Profoundly touching and wickedly hilarious, Matthew Lopez’s two-part play The Inheritance, asks how much we owe to those who lived and loved before us, and questions the role we must play for future generations.
Brilliantly re-envisioning E. M. Forster’s masterpiece "Howards End" to 21st-century New York, it follows the interlinking lives of three generations of gay men searching for a community of their own – and a place to call home.
This epic new play by Matthew Lopez marks the Broadway debut of a bold new voice in American theatre, directed by visionary two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry.
The Inheritance is a life-affirming journey of tears and laughter, through conflicts and connections, heartbreak and hope. A new play, generations in the making.
If some of The Inheritance is surprisingly glib, it nevertheless remains a mostly well-written and observant work that successfully studies contrasts in generational attitudes-and socio-political awareness-even as it features several deeply poignant sequences. The concluding scene of the first play, which cannot be described here but is the finest episode in the entire production, is genuinely moving through the breathtaking simplicity of its evocation of a lost generation.
In The Inheritance, the first three and a half hours are so full that even the most chattering mind is overwhelmed. There's the speed and effervescence of the group scenes, then there's Toby-glittering and amazing in Burnap's hands, absent too much in the second half. It also contains an image so strong that it wrenches the door closed behind it. Part Two turns on individual concerns-it's preoccupied by love, addiction, and the playwright's meta-musings on creativity-which are important, but seem like small potatoes after that ascension into prophethood and group-consciousness. Our souls had been wracked; why were we now watching a soap opera? All through Part Two, I tried to be a Margaret, but I just couldn't do it. Lopez had gone too slack, and my memories of the first half began to populate the stage again. I started to picture lost men, walking across a lightning-lit landscape. I could almost see them, even though they haven't been with us for 30 years and more.
2018 | West End |
West End transfer of the Young Vic production West End |
2019 | Broadway |
Broadway Premiere Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Kyle Soller |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Stephen Daldry |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Lois Smith |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | The Inheritance |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design for a Play | Paul Arditti |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | The Inheritance |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Stephen Daldry |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | John Benjamin Hickey |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Samuel H. Levine |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Lois Smith |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | The Inheritance |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Bob Crowley |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Stephen Daldry |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Jon Clark |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score | Paul Englishby |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | John Benjamin Hickey |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Paul Hilton |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Andrew Burnap |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Lois Smith |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Matthew Lopez |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Bob Crowley |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Paul Arditti |
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