Profoundly touching and wickedly hilarious, Matthew Lopez’s two-part play The Inheritance, asks how much we owe to those who lived and loved before us, and questions the role we must play for future generations.
Brilliantly re-envisioning E. M. Forster’s masterpiece "Howards End" to 21st-century New York, it follows the interlinking lives of three generations of gay men searching for a community of their own – and a place to call home.
This epic new play by Matthew Lopez marks the Broadway debut of a bold new voice in American theatre, directed by visionary two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry.
The Inheritance is a life-affirming journey of tears and laughter, through conflicts and connections, heartbreak and hope. A new play, generations in the making.
'The Inheritance' isn't a great play or even a very good play, but Lopez's opus is compellingly watchable in the way that old so-bad-they're-good movies are: Finger-snapping one-liners and dramatic fireworks explode throughout as logic and character development are abandoned. At the helm is the perfect director, Stephen Daldry, the theater's version of Douglas Sirk. If anyone knows how to make pulpy dialogue an even deeper shade of purple, it's Daldry. Despite the play's lengthy running time, you will be riveted watching this lurid, weepy, pandering, derivative, and very grand soap opera.
There's a sense that a story of this scope could easily have been made into some kind of limited-series television event, with its long-thread plot lines and dialogue that often swerves between wry Bravo bitchery (tossed-off references to Broad City and Truvada) and HBO issue-drama prestige (all those heavy shades of the original Gay Fantasia). In the end, The Inheritance is a play whose cup runneth over in so many often glorious ways that almost every sip yields something - even if it might have been served just as well (or that much better) in a shorter, stronger pour.
2018 | West End |
West End transfer of the Young Vic production West End |
2019 | Broadway |
Broadway Premiere Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Kyle Soller |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Stephen Daldry |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Lois Smith |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | The Inheritance |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design for a Play | Paul Arditti |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | The Inheritance |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Stephen Daldry |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | John Benjamin Hickey |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Samuel H. Levine |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Lois Smith |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | The Inheritance |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Bob Crowley |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Stephen Daldry |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Jon Clark |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score | Paul Englishby |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | John Benjamin Hickey |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Andrew Burnap |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Lois Smith |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Matthew Lopez |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Bob Crowley |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Paul Arditti |
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