Love, Laughs and Absurdity

A rotating cast amusingly brings short stories by Simon Rich to the stage in Broadway's 'All In'

- CHARLES ISHERWOOD

Watching "All In," subtitled "Comedy About Love by Simon Rich," resembles attending a swank party at which friends regale you with funny anecdotes while the drinks flow and the canapés are passed.

Except the friends are actually celebrities, and the stories are absurdist fictional morsels written by Mr. Rich, many first published in the New Yorker magazine. Also: You have to pay a hefty price for the champagne, not to mention a heftier one for the privilege of attending. And there are no canapés.

Even the set design, by David Korins, suggests an unfathomably expensive SoHo loft, with large-scaled artworks on exposed brick walls, bookshelves, plush chairs for the four performers, and gentle lighting being shed from chandeliers.

The cast rotates during the production's limited run, with the members I saw― John Mulaney and Fred Armisen (both formerly of "Saturday Night Live"), Renée Elise Goldsberry ("Hamilton") and the veteran comic actor Richard Kindending their runs Jan. 12.

(Chloe Fineman has already taken over from Ms. Goldsberry.) Lin-Manuel Miranda then assumes the emcee duties from Mr. Mulaney.