My Quick Take Review: Broadway's "The Wanderers"

The show: ”The Wanderers” off Broadway

What is it?: New pay by Anna Ziegler, directed by Barry Edelstein for Roundabout Theatre Company

What makes it special?: It stars Katie Holmes. It’s written by Ziegler, who wrote “Actually,” a sharp-eyed, nuanced play I admired.

Ans how Holmes?: She’s just fine though a bit miscast in a role that is wafer thin . The problem is the play itself.

What’s it about?: A movie star Julia Cheever (fittingly Holmes) attends a reading by acclaimed novelist Abe (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and he is starstruck — and becomes obsessed with knowing that she’s a fan. And so begins an email exchange that grows increasingly intimate and revelatory, threatening his marriage to Sophie (Sarah Cooper) who also a writer, just not as established. A parallel storyline is that of Abe’s Orthodox Jewish parents, shy Schmuli (Dave Klasko) and the confident Esther (Lucy Freyer). and their arranged marriage in 1973. But the twin tales — both struggling to emerge from the obvious — really don’t mesh. It’s a long awkward journey filled with midlife cliches and increasingly irritating characters which leads to an obvious reveal — and certainly not worth the seemingly endless trip, even at a 105 minutes.

Some random thoughts: It’s never a good idea to have your character who is a celebrated author use language that is meh at best and pretentious at worst.

For no apparent reason much of the action takes place on top of a table. Barry Edelstein directs, awkwardly.

Marion Williams’s set is something of a kind that we’ve seen before (“Endpapers” for one) as if searching for a metaphor — or something — that the play itself lacks.

Freyer’s Esther brought a welcome spark to an all too familiar story.

The title of the play never connects, unless it refers to the play’s dramaturgy.

Who will like it?: Not so sure. Maybe for those who get a secret thrill whenever the name Philip Roth or John Cheever is mentioned. Fans of “Unorthodox” who may need another tale of religious constrictions.

Who won’t?: Those who take literary references seriously.

For the kids?: They’d be bored, too.