We asked ChatGPT to review Robert Downey Jr.’s Broadway debut in the AI ​​drama “McNeal.”

My first prompt was: “Write a review of the play McNeal by Ayad Akhtar in the style of David Gordon of TheaterMania.”

ChatGPT gave me a general review of Akhtar’s piece Garbage Instead, most of the facts were wrong. “ChatGPT can make mistakes,” it says in gray font at the bottom of the page. “Check important information.”

I added more data: “McNeal Starring Robert Downey Jr., he makes his Broadway debut as a writer who receives the Nobel Prize for Literature on the same day he learns he is dying of liver failure. He is obsessed with artificial intelligence and may have also stolen his late wife’s novel and published it under his name.” Again, Garbagein the literal and figurative sense.

I uploaded the press release for the show, with its characters (doctor, agent, ex-girlfriend), its cast (Ruthie Ann Miles, Andrea Martin, Melora Hardin), the director (Bartlett Sher), and the designers. Now we’re getting somewhere.

Finally, I expressed some opinions, along the lines of: “Any megastars of Downey’s caliber who come to Broadway should be as ready as he is to take on a delicate new American play in which he never leaves the stage.” Warhorses like Glengarry Glen Ross.”

That got me on the right track, but this experiment in using AI to create theater criticism that was both accurate and represented my own voice felt more like an intellectual exercise than an emotional one. Strangely, I felt the same way about the piece.

With that in mind, here is ChatGPT’s “David Gordon” review of McNealwith my accompanying cuts, edits and rewrites. Anything the bot inserted that didn’t feel like me is bold and crossed out. What I added is in bold in brackets, with two exceptions. Everything else was “written” by ChatGPT based on the information I uploaded.

Ayad Akhtar McNeal (now playing at the Vivian Beaumont Theater) is an intensive, An intellectual drama exploring identity, legacy and self-destruction, it revolves around the magnetic presence of Robert Downey Jr., making his Broadway debut. Guided with meticulous attention emotional detail (craft) by Bartlett Sher at the Beaumont Theaterthis piece is both an intellectual puzzle and a raw meditation on artistic greatness (which combines themes of art, mortality and technology). If Fallen from grace was a polemic about faith and identity, McNeal digs Deeper to personal and creative ruin, even if the audience often has to struggle for emotional clarity in the midst of its layered complexity.

In the opening scene we meet Jacob McNeal (Downey) at the peak of his career. He was just awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, a significant achievement for any writer. But this victory is immediately destroyed by devastating news: Dr. Sahra Grewal (Ruthie Ann Miles, who has a… poignant and (constant performance) tells him that his years of alcoholism have led to stage 4 liver failure. The juxtaposition of triumph and impending death sets the tone for the entire play, as McNeal is forced to confront his personal demons alongside his professional success.

The central conflict of McNeal revolves around the mystery of McNeal’s latest novel, a work that may be plagiarized from a manuscript by his late wife, who tragically took her own life years earlier. This revelation throws one long shadow shroud about McNeal’s success and forced the audience to ask questions the line between genius and theft (Our perception of whether McNeal is an icon or a fraud. Downey, who is a bit stiff at first but ultimately proves to be a natural for the stage, handles this ambiguity with relish; he clearly enjoys it, both sides of the coin to play out what intentionally confuses us.)

The following paragraph required so much back and forth between me and my unconscious overlord that I finally just wrote it myself:

The supporting performances are generally competent, although the roles are often either overwritten, overwritten, or lack credibility. Rafi Gavron, as McNeal’s estranged son Harlan, struggles to convey the intensity required for his crucial confrontation with Jacob over his late mother’s manuscript, making key moments seem dull. Brittany Bellizeares Natasha, a New York Times The reporter, who is somehow interested in exposing McNeal, comes across as unconvincing, but that’s more a fault of the writing than the acting. Andrea Martin brings her usual comedic flair to the negotiations as McNeal’s longtime agent Steph. She’s comfortable in the role, but it’s clear she could do this kind of role in her sleep.

Back to the bot:

Sher’s direction keeps the production fluid, navigating Akhtar’s dense, idea-driven script with clarity and tension. The minimalistic maximum Sentence(S) by Michael Yeargan and Jake Barton transform effectivelyS the Beaumont stage both a physical and psychological battlefield (a digital wasteland). Lighting by Donald Holder and sound by Justin Ellington and Beth Lake complete the piece scary (strange) atmosphere, while Barton’s projections underscore the existential threat of AI’s intrusion into human creativity. Sher’s production also uses several deep fakes of Downey, both digitally from the Hollywood technology company AGBO and, more notably, live live. McNeal combines technology and theatrics in a confusing and exciting way – I’ve never seen anything like it.

The AI ​​conclusion was also incorrect. Here is my version:

But the emotional aspects of the piece are often too distant for us to really latch on to. While McNeal tackles current topics on a large scale, the result feels like a chatbot’s attempt to write a review of a theater production it has never seen, all head, little heart. Regardless, Akhtar still points out that art is a unique human invention that connects the masses, and that while computer-generated creations might be able to come close to that relationship, they could never reproduce the same relationship.

The play itself is, despite everything, a bold and rigorous choice by Lincoln Center Theater and a prominent actor who could easily have rested on his laurels. At this point, Downey has nothing left to prove, and I’m encouraged that the same year he won an Oscar and agreed to a $100 million salary to become Dr. Choosing to play Doom was something so delicate that he had to deal with. McNeal is undoubtedly a provocative experience and a must for anyone who likes a good challenge.