I Need That – 05 November 2023

Despite the brilliance of Danny DeVito and the cleverness of the concept of a story about hoarders who keep items for emotional significance, I had difficulty getting into this production. It felt to me like watching a sitcom being filmed. The emotional highs weren’t that high, the lows weren’t that low, and the characters were lovable in that they never changed.

Had I watched this play in 20 minute increments once a week, I would have looked forward to each character’s development and role in the story. I would have laughed harder at the jokes, and felt the sadness of the emotional moments more profoundly.

I Need That was a good concept, but theatre was the wrong method of delivering that content. The characters didn’t develop very much, and we came to enjoy their patterns and predictability. It was hard to watch it all strung together in an hour and a half, but it would have been highly enjoyable in short bursts as television episodes.

The show’s most brilliant moment was Danny DeVito, alone on stage, playing a game of Sorry with himself, where each of the other colors represented relatives from his past and the complex relationships he had with them. This moment was unexpected, and it did what really good theatre always does– it evoked conflicting emotions. For me, these emotions were revulsion and pity, as well as that heartbreak for all of the loved ones this character had lost.

The biggest conceptual flaw of this piece is that it doesn’t delve into how hoarders can heal or the psychology of hoarding. In real life, hoarding addictions go pretty far beyond “I need that” and I think the show would have been more meaningful if the dramatic moments went a little further into Danny DeVito’s character’s psychological and emotional distress. This kind of bolder choice would have helped the comedic moments seem funnier.

A word on Lucy DeVito– she’s getting a lot of criticism for riding her father’s coattails. I saw her in this show, and the truth is I have no idea if she has talent or not. In I Need That, she was sidelined into a role where the audience had her figured out from her first entrance. She did not get to play a dynamic, interesting character– she wasn’t written that way. I believe in second chances. I believe it’s hard to live in the shadow of a legend like Danny DeVito. And if this is Lucy DeVito’s dream, I hope she gets another crack at it in a more meaningful and expressive role.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.