I got the pleasure of seeing Seminar as my first Broadway play and it was a lot of fun. It has been running on Broadway for some time now and has gotten pretty good reviews, being called things like "the funniest show on Broadway." I got to see Jeff Goldblum, one of my favorite actors, play the lead.
It's about four young writers living in New York City paying for a seminar run by an older man, Leonard (Goldblum) who's been published plenty of times. Needless to say, Leonard is a complete asshole and he cuts everyone down, making it hilarious.
The other characters were pretty good, too. I was surprised that Justin Long, who's character of Martin probably had the most lines, could actually act. He was really good. So was Zoe Lister-Jones as Kate. Leonard, Martin, and Kate all had a lot of depth to them for a relatively short play at under two hours. It was nice to see that and it worked as a great compliment to the comedy.
This was a very well-written play. I looked at the playwright's previous credits and it was nothing I recognized, though Theresa Rebeck had been a finalist for a Pulitzer as a co-writer. The director, too, I had never heard of (how could I? This was my first Broadway play) and this appeared to be a very easy play to direct.
The energy of the play was one thing that stood out. Although nearly all of it was just the five characters talking, there was a certain edge to every line of dialogue, delivered rapidly in many instances. I laughed out loud many times and it more than kept my interest.
I'd certainly recommend it. Unfortunately I can't compare it to anything else out there on Broadway and I'm sure there are better ones, but I'm also sure you could easily find worse comedy plays out there.
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