1st Stage's 'Lobby Hero' Gets First-Rate Review in Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is praising 1st Stage's production of "Lobby Hero," at its Tysons theater. Directed by Alex Levy, the play by Kenneth Lonergan debuted 15 years ago in a production by Playwrights Horizon.

Here's what the Wall Street Journal's drama critic Terry Teachout had to say about the production, which has been extended through Oct. 16:

"Kenneth Lonergan is having a very good year. “Hold On to Me Darling,” his first play since 2012, opened off Broadway in March, and “Manchester by the Sea,” his first film since 2011, will be released in November. Would that he were more prolific, but everything Mr. Lonergan does is worth waiting for, and worth revisiting. That’s why I went down to Tysons, a suburb of Washington, to see 1st Stage’s revival of “Lobby Hero,” in which he rings provocative changes on the simple yet compelling theme with which he has long been productively preoccupied: Life is messy. The results were worth the trip. This enthralling production, staged with absolute assurance by Alex Levy, 1st Stage’s artistic director, is at least as good as—maybe even better than—Playwrights Horizon’s original 2001 version."

If you haven't heard of Kenneth Lonergan, you're not alone. The New York Times calls him "possibly the best filmmaker most people have never heard of."

Read all of Teachout's review here.

He also gives major kudos to 1st Stage: "This is my third visit to 1st Stage, whose nondescript, hard-to-find 100-seat auditorium, housed in a strip mall, is an unlikely-looking site for first-class theater. Don’t be fooled by appearances: 1st Stage’s revivals of “Lobby Hero,” Warren Leight’s “Side Man” and Adam Guettel’s “ Floyd Collins” have proved it to be one of America’s most impressive smaller regional companies."

Find information here about upcoming performances and ticket prices.

PHOTO from "Lobby Hero," courtesy of 1st Stage

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