←Recommendations of THE SUBTLE, SUBLIME TRANSFORMATION OF BENNY V.

I saw A Short Leap Theatre's production of this play in Chicago, and it was such a beautiful testament to the rewards reaped when one finds the bravery to branch out and try new things - and how reinvention isn't just for the young. You can change for the better at any age. A lovely, lovely warm hug of a play.

We are told at the top that our titular protagonist, Benny V, has outlived his life expectancy by two years. As such, I surmised the play might be an autopsy of a life. Instead, it becomes a vivisection - a subtle, sublime examination of a superlatively average person's late bloom during a stolen season. Benny V's joys are hard won and even his happiest moments happen on the thinnest of ice. Martin takes daring turns challenging us to think and feel and live. Singularly beautiful and inspiring.

Benny V is absolutely relatable and inspirational. If this isn't one of the most uplifting plays about hope and just living, I don't know much about hope and living! This is magical, yet super simplistic at the same time. This is a play that will leave audiences uplifted and motivated while the production team has so much freedom to make this play their own, unique work of art. I feel transformed, too!

What happens when a Prufrock parts his hair behind, and dares to eat a peach? This. Wonderfully, movingly, this. Steven Martin’s gloriously expansive, deeply lovable, and gently heart-yanking comedy(ish) celebrates the profound spiritual joy to be found in learning, exploration, & creation — and the doubts, cynicism, and self-recrimination that can threaten to kill it. Martin’s deep curiosity, wit, and clear-eyed sense of humanity shine off every page. Benny V., the mermaids are singing for you.

This lovely comedy feels like the contemporary answer to “Pippin,” in that it centers an exceedingly ordinary man who decides to seek out more from life, only to come up against a world addicted to misery and self-destruction. The message to get as much out of life as possible--to travel, to create, to risk--even if no one else cares, hit home for me. I also enjoyed the use of the Compere to guide us through the proceedings, especially their "percentile" asides.

People envy joy. Especially if you have it and they don't. I've maintained (and still do) that no playwright captures the pure wonder & joy of creating a thing and how glorious it feels to make art better than Steven G. Martin. This might be his masterwork. Benny V. is an incredible character, representing not only all of us, but anyone who chooses to embrace life and the bold decision to step outside of our comfortable spaces in search of the new, interesting, and miraculous. Highly recommend.

Great things happen when you give yourself permission to take the path less traveled, as is shown in this beautiful show by Steven. Subtle, sublime, transformative, true, this play is a marvelous journey of discovery. The characters are clear and wonderfully written. The freedom of staging options is a real gift to directors. I would love to see this performed live.

A dazzling exploration of the human psyche! As we all sit in the mire of mediocrity, who has not dreamed of some lightning bolt moment that jolts us out of our rut and propels us into greatness? And who doesn't have the voices trying to push us back into our boxes? The ending is * chef's kiss *!

This multilingual, multifaceted comedy from Steven G. Martin is as its title implies: subtle, sublime, and transformative. With a diverse, multigenerational cast and a relatably awkward protagonist at its center, “Benny V” is destined for greatness and a place at the top of your reading list. Bravo, playwright!

There were about 500 moments in Steven G. Martin's marvelous play where I thought I'd tear up, and they were there. Then something funny, or uncomfortable, or surprising would happen and the tear that was there would be held hostage by the playwright. There are so many delightful theater items, too many to build into this finite recommendation. Benny V is an amazing character, well built, well defined, and an unlikely protagonist in a lot of ways. The co-workers, the blood-noses, the sublime ways his life changes, and the entire time you only mostly know what's going on! AWESOME!