Broadway Reviews Theatre Review by Howard Miller - April 6, 2026 Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo. Directed by Trip Cullman. Scenic design by David Zinn. Costume design by Kaye Voyce. Lighting design by Stacey Derosier. Sound design by M.L. Dogg. Vocal coach Kate Wilson.
Meaning no disrespect, but there are zero of these folks you'd likely choose to have in your life. Not that any one of this self-deluded, self-absorbed quintet would give a rat's ass as to what you think. The title character and three of the others are 30-somethings who are stumbling along the path toward finding their footing as adults while blaming their families for most of their problems. Rounding things out is the sharp-tongued mother of one of them, a woman who has a lifetime of experience placing her own interests above all. The matriarch here is the recently widowed Susan. She is played by Linda Emond, a Broadway veteran who is giving a gloriously brittle performance that goes to show you don't have to be a Violet Weston, the devil incarnate from Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, in order to inflict a lifetime of wounds. The recipient of many of those wounds is Susan's daughter, Suzanna (Lauren Patten, Tony winner for her performance in Jagged Little Pill), who struggles without much success to stifle a lifelong habit of placing herself in the center of attention, a vulture-ready sign of weakness.
And finally, there's Becky Shaw herself (Madeline Brewer, whose credits include the Off-Broadway productions of Little Shop of Horrors and The Disappear). Keep an eye on her. While the others show their stripes from the get-go, Becky, the outsider to the circle, is full of surprises that unpack in jolts in the aftermath of a blind date gone terribly wrong. Underestimate her at your peril. True to its genre, the play makes excellent use of its twisty plot points to draw blood, both metaphorically and, at one point, literally. Much of the first act is focused on establishing the dynamics of the various relationships, with lots of lashing zingers to pave the way. It's all in service to the second act, which Trip Cullman directs with farce-like precision, encompassing a deeper exploration of the characters and the crosscurrents of their interactions. What keeps Becky Shaw from being just a clever jousting tournament of wordplay is thanks to the uniformly strong performances, Cullman's careful pacing, David Zinn's ambitious set design, and even some cleverly managed scenery changes that make the production a seamless blend of funny and insightful. As Becky puts it, "life is disturbing, right?" Now there's a quote worthy of investing in some embroidery floss.
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