MUST SEE: Well, I'll Let You Go Might Be The Next Great American Play

Molly Serenduke

There’s nothing like gasping with 295 other people to make you remember why you love theatre. Bubba Weiler's Well, I’ll Let You Go expertly involves you so that said gasp, and other wonderful moments, are inevitable.

I saw the original run of Well, I’ll Let You Go in Brooklyn last summer, and was worried the change of venue would make the show lose some of itself. It did not. I was worried the casting changes would take away from the allure. It did not. I was worried the move from Brooklyn to Midtown would make me wish I only saw the original run. It did not.

At the heart of it is an American story in an American town; a woman - Maggie (played by the impeccable Quincy Tyler Bernstine) - is grieving, trying to make sense of the death of her husband (the flawless newcomer, Matthew Maher). The electric cast seamlessly tells a story that holds you in close. It's a play that carefully and patiently reveals riveting plot points, building to moments that sing; delivering those rare, lucid theatrical instances where you know very deeply that great art moves you.

The minimal set changes, evolving with the story, and it's a stylized choice that excels. The mechanism of the narrator colors already rich scenes. My only real critique is that there is one moment so powerful that it makes the job of providing a spectacular ending that much tougher. The end is lovely, though.

Today's current theatrical climate is dominated by plays that have an agenda. The problem is that some of them want an audience firstly to agree politically, or in some other similar way. The result often, though, is it feels like a message has been shoehorned in. These pieces are sometimes great, but are also often contrived. What we have in Well, I'll Let You Go is no such example. It's a play that includes beautiful messages but they are not barked at you. Weiler is selfless where so many contemporary playwrights are selfish.

In my first review of this play, I questioned whether this is the next great American play. I said then that it probably wasn't. I think I was wrong. Well, I'll Let You Go may be the next great piece in the American theater.