I Need That review

Since 2009, the reality show Hoarders has been documenting people who stuff their homes so full of objects that they become uninhabitable. An interventionist comes to help the hoarder part with their towering junk. The hoarder often feels attachments related to past trauma, and the key to letting go is breaking those attachments. It’s a formula that has worked for the A&E Network and one that Theresa Rebeck employs in her new play. 

Unfortunately, the reality-TV ubiquity of hoarder stories means that Rebeck’s play already feels dated. In Moritz von Stuelpnagel’s production, Danny DeVito’s Sam has packed his living room with an astonishing amount of debris. His daughter Amelia (played by DeVito’s actual daughter Lucy) arrives with garbage bags to throw it all away because the city is threatening to put him out on the street. Sam is resistant, Amelia is stressed, the audience is bored. The tired plot of a hoarder refusing to let go of his junk has been available on basic cable for almost 15 years. Now it’s on Broadway.

The only excitement comes from a coup de théâtre in which Alexander Dodge’s set design transforms – but even that requires a revolve and a lot of awkward downtime while we wait for the stagehands to change the set. The promise of theatrical magic is immediately broken. 

Von Stuelpnagel is usually adept at pacing and comedy, but there’s a resignation and a lack of flair here, as if he’s throwing up his hands. Late in the play, Sam is confronted by a trusted friend (Raymond Anthony Thomas), who reveals that he has not been honest with him. The revelation drops with a thud – it’s not earned by Rebeck’s writing, not staged with any intensity by Von Stuelpnagel, and not played particularly well by DeVito. As his friend comes clean, DeVito offers nothing back: he stares at the floor, giving no indication of how he feels. Sam is stubborn and closed off, qualities that DeVito is skilled at conveying. But the actor’s natural charisma is never allowed to flourish.

Rebeck wrote this play for the father-daughter duo to perform together, yet neither has a particularly interesting part. As Amelia, Lucy DeVito plays one note of frustration with her father and, when they finally have a moment of connection, she is tasked with delivering an implausible twist.

Overall, Rebeck’s play is missing a key component: there are actual stakes for the people on Hoarders – they really care about their stuff. Rebeck’s play lacks that sense of investment. Nothing feels urgent, however often we hear that Sam may lose his house. He doesn’t seem particularly worried. So why should we be?