Christian
Lewis

October 3, 2022

I am not exaggerating when I write that this production of Cost of Living is a major moment in Broadway history. I have rarely seen a play so authentically depict disability, and am overjoyed that it is happening here for such a large audience to witness.

Maya
Phillips

October 3, 2022

This play left me breathless, and I’m not just using a manner of speech. As I made my way through the crowd of people exiting the theater, I took hard, shallow breaths, knowing that one deep inhale could set off a downpour of tears. This production either broke or mended something in me; I felt — brilliantly, painfully, cathartically — near the point of physical exhaustion.

Brittani
Samuel

October 3, 2022

Martyna Majok’s 2018 Pulitzer winner “Cost of Living,” now making its Broadway premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Friedman Theatre, is a masterfully managed story of class, privilege, ability and shame.

Adam
Feldman

October 3, 2022

I had a different reaction to the Broadway production, which feels deeper and more fully realized to me. In part, that may reflect the added resonance its themes have acquired over the past few years, when we all became more alert to questions of health, responsibility and isolation that Cost of Living touches on.

Matt
Windman

October 3, 2022

Like “Sanctuary City,” “Cost of Living” is a compelling contemporary drama that has enigmatic and vulnerable characters, complex relationships, rising intensity, vigorous argumentation, and an underlying sense of humor and compassion in the midst of endless struggle.

Greg
Evans

October 3, 2022

As character study, Cost of Living can be moving, funny and intriguing, but the plot mechanics and string-pulling undercut the drama. When the two stories finally commingle, the hopeful ending – well, hopeful for some – feels as though it’s been predetermined from the start, with all the tragedy, cross-messages, hurt feelings and dashed dreams set in motion for no reason other than the late-night meeting of two strangers who’ve survived the plot.

New York Daily News

Chris
Jones

October 3, 2022

I think that’s part of the meaning of “Cost of Living,” Martyna Majok’s resonant, prismatic, Pulitzer-Prize-winning play from 2018 which has now landed on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in a Manhattan Theatre Club production starring David Zayas, best known for playing Angel Batista on the long-running “Dexter.”

We accumulate pain as we go, Majok is saying. The day-to-day of life costs all of us. The more days we’ve lived, the bigger the price paid.

Juan A.
Ramirez

October 3, 2022

Martyna Majok’s 2018 Pulitzer winner, Cost of Living, has finally arrived on Broadway, and don’t be fooled by the Hallmark-esque advertisements or the Enya-sounding New Age music that plays between scenes: This is a remarkable (and remarkably unsentimental) look at who we are, what we have, and what we’re able to be for ourselves and others. It’s the kind of play that feels too real and too quietly observed for a landscape insistent on broad emotional swings and easy politicization.

Johnny
Oleksinski

October 3, 2022

Robert
Hofler

October 3, 2022

Martyna Majok’s challenging 2017 one-act drama, “Cost of Living,” went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, and is now being given its first Broadway production, at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, where it opened Monday. The play tells parallel stories of two caretakers and their respective patients; and now having seen and reviewed it again, I don’t regret having seen “Cost of Living” twice.

David
Gordon

October 3, 2022

But the Broadway mounting, with its gorgeous direction by Jo Bonney and quartet of sterling performances, is tighter and more emotional all around. Perhaps now, after nearly three difficult years that many people spent completely alone, is an even righter time for this play than ever.

Joey
Sims

October 3, 2022

Beyond its intriguing mess of motivations, Majok’s quiet, deeply moving play also probes at a deeper question: Who is truly being cared for? Majok is the rare brand of playwright who can take such a broad, potentially soppy theme and probe it with wit and subtlety. Aided here by Jo Bonney’s elegant direction and an excellent cast, Majok’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner is mostly sublime on Broadway, save for a few missteps.

Tim
Teeman

October 3, 2022

Yes, this play is radical in its characterization of disability and disabled people, in giving nuance, spirit, life, and agency to characters and actors often denied all of those. It shows why writing and directing material like this should not be radical, it should just be. Cost of Living is a beautiful and thrilling piece of theater about the various tendernesses of simply being human, as well as a bracing challenge to all kinds of cultural forms and genres to follow its example.

Naveen
Kumar

October 3, 2022

What gives life value and makes it worth our daily toil? What does it mean to need another person, and what do we owe each other? It is a testament to the brilliant craft of Martyna Majok’s “Cost of Living,” now on Broadway after a successful off Broadway run, that it poses these sorts of colossal questions in scenes so bracingly intimate that you might be tempted to look away were they not so utterly magnetic.

New York Theatre Guide

Joe
Dziemianowicz

October 3, 2022

Over 110 unbroken minutes this lean, perceptive, and beautifully acted drama explores several provocative themes including connection and isolation as well as privilege and class. The main focus is people in need — and not just the two individuals who use wheelchairs, but the able-bodied attendants as well. All four face challenges and hurdles of every stripe. That’s the point — that’s the cost of living.