John Patrick Shanley, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning author of Doubt and the Oscar®-winning writer of Moonstruck, returns to MTC with this world premiere of a new play. Sometimes big things start from little things; in this case, a bag of laundry. Shanley’s latest is about three sisters and a guy who runs a laundry in Brooklyn, and the sometimes savage tricks life plays on them. Tragic and funny by turns, this story will remind you what is important in life... and the sorrow and joy of fully embracing adulthood.
Someday, I suspect some arts organization will put on a festival of works by John Patrick Shanley that focuses on his penchant for unlikely couples, which will include his landmark first play “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” his Broadway outing “Outside Mullingar” and the Oscar-winning film “Moonstruck.” Now, another play can be added to this repertoire, “Brooklyn Laundry,” currently getting its world premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club at NY City Center Stage 1. But whoever that festival producer turns out to be, they may want to ask Shanley to expand this engaging, 75-minute work to give more background and substance to its main female character.
Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times: I wonder what “Brooklyn Laundry” might have become if Shanley hadn’t staged it himself — if there had been a director to push him where text needs strengthening; to find a tone that breathes life into Fran’s one scene with Trish; to steer away from visual grimness in design rather than, with the exception of the restaurant scene, straight into it. That, however, is not on the menu.
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