Distracted (Roundabout Theater Company)

By Ben

BOTTOM LINE: If you loved Sex and The City, see this. If you hated Sex and the City...see this anyway. It’s poignant, funny, engaging and one of the best pieces of theater I’ve seen in a while.

Cynthia Nixon headlines Distracted, a compelling and entertaining play with a strong cast and smart production. This play asks the question: what the heck is going on today with all this technology, these so-called experts and how we are living our lives?

We take in so much information, but how do you know what information is accurate? What if an expert tells you that your child has behavioral problems? Should you drug your child? Is your child really just being a child? Whose advice matters and where is it coming from anyway? What does it all really mean to who we are as people? Does all this information really help us connect to what’s going on around us? These are the kinds of questions that come up in Distracted.

The acting is fantastic. The set is brilliant and something I’ve never seen before on stage. The writing is smart and funny. It seems that the cast enjoys the show and the audience does too. Ultimately though, it's the material and experience you have in the theater that is worth the price of admission. And that is something you can’t always say about theater these days. This show is made for the theater; it isn’t some movie on stage or play that also works on the screen. It's a brilliant new play that's worth unplugging for.

(Distracted plays through May 10th at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 West 46th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues. Performance times are Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. The show runs 2 hrs. 15 min. with one intermission. Tickets are $70...or $20 if you are under 35 and a member of Hiptix...hiptix.org to join for free. For tickets visit roundabouttheatre.org.)