as Gilda Radner) are among the few cast members whose own voices shine through their depictions of the real SNL players.

Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: I suspect there’s a really tight 90-minute show buried in here, one with a razor-sharp focus on what modern audiences should take away from SNL‘s origin story. (Personally, I’d watch an entire show about Garrett Morris, especially with Grimes proving such a riveting portrayal of a hyper-talented man who seemed forever just ahead of his time.) In addition to that revealing blow-up doll sketch, I admit that the show did have a second laugh-out-loud scene — but this one was entirely unscripted, when Proctor’s Chase pratfalls into the table where Michaels is sitting during auditions and breaks the tabletop loose from its central stand, forcing Bouillion and Nate Janis (who doubles as NBC exec Dick Ebersol) to prop it up with their knees for the remaining auditions. It’s a reminder of the antic mayhem that exemplifies SNL at its best, a willingness to just roll with it that’s only fitfully captured in Not Ready for Prime Time.

Suzanna Bowling, Times Square Chronicles: In Not Ready for Prime Time, Erik J. Rodriguez and Charles A. Sothers attempt to dramatize the early days of Saturday Night Live, retracing the origin stories of its now-legendary original cast. What emerges, however, is a disjointed, scattershot play that feels more like a foggy hangover than a revelatory trip down memory lane. Compared to Jason Reitman’s far more engaging 2024 film Saturday Night, this stage version falls disappointingly flat.

Average Rating: 43.3%