{"id":256296,"date":"2026-06-05T12:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256296\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:45:32","slug":"review-roundup-girl-interrupted-opens-at-the-public-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/256296\/","title":{"rendered":"Review Roundup: GIRL, INTERRUPTED Opens At The Public Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world premiere production of Girl, Interrupted written by Martyna Majok<\/a> and based on the memoir by Susanna Kaysen. opens tonight at\u00a0The Public Theater<\/a> NY. Read the reviews!<\/p>\n

The new stage adaptation features music by Aimee Mann<\/a>, with choreography by Sonya Tayeh<\/a> and direction by Jo Bonney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Check out video highlights of the production.<\/a><\/p>\n

Based on Susanna Kaysen\u2019s bestselling memoir, this empowering new theatrical production features original music by two-time Grammy Award winner Aimee Mann<\/a>, choreography by Tony Award winner Sonya Tayeh<\/a>, and direction by Tony Award nominee Jo Bonney<\/a>. When Susanna admits herself to a psychiatric hospital, following a 15-minute session with a doctor she\u2019d never met, she forms unexpected bonds with the young women inside as they search for connection and a way forward. Raw and unapologetic, this new play with music reveals that the people who witness our darkest moments are often those who truly see us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The complete cast includes Leela Bassuk<\/a> (Understudy), Ta\u2019Rea Campbell (Valerie), Gabi Campo<\/a> (Tori), Juliana Canfield<\/a> (Susanna), Eileen Doan<\/a> (Understudy), Manoel Felciano<\/a> (The Male Presence), King Princess<\/a> (Lisa), Gunnar Manchester<\/a> (Understudy), Mia Pak (Grace), Katherine Reis<\/a> (Daisy), Anna Roman<\/a> (Understudy), Sally Shaw<\/a> (Polly), Emily Skinner<\/a> (Dr. Wick), Rachel Stern<\/a> (Understudy), and Lauren Jeanne Thomas<\/a> (Judy\/Musician).<\/p>\n

The production will now run through Sunday, June 28 with an official opening night on Thursday, June 4.<\/p>\n

\t
\n \"Review
\n Helen Shaw, The New York Times:<\/a> What is moving here, even in a murky production with too much stillness at its center, is the assembled talents \u2014 from Kaysen to Majok to Mann \u2014 all dedicated to describing a group of girls in a hospital nearly 60 years ago. Some didn\u2019t survive, many of them weren\u2019t cured, a few might not have even been sick. But at least, for a while, they do interrupt our lives. We pause, together, to remember them.<\/p>\n

\t
\n \"Review
\n Austin Fimmano, New York Theatre Guide:<\/a> The script borrows heavily from Kaysen\u2019s memoir of decades-later, matter-of-fact observations about the hospital \u2014 wry and informative, but not exactly narrative. Play adapter Martyna Majok punches up the relationship between Susanna and her roommate Grace (Mia Pak) during their first night together (illustrated by the sweetly optimistic song \u201cRobert Lowell and Sylvia Plath\u201d). But overall, there isn\u2019t much room left for the development of relationships between the characters. Girl, Interrupted pays homage to Kaysen\u2019s memoir, but at the expense of narrative drive.<\/p>\n

\t\"Review
\n
\n Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review:<\/a> An achingly beautiful new blend of drama and music, Girl, Interrupted has been exquisitely crafted from Susanna Kaysen\u2019s memoir regarding the many months she spent as a teenager in a psychiatric facility. Readers of Kaysen\u2019s story (unlike me) can judge how faithfully the original is followed, but the strange musical loveliness and abiding sensitivity of this play infused with a dozen or so striking songs will soon be obvious to anyone who sees the very fine production that premiered Thursday at the Public Theater.<\/p>\n

\t\"Review
\n
\n Mike Dressel, Slant Magazine:<\/a> The show ultimately succeeds, despite its occasionally muddled narrative structure, due to its seriousness and sensitivity. Kaysen\u2019s story is one that inspires fierce identification and protection, and has made people feel seen. Like the lyrics in the show\u2019s final song, \u201cI see\/And I believe,\u201d this production manages to harness what connects audiences to each version of story: the acknowledgement of its characters\u2019 struggle, their frailty, and their humanity.<\/p>\n

\t\"Review
\n
\n Thom Geier, Culture Sauce:<\/a> Girl, Interrupted is not a conventional musical. Despite the subject matter, it\u2019s also not a total downer. Director Jo Bonney embraces its unorthodoxy in her understated staging, with a simple stylized set (by the collective dots) and lighting (by Heather Gilbert). Sarah Lux\u2019s costumes and J. Jared Janas\u2019s hair, wig and makeup design summon the fab look of the late \u201960s while still connecting us to women who feel familiar even if circumstances have improved. Under Bonney\u2019s direction, the cast conveys the stark reality of their characters without wallowing in their predicament. They seem as surprised as we are when things don\u2019t turn out, when tragedy strikes, and that brings a deeper layer of authenticity to the story. Girl, Interrupted celebrates the strength in sisterhood, and the power of music and storytelling to find meaning in the darkest episodes of human experience.<\/p>\n

\t
\n \"Review
\n Richard Lawson, The Guardian:<\/a>
\nReview
\nGirl, Interrupted review \u2013 mental health memoir reborn as patchy Aimee Mann-soundtracked musical
\nThe Public Theater, New York
\n
\nSusanna Kaysen\u2019s retelling of her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 60s became an Oscar-winning movie in the 90s and now it\u2019s an elegant, if limited, play
\n
\nRichard Lawson
\nThu 4 Jun 2026 21.15 EDT
\nShare
\nPrefer the Guardian on Google
\nIn 2021, the singer-songwriter Aimee Mann (perhaps best known, as a solo artist, for her contributions to the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia) released an album called Queens of the Summer Hotel, a collection of somewhat narrative tunes inspired by Susanna Kaysen\u2019s bestselling memoir of mental health struggle, Girl, Interrupted. Mann had been commissioned to write the songs for a stage adaptation that took years (and the duration of a pandemic) to materialize. Now finally at the Public Theater in Manhattan, Girl, Interrupted is a sturdy showcase for Mann\u2019s gorgeous, shimmering-sad compositions, but perhaps a less successful conduit for Kaysen\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n

\t
\n \"Review
\n Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal:<\/a> Susanna ultimately is freed, not because she\u2019s cured of the alienation she has always felt but because of an accepted marriage proposal. The musical\u2019s implicit moral is that the oppressive patriarchy has condemned these women\u2014but, ironically, rescued Susanna. All the characters the excellent Mr. Felciano plays are sinister, selfish or generally priggish. The consultation that lands Susanna in McLean lasts just 15 minutes, with the paternalistic doctor suggesting that she will be there for a \u201cfew days.\u201d She\u2019s there for 18 months. A doctor like that could get a girl down.<\/p>\n

\"Review<\/p>\n

Average Rating:
\n\t\t75.7%<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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