Bobby McGuire — Theater Critic

Make no bones about it, for all its lush poetry, raucous comedy, and tearjerking moments, The Winter’s Tale is a strange play. Luckily, as presented, the only thing more absurd than the play’s plot is how absurdly talented the cast is.

As most Broadway nerds will tell you, vampire musicals have had a bloodier track record than a hemophiliac in a razor blade factory. Dance of the Vampires, Lestat, Dracula—all rightfully earned their place on the theater district haunt Joe Allen’s famed Wall of Flops. But The Lost Boys have broken the curse. Finally, a vampire musical that doesn’t suck. And in a lackluster season desperate for a hit, that’s a lifeline.

My main quibble is that it feels like two plays. Act I works as a prescient recent-history prologue, while Act II leans harder into Chekhovian parallels, making the earlier drama feel more like setup than a seamless whole. Still, Molochnikov’s direction has cohesiveness that grounds the evening with satire and sincerity. If you’re adapting a play about staging The Seagull, you’d better mind Chekhov’s famed gun principle. Seagull: True Story aims a few too many and forgets to fire half of them. But when it does pull the trigger, the shot rings loud, true, and absolutely worth the theatrical mayhem.

My main quibble is that it feels like two plays. Act I works as a prescient recent-history prologue, while Act II leans harder into Chekhovian parallels, making the earlier drama feel more like setup than a seamless whole. Still, Molochnikov’s direction has cohesiveness that grounds the evening with satire and sincerity. If you’re adapting a play about staging The Seagull, you’d better mind Chekhov’s famed gun principle. Seagull: True Story aims a few too many and forgets to fire half of them. But when it does pull the trigger, the shot rings loud, true, and absolutely worth the theatrical mayhem.