What I liked
See Overall Impression.
What I didn't like
I attended the first preview, so I’m excited to see how the play continues to tighten and polish over the course of the run. It’s already a machine!
My overall impression
A primally urgent and wildly intelligent play for our moment. Troy Deutsch’s “Orangutan” could have easily found itself trapped in the echo chamber of a one-joke premise. Instead, it resounds with the poisonously barbed comedy of Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels and the savage, philosophical gymnastics of Edward Albee. Horror, humor and rage — a wild ride reminiscent of Ellen Burstyn’s Sara Goldfarb in “Requiem for a Dream” — brought to vivid life by Kristina Mueller’s electric performance and Tinks Lovelace’s sharp direction. “Orangutan” finds empathy within the nightmare. This is its staying power.
