Review Roundup: Matthew Perry's THE END OF LONGING

MCC Theater presents the American Premiere of the play The End of Longing, a new play written by and starring "Friends" star Matthew Perry in his NYC playwriting and stage acting debuts. Joining Perry is "Once Upon a Time" and "House" star Jennifer Morrison alongside stage and television regulars Quincy Dunn-Baker and Sue Jean Kim.

An alcoholic, an escort, a self-diagnosed neurotic and a well-intentioned dimwit walk into a bar... Broken and deeply flawed, they find their lives irreversibly entwined no matter how hard they try to break free of one another. The End of Longing is a bittersweet comedy that proves that broken people don't need to stay broken.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Jesse Green, New York Times: The best sitcoms are jokey, yes, but full of character truth that sustains the jokes across episodes and seasons. Though Mr. Perry must know this, he hasn't managed to replicate it. Instead, he has written a synthetic play that mostly points out just how much better "Friends" was written.

Adam Feldman, TimeOut NY: Writing this play may have been a therapeutic exercise for Perry, who has battled alcohol and drug addiction; you can sense him sweating out the toxins. That's commendable but personal. The public result is a sweaty, toxic play that only makes you long for an ending.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, Newsday: The best part about Jack is that he doesn't sound or feel much like Chandler Bing. If nothing else, Matthew Perry has succeeded in distancing himself from the "Friends" character that made him famous. And that must count for something, because Perry's Off-Broadway debut, in "The End of Longing," isn't very good.

Matt Windman, amNY: As a once devoted fan of both "Friends" and Matthew Perry's Chandler Bing, it pains me to have to say that "The End of Longing," the new Off-Broadway play written by and starring Perry, is embarrassingly terrible. So bad, in fact, that I find it hard to believe that any random person who attends this contrived, mawkish, painfully unfunny and utterly pointless star vehicle can't write something better.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap: Sessions with a shrink and meetings at Alcoholics Anonymous may be helpful to the individuals involved, but rarely do they make for compelling theater. Put on stage, these scenes often emerge as easy shortcuts to exposing a character's mental state. Matthew Perry features an AA moment in his new play, "The End of Longing," which opened Monday under the auspices of MCC at Off Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Robert Kahn, NBC New York: Derek McClane's set is one of the best things here. The centerpiece is a turntable that revolves to locate us in the bar, or Jennifer's apartment, a pharmacy or a hospital. Each room we end up in is decorated with stacks of dozens of bottles, all of them empty-something that would be either torturous or aspirational to Jack, depending on his frame of mind.

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: The playwright's inexperience becomes evident from the paper-thin characterizations - Jack blames his addiction on having been dumped by a past love, while Stevie is defined almost exclusively by her emotional neediness - and lack of credible plotting. Jack may possess a certain rumpled charm, but not enough to make the gorgeous Stephanie failing for him believable. Clichés abound, whether it's Stevie screaming for drugs when about to give birth (gee, never saw that before) or Jack demonstrating that he may have turned an emotional corner by tenderly cradling a newborn baby.

Allison Adato, Entertainment Weekly: Where Perry's script and performance does graze the truth is in two monologues that his character delivers about the grip and desperation of addiction. We know that Perry himself has struggled with, overcome, and since helped others to conquer addiction. Bringing that knowledge into the play makes this a richer experience, not a lesser one: Substance abuse consumes the anonymous barfly photographer as easily as it does the TV superstar. Perry has something to say on this topic, and I found myself wondering if The End of Longing might have better succeeded as a one-man show, with Perry pouring out the kind of honesty that Jack does in an AA meeting. It is asking a lot of a man who can't be forthcoming in even his Playbill bio. But I imagine his friends would come along.

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: Even though the characters are sketchy stick figures, the cast, directed by Lindsay Posner for this MCC production, offers some relief. Dunn-Baker adds charm; Kim's high-strung act is hilarious; Morrison, of ABC's "Once Upon a Time," adds grace even when Steph endures not one but two fellatio jokes. Perry, whose own battles with substance abuse have been well-documented, needs to up his one-note performance - and be quick about it. As Stephanie declares during a moment of clarity, "We do not have unlimited time."

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