A Class Act at New World Stages

CurtainUp - Not Recommended

"A behind-the-scenes look at how and why class-action suits can drag on for years…No faulting the seven-member cast. They do a good job of individualizing all these high-powered legal types…Unfortunately the playwright resorts to using some really hoary tricks to move his plot forward…The production values are pretty bare bones, but they work. What doesn't work is the play being consistently engaging as well as a worthy dramatization of a serious societal issue."

TheaterScene.net - Highly Recommended

"Unlike such films as ‘Erin Brockovich' and ‘A Civil Action' which cover similar ground in stories of ecological pollution, this play takes place exclusively in executive conference rooms where the decisions are made. In the course of this taut 90 minute drama directed by Christopher Scott, we experience loyalty, integrity, greed, blackmail, betrayal and redemption. The cast of seven proves expert at playing these legal and corporate types."

Theatres Leiter Side - Recommended

"Lawyers will appreciate the profanity-laced boardroom wrangling over huge payoffs, class actions vs. individual lawsuits, settlements vs. trials, and venal techniques...Shabel, wanting to make clear where his heart is...concludes with a melodramatic twist that taints the play's integrity…'A Class Act' doesn't reach the heights of...Ibsen's ‘An Enemy of the People' or the movie ‘Erin Brockovich', but its examination of how lawyers operate entitles it to its day in court."

Times Square Chronicles - Not Recommended

"A boardroom drama that feels like ‘Erin Brockovich' without the suspense or Julia Roberts…Though 'A Class Act' has a lot to offer, it plays like a law brief with the language stilted and long-winded, unless you are a lawyer. Even though the show is 100 minutes, it seems longer. We care about the unseen victims, not the characters onstage and that is never a good thing. Only the last 15 minutes really cut deep into the soul of the piece, but by then it just seems manipulated."

DC Metro Theater Arts - Somewhat Recommended

"The characters are of an ilk that gives lawyers a bad name...There are twists and turns in the plot—some believable, others not...Though the plot points are nothing new, they remain relevant, and raise significant questions about human motivations and corporate corruption...Director Christopher Scott holds our attention by keeping the actors moving around the stationary set and growing the tension between them, giving emphasis to their increasingly volatile confrontations."

Act Three - The Reviews - Highly Recommended

"In a new work by Norman Shabel, we are treated to a legal gem. Well written such that the audience understands the way a class-action lawsuit works and well acted such that we believed the actors in their respective corners of the fight. Director Christopher Scott had much talent to work with...Mr. Scott channeled the talent of the fine actors to make his impression last...A great legal drama with a redeeming ending."