'McNeal' review — Robert Downey Jr. brings real acting chops to an AI-centric play
Read our review of McNeal on Broadway, a world-premiere play written by Ayad Akhtar and starring Robert Downey Jr., making his Broadway debut in the title role.
In Ayad Akhtar’s crisply staged yet dramatically muddy play, McNeal, Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. summons every ounce of his innate swagger and smugness as a misogynistic author who’s just found himself the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his Broadway debut, Downey steps up; he’s sure-footed and magnetic.
The play itself, less so. Jacob McNeal learns about being honored during a visit with his doctor (Ruthie Ann Miles). She’s essentially told her illustrious patient he’s boozing himself into the grave. A writer who drinks too much – groundbreaking.
McNeal’s dance with death is presumably meant to raise the stakes, but instead it just lands as a background hum. What Akhtar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Disgraced, is really chasing is McNeal’s relationship with authorial authenticity – and the role of artificial intelligence in that equation.
The esteemed McNeal, we learn, has always cut corners and stolen both words and story ideas from others, including a powerful journalist (Melora Hardin) as well as his late wife. That latter grim bit of history is dredged up by his estranged son (Ravi Gavron).
Now, McNeal has harnessed A.I. to churn out his new work by rewording texts of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Kafka, and others “in the style of Jacob McNeal.” Just like that, push-button brilliance. His agent (Andrea Martin) basks in his glories, while a New York Times profile writer (Brittany Bellizeare) finds herself a reluctant fan. McNeal, meanwhile, can’t stand himself.
Akhtar’s intermissionless play zips by stylishly in director Bartlett Sher’s sleek staging, but what the play is trying to say about A.I. and its potential dangers ultimately eludes. The notion of A.I. being “helpful” repeats throughout. McNeal has stolen all his life, and now he has a new tool for literary larceny. To borrow another’s wise words, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
McNeal summary
Playwright Ayad Akhtar is a dramatist known for taking on hot topics including identity, race, and religion in Disgraced, and capitalism and greed in Junk. McNeal, a modern morality tale, centers around the thorny implications of using artificial intelligence, particularly in writing.
Lincoln Center Theater's of McNeal at the Vivian Beaumont Theater is the play's world premiere.
What to expect at McNeal
While you arrive at McNeal, the expansive stage of the Beaumont remains bare, but a supersized smartphone is seen towering at the center. Inanimate but, in a way, alive, an amorphous shape swirls on the screen like a cauldron. What mysteries are inside that device?
Looming even larger than the plus-size cell phone is Downey, who almost never leaves the stage. The role of A.I.-obsessed Jacob McNeal was built for a star, and the actor breathes it to life with a mix of smarminess (think of adversarial Lewis Strauss from Oppenheimer, for which Downey won his Oscar) and self-absorption (think of Tony Stark in Iron Man).
Projections by Jake Barton, who designed the sets with Michael Yeargan, are a key to the physical staging as the story goes from the doctor's office to Sweden to New York offices and apartments. A giant, A.I.-enhanced digital image of McNeal appears at some points, even more unnerving than when a gun emerges on stage and a figure perches perilously on a ledge.
What audiences are saying about McNeal
McNeal has an audience approval rating of 81% on the review aggregator Show-Score.
- “What are the implications of AI? What’s the line between stealing and informing – tough questions posed by an excellent cast.” - Show-Score user Martha F
- “All theory, with no heart and absolutely no soul. The acting and staging are excellent but to no end.” - Show-Score user JimBob 4057
- Show-Score user West Side Lady called the play “absorbing” and applauded that there was no intermission. “AI can be frightening.”
Read more audience reviews of McNeal on Show-Score.
Who should see McNeal
- Fans of Robert Downey Jr.’s film performances will appreciate seeing him make the leap to stage.
- Theatregoers who’ve followed Ayad Akhtar’s topical plays including Disgraced, The Invisible Hand, and Junk will want to experience what’s currently cooking in his genuinely intelligent brain.
- Fans of Andrea Martin, a Tony Award winner for Pippin and My Favorite Year, will get a kick out of the energy she brings as a power agent. Additionally, The Office alum Melora Hardin adds poignant notes as a woman in – and out of – McNeal’s life.
Learn more about McNeal on Broadway
Although the play falls short of leaving a deep impact, Robert Downey Jr.’s star turn and strong physical staging keep you on board for McNeal's fleet 105 minutes.
Photo credit: McNeal on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
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