Get ready for the unexpected when Norm and his wife Corky invite another couple to their Ojai backyard to watch a meteor shower in the night sky. As the stars come out and the conversation gets rolling, cocktails flow, tempers flare, and sparks fly-literally. Steve Martin's surprising new comedy takes an offbeat and absurdist look at the comic anxiety lurking just beneath the surface of modern marriage.
Steve Martin's lump of sight gags, one-liners and situation comedy streaks toward Broadway. A couple v couple amusement first written in the 1990s, it pits a dull, normal pair (Amy Schumer and Jeremy Shamos) against a more devious duo (Keegan-Michael Key and Laura Benanti). Norm and Corky, owners of a tony pad in Ojai, have invited Gerald and Laura over for wine, crab dip and astronomy. Sparks fly. So do asteroids. So do some of the jokes.
The laughter is definitely more raucous on Broadway than it was in San Diego. The daffy non-sequiturs are delivered with lunatic aplomb. Everything is crisper, including the modern Californian home in Ojai (designed by Beowulf Boritt to tickle Broadway theatergoers' fetish for flashy real estate). The blasts of Beethoven and the jaunty celestial displays between scenes accentuate the briskness of Zaks' staging. But the play is still the play, which is to say it's barely a play at all. 'Meteor Shower' is really a collection of funny (in both senses of the word) lines, packaged together with a few conceptual ideas tossed about in a manner that can seem random even if there's an all-too-tidy explanation written into this new version of the script.
| 2016 | San Diego, CA (Regional) |
The Old Globe World Premiere Production San Diego, CA (Regional) |
| 2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Laura Benanti |
| 2018 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Amy Schumer |
| 2018 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Steve Martin |
| 2018 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Amy Schumer |
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