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It’s always been possible, if unlikely, that some playwright would do for obscure postal treasures what Susan Orlean did for rare orchids. Now that New York has a stamp play that really does hold your interest—it coughs up some laughs, too—the big surprise is that Theresa Rebeck has been the one to write it. Well-observed but not incisive, clever without being especially funny, her recent plays haven’t been very good, but they’re full of the kind of ideas that somebody good ought to tackle: a showbiz satire (The Scene), an update of Greek tragedy (The Water’s Edge), a dinner party in hell where all the talk is about current affairs (the co-written Omnium Gatherum). At the Biltmore, Rebeck yet again has the right idea, only now her reach doesn’t exceed her grasp. The story clicks along with crisp professionalism, seeming to be guided less by authorial fiat than by the eccentric desires of the people it portrays. You’d take these little pleasures for granted in any halfway-competent movie, but on Broadway, things being what they are, it counts as a minor revelation to reach the one-hour mark of a new play and realize you aren’t growing bored. — Jeremy McCarter

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New York Magazine Reviews

• Jeremy McCarter's Full Review (10/15/07)