THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ayad Akhtar’s new play MCNEAL is a head-spinning if uneven vehicle for film star Robert Downey, Jr.

The cast of Lincoln Center Theater’s production of “McNeal” at the Vivian Beaumont (photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman).

Last week, Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Ayad Akhtar’s highly anticipated new play McNeal opened on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Akhtar is perhaps best known for having written Disgraced, a thought-provoking 2012 work that won the playwright a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His latest seeks to be just as provocative, telling the story of Jacob McNeal, an ambitious (fictitious) novelist — with a particular fascination for Artificial Intelligence — whose impulsive recklessness drives both his career and personal relationships.

Like his central character, Akhtar shares the same curiosities pertaining to Artificial Intelligence, and he structures and presents his slippery play as if composed by Al (or at least I hope that was the intent). As such, the head-spinning but uneven McNeal seems designed to be intentionally muddled — the work is jarringly tone-deaf as it careens from scene to scene — a frustrating, at times amusing byproduct of the playwright’s experiment. Of course, Akhtar explores the moral murkiness of Al’s use, as well, rightfully placing it in the same boat as plagiarism. The play ends on a subtle but grim note as it questions the merits of art as the weight of Al looms over it.

The play’s flaws aside, its central character — awash in unbridled egotism and seductive charisma — is nothing short of enthralling. Thankfully, film star Robert Downey, Jr. in his much-hyped Broadway debut is nothing short of fantastic in the challenging title role, giving a performance that thoroughly embraces the author’s contradictions and sensationalistic flourishes as the character descends into a state of psychological and physical crisis. Bartlett Sher’s production exudes a kind of technological sleekness that’s an interesting departure for Lincoln Center Theater’s go-to stage director.

RECOMMENDED

MCNEAL
Broadway, Play
Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 24

Categories: Broadway, Theater

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