Santa Monica Mirror - Highly Recommended
"...Lest you think this play is overly "heavy," as a tribute to López's
skillful writing, this award-winning work, illuminating weighty issues facing gays such as relationships, HIV, drug addiction, homelessness, prejudice, etc., is peppered with amusing irony and hilarious one-liners. Coupled with Donahue's spot-on direction, who weaves all the elements together creating a giant tapestry of multiple stories relating to specific human conditions, there is laughter galore throughout Act 1. Without being a spoiler, I will say that at the end of that act, there's one of the most powerful visuals of the AIDS epidemic you will ever see."
Broadway World - Recommended
"...It is the strength and the breadth of this play that so many richly-detailed characters get their time in the spotlight. Adam, a complicated young man as well as a dramatic catalyst, is as compellingly crafted as the very different Leo, and Tejada plays both men with insight and intelligence. Brochtrup, a mainstay of Los Angeles stages and the Artistic Director of the Antaeus Theater Company, peels back the many layers of Walter's complexities, enabling us to see a man of tremendous moral value, a man every character might do well to emulate. Alas, both Walter and Morgan the narrator drop out of the play for lengthy stretches or completely. So indelible is Brochtrup's mark on this production, that we feel his absence."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...That Matthew Lopez's sprawling near-7-hour 2-part play, with 3 acts in each part, keeps us captivated is quite a feat. Beautifully written, funny, sad, and hopeful, The Inheritance - a remarkable if flawed piece of ensemble theater - is a fresh, realistic look at gay life in NYC with reflections on the consequences of the past, including personal traumas growing up gay and the gaping spiritual hole left by the AIDS epidemic."
LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...Brilliantly directed by Mike Donahue, THE INHERITANCE has amassed the talents of so many in portraying this story. Kudos to every skilled cast member, each of whom makes his character pivotal and intriguing. THE INHERITANCE also harnesses the talents of a splendid production team."
Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended
"...The words Epic Achievement only begin to describe the Stephen Daldry production of Matthew Lopez's six-and-a-half-hour masterpiece The Inheritance (Part 1 & Part 2), now getting its long-awaited, celebration-worthy West Coast Premiere at the Geffen Playhouse."
ArtsBeatLA - Highly Recommended
"...The entire ensemble of this show is superb, demonstrating more talent than I have space for here, but these are a few that stood out for me. Tantoo Cardinal's delivery of her character's monologue about her son's death from AIDS is rueful and direct and expertly done. Jay Donnell is very funny as physician Tristan, particularly in a scene wherein he chastises those who shouldn't be using the saying, "Yas, queen." Kasey Mahaffy is sharply amusing as activist Jasper, and Avi Roque is full of boisterous energy as prospective parent Jason."
Stage Raw - Recommended
"...The Inheritance Part 1 and Part 2 examines what this generation of gay men stand to inherit from previous generations: a collective trauma, loss, hope, love and community, while brilliantly holding space for the queer community grappling with compounded past and present crises. López emphasizes the importance of personal connection - the deep desire for being wanted and cared for, as expressed by every character in the play. But The Inheritance's staying power exists in the balance López finds between mourning the lives snuffed out too soon, honoring the predecessors who made the hard-won rights enjoyed in modern gay life possible, and uplifting those in the community who continue to carry the mantle."
Haines His Way - Highly Recommended
"...Simply put, Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance is a masterpiece of writing. This six-and-a-half-hour two-part play about a group of gay men in New York City circa 2015-2018 is a worthy successor and companion piece to Tony Kushner's epic Angels in America from nearly 20 years earlier. Where Kushner dealt with the early years of the AIDS epidemic and blended in the politics of Roy Cohn and even Ethel Rosenberg, Lopez's gay men enjoy the freedoms earlier generations fought hard for without their really realizing what it was like to live in those near yet distant decades. The current production at Westwood's Geffen Playhouse should not be missed. It just might be the best work to ever grace their stage since the venue opened in 1975 as the Westwood Playhouse."
Ticket Holders LA - Highly Recommended
"...The west coast premiere of Matthew López's epic two-part The Inheritance is more than just an exciting west coast debut; it is a major event for our city and a huge feather in the cap of the Geffen Playhouse, which after a difficult season deserves our unswerving gratitude for bringing it to our slowly recovering theatrical commonwealth."
