It’s been a little while since I posted one of these. I took a bit of a break but I’ve got quite a bit of shows to see until the end of the year so be ready to see more of these! So let’s start with this very decisive play starring Robert Downey Jr.!

McNeal takes the Oscar winner to some borrowing places and into ideas we are all figuring out in real time. A.I. is a touchy subject for most. The moralities behind it are called into question every day. It was very intriguing to see how the usage of A.I. was woven into this bleak story. McNeal is a man on borrowed time. He's messed up his liver, He threatens all he's built, a writer is digging too deep into his life & how his latest book came to be is in question. The man has a lot going on and as it all unravels to reveal more truth you're left to question what is real and what isn't. How do you know?

Robert is quite compelling in the role and holds together a play that could have gone deeper for me. There isn't more insight into how A.I. could enable the wrong people, doesn't dig into many fears we have about A.I. or how it's making things worse. What it does is lean into the confusion of it all. It gets more and more disconnected as you watch which feels like the point. It goes back to what I stated before. What is real? What isn't? How do you know? The end is ambiguous. You're left to decide for yourself if McNeal's descent is a farce. I appreciate that we weren't spoon-fed the story. I just wanted them to dig in more.

Loved Andrea Martin & Melora Hardin as well. Andrea could read a phone book and I'd watch her still. A legend. Love her.

McNeal plays at Lincoln Center Theatre until November 24th.

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