SPOILER ALERT: Even the title of this review is a giveaway on the plot lines of The Receptionist, which is best experienced with no foreknowledge, in this reviewer’s opinion. If you choose to read on, know that the author of this review suggests you don’t. The shock of the plot turn is what makes this play. You are forewarned…
The sounds of a fax machine…
Landlines…
The boxy computer…
A rolodex…
If you weren’t yet in the workforce in the 90’s or aughts, you might not recognize all of these accoutrements of the typical office of those decades. It could be earlier in fact, because this is an office where workers talk a lot to each other, which means it was before email made office chitchat less the norm.
Fellow gray hairs in the audience might similarly be reminded of That Girl by the ever so likable title character. Katie Finneran as Beverly is an older married woman permutation of a lovable sitcom character. She makes coffee. She shreds papers. She methodically stamps and signs documentation. She is the person in the office who knows everyone’s birthday and makes sure there is a cake for a celebration. She is that ever cheerful voice answering the phone and dispatching you to voicemail when you call. And she gossips—sometimes venting frustrations with her husband, or worries about her daughter, but mainly doling out girl talk wisdom to her younger office mate Lorraine, played by Mallori Johnson.
Just when you are beginning to wonder how and why a lite weight sitcom like The Receptionist came to Broadway, it seems like Hannah Arendt seized playwright Adam Bock’s pen. Arendt had reminded us that torturers’ find their everyday work so humdrum that they can take a routine lunch break much as any factory worker does. Evil is banal, Arendt cautions.
THE RECEPTIONIST Story Reminds of Cultural Milestones
This office, as it turns out, is up to no good.
The action takes place on the day when the chickens come home to roost. The only other characters are the Boss, played by Nael Nacer and a visitor from the main office, played by Will Pullen. We are there when the people in the office get a taste of their own medicine, so to speak.
Students of history might puzzle on the exact timeline of this story. The banter between Pullen’s character and Johnson’s character suggests it is pre-Anita Hill. The company’s ethos sounds like it was scripted by Cheney some time after 9/11. Alas, the way in which the characters in this play seem to have forgotten or never knew how to rage against the machine feels very circa now.
CAST:
Katie Finneran (Beverly Wilkins), Mallori Johnson (Lorraine Taylor), Nael Nacer (Edward Raymond), Will Pullen (Martin Dart)
CREATIVE TEAM:
Adam Bock (Playwright), Sarah Benson (Director), dots (Scenic Design), Enver Chakartash (Costume Design), Stacey Derosier (Lighting Design), Bray Poor (Sound Design), Daniel Swee (Casting)
WHEN:
April 15 - May 24, 2026
WHERE:
The Irene Diamond Stage
Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
New York, NY
TICKETS:
For more information and tickets visit the Second Stage Theater website.
Photos by Joan Marcus
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About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
