Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock. Photo by Julieta Cervantes

by Tim Leininger

New York – The COVID-19 pandemic hit a hard reset for a lot of people as death seemed to surround us and purpose seemed to fade into the long night, leaving many lonely and listless. Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road tackles this phenomenon in relation to two distant family members who come together during the crisis, running through Feb. 8, 2026, on Broadway at the Booth Theatre at 222 W. 45^th St.

            Directed by Joe Mantello — who directed the underappreciated Grey House and won Tony awards for Assassins and Take Me Out — Little Bear Ridge Road, rests in the uncomfortable in between place of stagnation and life. Though technically set on the outskirts of Troy, Idaho, not too far from Moscow, the setting, as described in the show’s Playbill is “A couch in a void,” which is apropos as that is exactly where our two main characters, Sarah (Laurie Metcalf) and Ethan (Micah Stock) are in their lives, a senseless, aimless location of indeterminate definition. Scott Pask’s scenic design captures the world that Hunter has evoked, this void with just a sofa sitting on a rotating platform in the middle of an otherwise dark stage. The couch becomes a catchall set piece that doubles as a bar at one point. This is where the concept of living in a void loses its reality a little because Ethan starts to journey beyond it. Sticking to this very finite setting fights against Ethan’s desire to want to get his life back together in some way.

Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock. Photo by Julieta Cervantes

Ethan, who has returned to Idaho from Seattle, is living with his Aunt Sarah while he attends to his father’s estate, who has recently died. It also becomes a convenient place to wait out the pandemic. A retired nurse, Sarah has little compulsion to do much beside sit around and watch television, and Ethan, a writer, has lost any motivation to work. Despite their best efforts, involving some bitingly funny sarcasm and wit, the two eventually become close and, to a degree, dependent upon each other, building an understanding of where they are coming from and where they currently are. Ethan had always been concerned about being accepted as a homosexual by Sarah, and Sarah is hiding her own secret that Ethan puts together that becomes a sticking point between the two.

            Metcalf and Stock are great together as the proverbial odd couple as they bicker and argue about things as simple as someone watching a television episode before the other and complicated as the lingering resentment toward Ethan’s parents.

            As the pandemic progresses and things start to reopen, Ethen starts to get out some and meets James (John Drea), with whom he forms a relationship. There’s a bit of reinvigoration in his life and he must decide what’s more important for himself, following his feelings for James, or stay and help Sarah. This bit of conflict is the height of the story for me as, I think, in almost any other time the answer would probably be easier to make, but the added element of the pandemic and how it affected everyone and how we treat the people closest to us, makes the tension a bit more palpable. It’s not like COVID-19 is a major character in the play, no one ever has it, but the atmosphere of the pandemic itself permeates how people behave and treat each other.

Micah Stock, Laurie Metcalf and John Drea. Photo by Julieta Cervantes

Metcalf captures the nature of a woman suffering a bit of cabin fever, not just from the pandemic, but also from retiring with no post career objectives compounded by the secret that she has. Stock also shows a bit of that cabin fever for Ethan, but it’s something he’s able to at least attempt to work himself out of. There is a bit of prolonged despondency that Stock gives Ethan, which unfortunately makes him a bit of a whiner, which gets tedious after a while. When he realizes the social class disparity between him and James it only exacerbates his issues.

Both characters are terminal in their own ways, at dead ends in their lives. In my observations and conversations with audiences, some have found the play funny and inspirational, while others found it tedious. I get both perspectives. Personally, I found it honest, and honesty can be either inspirational or tedious, or both. It’s all a matter of perspective and what we bring to the story. Ethan is a bit of a whiner, and Sarah is eternally bullheaded. This makes for difficult character journeys that the actors have to delicately nuance in order for it to keep it interesting, and for the most part, Little Bear Ridge Road succeeds.

LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD

TICKETS: https://littlebearridgeroad.com/

PRODUCTION: Written by Samuel D. Hunter; Directed by Joe Mantello; Scenic Design: Scott Pask; Costume Design: Jessica Pabst; Lighting Design: Heather Gilbert; Sound Design: Mikhail Fiksel; Casting by JC Clementz, CSA; Production Stage Manager: William Joseph Barnes; Public Relations: DKC/O&M; Advertising and Marketing: Arthouse; General Management: Alchemy Production Group; Production Management: Aurora Productions; Company Manager: Mike McLinden

CAST (in order of appearance)

Laurie Metcalf as Sarah

Micah Stock as Ethan

John Drea as James/Kenny

Meighan Gerachis as Paulette/Vickie