Oscar E Moore

The less said or written about this latest Lincoln Center catastrophe the better.  McNEAL, starring Artificial Intelligence and featuring Robert Downey Jr. making his Broadway debut.  Anyone remember MOOSE MURDERS?

I was looking forward to this one.  However, I was quick to reverse my opinion while watching this confounding, altogether confusing, pretentious overlong exercise (approximately 90 minutes without intermission) by playwright Ayad Akhtar.

And I am being kind.  What a waste of talent and money.  McNEAL doesn’t seem real.  Almost dreamlike.  Slow.  Morose.  Meandering.  A small story without a plot that is blown totally out of proportion by its set design (Michael Yeargan & Jake Barton) with enormous projections by Jake Barton that stun and confuse.  Here’s that word again!

A ton of pseudo intellectual nonsense.  Loosely directed by Bartlett Sher.  A limited run through November 24^th with any luck.

Perhaps it has been composed/created by AI.  The only AI I know about and like is that dark bottle of sauce used to enhance the flavor of whatever.  This production could use some.

ENRON kept creeping back into my memory.  A past technical heavy show.  All show and no substance.

Back to McNEAL.  It’s main character Jacob McNeal (Robert Downey Jr.) is totally unlikeable.  An alcoholic who won’t listen to his doctor (Ruthie Ann Miles) insisting and continuing to take his booze with his meds.  A suicidal combination.  A famous writer who uses other’s stories as his own.  Plagiarism.

He’s at odds with his agent (Andrea Martin) His estranged son (Rafi Gavron) and all others who cross his path.  However, he has just won the Pulitzer Prize, has a couple of firearms at hand and a slow carefully selected way of speaking that annoys.  He pauses.  A lot.  How can I make this line more interesting than written?

Whatever happened to productions that are supposed to enlighten and entertain?  Not confuse and bore us to death.  A conundrum to say the least.

What’s it all about Alfie?

Better luck next time.  At the Vivian Beaumont.

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