Mike Birbiglia's The New One comes to Broadway!
Mike Birbiglia has a new one. It's called The New One. He's made you laugh in Sleepwalk with Me (it was a play presented by Nathan Lane, then a movie, THEN a book), My Girlfriend's Boyfriend and Thank God for Jokes. (He was also really funny in that one season of Orange Is the New Black. And in Billions. And Broad City.) Now he's on Broadway telling a new story in a new way with the same heart and humor we've come to expect. Lin-Manuel Miranda called The New One "as perfect a night as you're gonna get." Do not miss The New One. Some people say it's his best one. (It was John Mulaney. Also, Vogue.)
On Broadway for 12 weeks (99 performances!) only.
Directed by Seth Barrish, Birbiglia tells the story as if for the first time, sharing a litany of gory details, from the indignities of fertility issues (he actually brought his urologists on Jimmy Kimmel) to the ramifications of the expectant mom's raging hormones. Along the way, he dispenses with the hilarity and sneaks in some valid concerns about bringing a child into a world of rising sea levels and environmental neglects, along with one infuriating (to me, anyway) comment about understanding why some men leave.
Under Seth Barrish's direction, THE NEW ONE keeps a steady, casual tone consistent with Birbiglia's genial, nice-guy persona. The 80-minute piece is very funny on a sweet, realistic level. The only moment of shear theatricality, a really good one, comes from set designer Beowulf Boritt. I'll leave it to the storytellers to present you with that one.
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