Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool
Opening Night: November 13, 2022
Theater: Vivian Beaumont
Website: mikebirbigliabroadway.com
Award-winning comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia has returned to Broadway with a tale of life, death, and a highly chlorinated YMCA pool. Birbiglia takes the stage at the esteemed Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center to chronicle his coming-of-middle-age story that asks the big questions: Why are we here? What’s next? What happens when the items at the doctor’s office that you thought were decorative become functional?
BUY TICKETSREAD THE REVIEWS:
November 13, 2022
I was pleasantly surprised and walked out of the theatre as a new fan. Honestly, I was thoroughly enraptured by every word of a performance (sleek direction by Seth Barrish,) that flew by, and became the most fun I’ve had at a show in years, if not ever.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
I, for one, am looking forward to hearing about Birbiglia’s next medical tests, not to mention how he is going to spin tales of Oona’s growing up.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
In a theatrical season full of stories that center on the human body’s knack for disobedience (“Cost of Living,” “Kimberly Akimbo”), “The Old Man & the Pool” presents another fine-tuned brand of self-deprecating humor that makes you feel a little less guilty about laughing at the sick.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
The latest Mike check-up, the funny and endearing The Old Man & the Pool, dives back into questions of life and death, delivered with a goofy gallows grin that helps the medicine go down.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
When you’re in the good company of Birbiglia, after all, it feels perfectly normal to laugh in the face of death.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
He swims. He writes in his journal. He worries. He performs a show that’s about swimming and making people laugh about bodies, but it’s mostly about our need to laugh about death. And it’s beautiful: exquisitely written, performed and designed, with all of Birbiglia’s characteristic ear for tone and rhythm.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
With his latest solo show The Old Man & the Pool, Mike Birbiglia cements his reigning position as Broadway’s greatest comic storyteller – stand-up comic just doesn’t quite fit him – and, yes, the competition for the title isn’t example plentiful, but if it was, Birbiglia could hold his own. He’s that good, and so is his latest accomplishment.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
Here’s hoping that Birbiglia continues to come to Broadway each season with new autobiographical monologues and inspires the same kind of turnout.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
But here he is, still alive, a little bit older, a little bit wiser and every bit as endearing as he was during the last show, advising us — in Warren Zevon’s words — to “enjoy every sandwich.” Funny thing is, you never want him to shut up.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 13, 2022
Birbiglia’s strength is his effortless delivery. You never feel like he’s performing a bit, but rather like you’re throwing back a beer with your funniest friend, a guy you’re meeting up with again for the first time in years. A lot has changed; nothing has changed.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 13, 2022
Birbiglia is totally on brand in his largely delightful solo show, The Old Man and the Pool. The 44-year-old author and actor dives into the choppy waters of his own mortality and comes up not only with waves of laughs, but also deep reflections about love and appreciation for how lucky he is (and we are) to be alive.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
Yet The Old Man and the Pool continues Birbiglia’s journey into an increasingly mellowness as a storyteller–and this guy was pretty mellow to begin with. His latest solo work, which opens tonight at Vivian Beaumont Theater and runs through January 15, is diverting and occasionally hilarious, but ultimately feels a bit tossed-off, an agreeable but flimsy set which washes over you nicely but leaves little lasting impression.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
After all that, The Old Man and the Pool, now running on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater after a cross-country tour, is Birbiglia’s most literal consideration of mortality yet. And it happens to be the best show he’s ever written.
READ THE REVIEW
November 13, 2022
Somehow, Birbiglia makes the business of death, the business of illness, the business of staying alive, the funniest thing.
READ THE REVIEW