'Cult of Love' review — Shailene Woodley, Zachary Quinto, and more serve up family fights and figgy pudding
Read our review of Cult of Love on Broadway, a new family drama written by Leslye Headland and also starring Barbie Ferreira, Mare Winningham, and more.
With festive decorations surrounding a roomful of people sweetly caroling and playing instruments, Leslye Headland’s tartly funny but overstuffed Cult of Love, starring Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto, seems to take place in a Christmas wonderland.
Welcome to the Dahl house, where devout Christians Bill (David Rasche) and Ginny (Mare Winningham) raised their four children to follow their lead – and God. But like snow outside their Connecticut farmhouse, their sons and daughters have all drifted in different ways.
Sour notes soon drown out the music as the Dahl kids and their significant others gather. As in other family dramas like Appropriate and August: Osage County, heavenly peace turns hellish. Clashes flare like lights on a tree.
After all, the Dahl kids, like their parents, have been designed for dramatic combustion. Lawyer Mark (Quinto) has a shaky grip on marriage, gay Evie (Rebecca Henderson) feels like an outcast, younger brother Johnny (Christopher Sears) is a recovering junkie, and pregnant mom Diane (Woodley) believes she’s a prophet.
Known for the play-turned-movie Bachelorette and the TV series Russian Doll, Headland can take pride in her smarts, sensitivity, and sharp wit. But she juggles too many hot topics – love, religion, homophobia, sibling rivalry, aging parents, mental illness, addiction, dementia, and denial — without tying up the threads.
Director Trip Cullman’s fine-tuned ensemble and the ear-tickling musical interludes are saving graces. A last-minute harmonious quartet nearly makes for a happy ending. Only almost, mind you. But it’s quite the theatrical Hail Mary.
Cult of Love summary
Cult of Love is a darkly humorous look at familial dysfunction, faith, and identity. It’s the final installment in Headland’s series of works revolving around one of the seven deadly sins – in this case, pride.
That’s famously a sin that precedes a fall – and the Dahls' Christmas celebration certainly descends into chaos as personal struggles and conflicts emerge.
What to expect at Cult of Love
When you take your seat at the Hayes Theater, you can sort of make out the farmhouse set of Cult of Love through a scrim. It’s a fitting visual for a play in which people can’t see what’s in front of them.
That goes double for Ginny, who won’t acknowledge her own anti-gay attitudes or, for that matter, her husband’s Alzheimer’s. “She knows how to love; she has no idea how to parent,” I heard a theatregoer leaving my performance say.
Audiences know Winningham’s musical talents from stage and screen roles, but Quinto is quite the banjo man, and Woodley’s singing voice has a pretty tone. They’re in good company. As the Dahl kids’ spouses and a plus one, Molly Bernard, Roberta Colindrez, Barbie Ferreira, and Christopher Lowell round out the cast.
What audiences are saying about Cult of Love
With a 90% rating on Show-Score at the time of publication, Cult of Love has drawn a cult following among theatregoers.
- “Led by a terrific ensemble, this is the kind of rich family play this time of year deserves.” - Show-Score user GreatAvi
- “The music in this play adds such an atypical dimension to all the chaos and trauma.” - Show-Score user Piwacket
- “There’s a lot to process in this 10-character play. I feel like this play should have been two acts and gone deeper into some of the issues it brings up.” - Show-Score user MaxD
Read more audience reviews of Cult of Love on Show-Score.
Who should see Cult of Love
- Anyone who’s enjoyed Headland’s previous works on stage and screen will want to see her Broadway debut play.
- Theatregoers who appreciate an ensemble – in this case a starry one – in which everyone blends but also stands out will get that lift from Cult of Love.
- Fans of plays like Appropriate and movies like The Family Stone, which shine an unfiltered light on people’s nearest and dearest, will have plenty to savor.
Learn more about Cult of Love on Broadway
While the play bites off more than it can chew thematically, Cult of Love raises observations about what divides and unites families by both making you laugh and putting a lump in your throat.
Photo credit: Cult of Love on Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)
Originally published on