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‘McNeal’ Review: Robert Downey Jr.’s Broadway Debut Is Stale and Confounding
'McNeal' is supposed to be about AI's effects on literature, but Robert Downey Jr.'s Broadway debut is a confusing garble about a narcissistic writer.
Directed by Bartlett Sher, the play centers on Jacob McNeal ( Robert Downey Jr. in his Broadway debut), an acclaimed novelist whose alcoholism and mental illness have come to a tipping point at the crux of his career. Anticipating a call from the Swedish Academy, which is set to announce the annual Nobel Prize winner in literature, Jacob ignores the pleas of Dr. Sahra Grewal (Ruthie Anne Miles) to stop his alcohol abuse. In a frenzy of an opening scene, Dr. Grewal’s concerns about Jacob’s hallucinations and improper use of medication fall on deaf ears as he grumbles, recalling being passed over for the Nobel in the past while griping about technological advances and other perceived personal injustices.
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