New York renters don’t have much experience in the world of The Balusters—landmark homes, renovation regulations, and neighborhood associations. (When someone writes a play about price-gouging annual lease renewals, call us.) But you don’t need to be a historic homeowner to get caught up in this terrifically chaotic new comedy from David Lindsay-Abaire (Good People, Rabbit Hole, Fuddy Meers).
There are 10 characters in The Balusters—all instantly relatable and nearly all fantastically flawed, which we’ll soon learn in a series of neighborhood association meetings. Filipina housekeeper Luz (played by Maria-Christina Oliveras) has everything pretty much figured out. But her grandson is named Rocket. So…there’s that.
Luz works for Kyra (Tony winner Anika Noni Rose, wickedly funny), whose family just moved from Baltimore to the historic East Coast enclave of Vernon Point; “it’s like from another era,” she says, explaining the town’s selling point. She’s new to the association, hosting the meeting in the gorgeous front parlor of her Victorian home. First to arrive is Melissa (Jesa playwright Jeena Yi), who gives Kyra the scoop on the soon-to-arrive Vernon Pointers. There’s the oft-underestimated but still-sassy 70-something Penny (Lindsay-Abaire muse Marylouise Burke, landing every one of her laugh-grabbing lines). Ruth (the dynamite Margaret Colin) regularly injects a bit of bile into the proceedings. On Luz’s grandson: “Have we run out of names? Is that what’s happened? We’re resorting to naming children after random objects now? They might as well call him Doorknob. Or Taco.” Travel writer Brooks (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) is a little gossipy. Everyone talks over high school teacher Alan (Michael Esper). Contractor Isaac (Ricardo Chavira) tells it like it is; call him Latino, call him Hispanic, but the term Latin-X is “retro woke bullshit,” if you ask him. “You know who I’ve never heard use that word? Latin people.” Willow (Kayli Carter) is a very earnest but quick-to-judge vegan with a secret penchant for pork dumplings; she works for PETA, which Ruth can’t help but exploit by parading around in her rabbit-fur coat. (“It’s not like they’re endangered,” Ruth says. “There are always plenty of rabbits. That’s kind of their thing.”) Last to arrive—he wants to make an entrance—is Elliot (Richard Thomas, perfectly cast as the traditionalist Everyman), a lifelong Vernon Pointer who has a chokehold on many of the local real estate listings and, it seems, on the association presidency.
[Read Frank Scheck’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
The big issue on the agenda: Elliot has been keeping tabs on a neighborhood porch renovation, and spotted a delivery of farmhouse balusters, setting off his landmark alarm bells. Farmhouse balusters aren’t true to the period or style of the original porch railing. “They’d look ridiculous on that Queen Anne,” he explains. “If you live here, you’ve agreed to certain guidelines.” Imagine his shock when later he discovers that the balusters are from Home Depot! (Ruth: “What’s Home Depot?”)
But Kyra has an issue that’s more pressing than wooden posts; she wants to discuss a dangerous nearby intersection that demands stop signs or a traffic light. “I can’t imagine that Landmarks would appreciate that kind of change,” sniffs Elliot, who worries about diminishing “the character of the block.” Thus ensues a whole back and forth, during multiple meetings, about signs and lights and “speed humps” versus “speed bumps”—not only funny, but also necessary, because who among us hasn’t wondered what differentiates a hump from a bump?
Of course, signs aren’t the actual problem; it’s what they represent. Change. Forward progress. Elliot tries to appeal to Kyra’s sense of history by showing her snapshots of the town’s Pleasantville-style past. Back then, everyone sat on the esplanade to keep cool in the summer and the sounds of classical music wafted through the windows. He remembers the produce store owner Mr. Tesoriero (perhaps a nod to composer Jeanine Tesori, who teamed with Lindsay-Abaire to turn his play Kimberly Akimbo into a multi–Tony-winning musical?). He and his pals drank egg creams after baseball practice at Mr. Boone’s ice cream parlor. Back then, everyone was white. Yet Elliot has no idea that bothers Kyra. Looking at the colorless photos, she realizes: Elliot says his goal is historical preservation—“architecture and landscaping,” he says—but his true aim is aesthetic curation.
Speaking of aesthetic curation, we must discuss Derek McLane’s Architectural Digest–ready set. From the floor-to-ceiling drapes to the turquoise tiled fireplace to the burnt-orange and olive walls through the parlor doorways, every detail is stunning, right down to the artwork and the throw pillows (two of which I have already tracked down and purchased). Top-notch comedy and covetable home decor—all in a tidy 100-minute package.
The Balusters opened April 21, 2026, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and runs through May 24. Tickets and information: manhattantheatreclub.com
