The Realistic Joneses opened yesterday, April 6, on Broadway at the Lycuem Theatre (149 W 45th Street). This new American play by Will Eno comes to Broadway after a critically-acclaimed run at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 2012. Here are the reviews, as compiled by Broadway World, alongside some new production stills.

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: “But there is more to the goofy John, played with robust wryness by Hall, and Tomei’s sweetly dizzy Pony than meets the eye. Using the intriguingly offbeat dialogue that is his hallmark – full of non sequiturs and blunt but often contradictory remarks that both evoke natural speech and lend a slightly surreal quality – Eno draws his four characters to each other in ways that, however predictable, movingly emphasize the ultimate commonality of the human condition…Joneses isn’t a downer, though, and director Sam Gold and his excellent cast ensure that its humor and poignance are equally served. Predictably, there’s no neat resolution; the play ends with all four of its characters in a relatively upbeat mood, yet not any surer how things will turn out. But that’s life for you, isn’t it?”

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: “It’s funny how trying to connect with neighbors, spouses, God, whomever, can lead you nowhere. Will Eno takes that idea and runs with it in “The Realistic Joneses,” an anxious comedy that packs rueful zingers, four first-rate starry performances and – buzzkill time, kids – diminishing returns for the entire second half…Under Sam Gold’s tight direction, the cast is natural and convincing. But three-quarters of an hour into the 95-minute show, the script simply circles without deepening, darkening or clarifying…But in “Realistic Joneses,” his Broadway debut, the engine remains stuck in second. Keeping up with these Joneses quickly loses its appeal.”

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune: “To some extent, Eno seems to be asking which of the Joneses is, in fact, realistic? Any of ’em? This is a play about confronting mortality for sure, which is what underscores the gobs of intellectual and linguistic stimulation that flows from the stage: Letts’ Bob, for example, no longer sees the point of painting the house, given that it only has to be redone. That being what you do is no longer sufficient for him. Bob, for the record, has many more caustic zingers, even though the character barely has the energy to spit them out. Hall’s John, meanwhile, keeps trying to talk risks of new enterprises and new ways to communicate (why not?), but he mostly flails. Of course. Death is a brick wall. But the play’s emotional appeal – and this one, weird as it most surely is, has more of that than any Eno work to date – comes from its equal recognition of the stress of taking care of the ill, the dying, the declining, the angst-ridden…Gold clearly understands that Eno is a writer with heart and compassion (and a useful touch of insecurity).”

The Broadway premiere of Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses will open at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre tonight. The play, directed by Sam Gold, stars Academy Award nominee Toni Collette, Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall, Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts, and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei as two suburban couples with the same last name whose lives suddenly become intertwined. The play had its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2012 under Gold’s direction.

Three production stills and the poster from the upcoming Broadway play “The Realistic Joneses”, starring Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Marisa Tomei and Tracy Letts, have been added to the photo gallery.

The Washington Post has a great interview with Toni Collette. In Will Eno’s Broadway play, “The Realistic Joneses,” opening April 6 at the Lyceum Theater, Toni Collette plays Jennifer Jones, a woman whose laconic husband (Tracy Letts) has a rare terminal illness. When her new neighbors, also called the Joneses (played by Michael C. Hall and Marisa Tomei) show up, the four characters start interacting in all sorts of weird ways. Mr. Hall’s character can’t seem to stop talking – he says all the things most people tend to keep to themselves; Ms. Tomei’s is an emotional mess; and Ms. Collette’s Jennifer has the difficult task of keeping it together when everyone around her starts to lose it. Ms. Collette, who became a worldwide star 20 years ago as the adorable star of ‘Muriel’s Wedding,’ has gone on to play everything from a schizophrenic mom in “United States of Tara” and an unhappily married yuppie in last year’s “Enough Said” to the mother of a child pageant star in “Little Miss Sunshine.” The complete interview can be read here.

Besides the Berlin Film Festival, this and the last week has been equally busy for Toni. She promoted “A Long Way Down” in Switzerland, attending the film’s premiere in Zurich. And yesterday, Toni – alongside her co-stars Marisa Tomei, Michael C. Hall and John Wells, attended the press review for their upcoming Broadway play “The Realistic Joneses”. Pictures from both appearances can be found in the photo gallery.

Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2014 – “The Realistic Joneses” Press Review
Photo Gallery – Appearances – 2014 – “A Long Way Down” Zurich Premiere

The producers of Will Eno’s new play The Realistic Joneses announced today that the production will begin previews in mid-March, with an official opening night on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Rehearsals will begin in February. The Realistic Joneses will star Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei. The production will be directed by Obie Award-winner Sam Gold, who was recently represented by Fun Home at The Public Theater. This new American play comes to Broadway after a critically-acclaimed run at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 2012. In The Realistic Joneses, we meet Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbors, John and Pony, two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and their shared last names. As their relationships begin to irrevocably intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities. This contemporary comedy explores how our joys and sorrows – and how we choose to face them – can come to define our lives.