THE STORY: In Providence, Rhode Island, habitually widowed Atalanta pays a visit to her second-rate lawyer, Barry Dragonetti. Intending to settle her latest husband’s affairs, this larger-than-life Greek tightwad quickly becomes a nightmare for her cheesy, self-aggrandizing attorney. Add Barry’s impossible Croatian mother, a dash of politics, and a couple of opportunistic young lovers, and you have in hand a recipe for comic combustion.
“The funniest new comedy I’ve reviewed since…well, maybe ever…I don’t know when I last saw another stage comedy that was funny right from the top, or one whose last scene was so unmanipulatively touching…To laugh this hard for that long is downright therapeutic.” —Wall Street Journal.
“…uproariously entertaining…Shanley’s jokes are deliciously funny…THE PORTUGUESE KID makes for a wildly entertaining couple of hours of whip-smart banter…” —Entertainment Weekly.
“[Shanley] returns to his quirky comedy roots…this one’s quite a hoot…one of the most hysterical opening scenes ever to grace a New York stage…You will laugh—of that I have no doubt!” —NY1.
