DUSK RINGS A BELL OFF-BROADWAY REVIEWS

Show	NY TIMES	NY POST	TM	BACKSTAGE	CURTAIN UP

Synopsis: Molly and Ray unexpectedly meet 25 years after a one-afternoon adolescent fling. She has a successful media career; he owns a small landscaping business. Both begin to romanticize their chance reunion, but a renewed connection is disrupted when Ray reveals the sordid details of a crime that left him incarcerated for ten years. Their encounter reveals two vastly different paths taken and two lonely souls attempting to reclaim a moment of possibility, when they were young and perhaps at their very best.

Broadway Reviews

NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW:

"“Dusk Rings a Bell,” Stephen Belber’s new play at Atlantic Stage 2, begins with a lengthy, vaguely annoying monologue that Kate Walsh delivers with an irksome self-consciousness. The blathering goes on long enough that you begin to mourn the 90 minutes of your life that you’re about to lose. But then something surprising happens: Ms. Walsh’s co-star in this two-hander, Paul Sparks, shows up, and so does the real play, which evolves into a sublime, beautifully acted drama."

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NY POST REVIEW:

"Don't judge a book by its cover -- and don't judge a show by its title. The name of Stephen Belber's new two-hander, "Dusk Rings a Bell," evokes the horrifying prospect of an Emily Dickinson poetry slam. But the play's not that bad."

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THEATERMANIA REVIEW:

"In Stephen Belber's Dusk Rings a Bell, now being given its world premiere at the Atlantic Stage 2, the playwright wrestles with a number of intriguing ideas relating to rehabilitation, redemption, and moral culpability. Unfortunately, the show at times strains credulity and could use some judicious trimming from its 90-minute running time. "

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BACKSTAGE REVIEW:

"At first, it seems as if Stephen Belber's two-hander "Dusk Rings a Bell" is a conventional romantic comedy. TV star Kate Walsh of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" addresses the audience as Molly, a harried single woman with a troubled love life and a brilliant career as a CNN executive. Her opening monologue is full of witty banter about her failed first marriage, her crush on her boss Jeff, and her fear of turning into "a cat person." But just when you think you're in for a "Sex & the City" knock-off, she encounters Ray, an old flame, in her parents' former summer house, and the play turns to the dark side. This should not surprise those familiar with Belber's work, since his earlier plays "Tape" and "Match" concern characters confronting unfortunate incidents from their past. Ray did a stretch in jail just two years after he knew Molly as a teenager and the crime for which he was sent up casts a shadow over their reunion."

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CURTAIN UP REVIEW:

"The set is spare-- a curved wooden structure to evoke a beach resort town, which is indeed where this funny/sad, sad, talky yet absorbing two-hander plays out. To start with, there's a monologue so long that it fills you with admiration for Kate Walsh's ability to memorize all those words and deliver them with charm and personality revealing feeling. Walsh's opening takes up four pages of single-spaced type in Stephen Belber's script. Then Paul Sparks pops up, speaks briefly, and it's back to Molly, our chief monologuist."

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