Back to Broadway.

The new fall Broadway season is heating up.

Last night I attended Little Bear Ridge Road.

Set in rural Idaho, the play brings together Sarah, an emotionally walled-up aunt and Ethan, her long estranged nephew. They reunite after the passing of Ethan’s father (Sarah’s brother) and face the selling of his crumbling house, the damaged family ties and the question many of us face, how do you connect when you have been apart for a long time after a troubled past?

If you can envision a dated couch, a heap of bad feelings and two people who simultaneously want to fix things while running away, you are in the ball park.

Laurie Metcalf is a name with Broadway clout and her pairing with an emerging star like Micah Stock draws attention.

Metcalf is mesmerizing…plain and simple.

For the Broadway audience the play is not a musical, not a spectacle, but quietly potent. If you are craving something more thoughtful than pyrotechnics, this will hit the spot with its intimacy and understated emotion.

The underlying themes of estrangement, aging, caregiving and regret are not novel, but the play does not pretend otherwise and that is part of the charm.

What you get is two people trying to reconnect, with all the awkwardness that implies that all we really desire is a real connection.

Do not go if you are looking for fishnets and jazz hands.

Do go if you are okay with a constant old couch centerpiece, some unsaid truths and the possibility that the loudest moment will be the silence just before one of them says something real.

Sitting in a theatre for 95 minutes without a change of scenery may imply stagnation, but it is riveting.

The escape here is into someone else’s emotional house and coming out feeling a little less alone in yours.

For a Broadway landing, Little Bear Ridge Road, is a very good bet. It’s smart, quietly impactful and carried by strong talent, especially the captivating Laurie Metcalf.

Sometimes the play you need is the one that is simply a relatable touching slice of life.

Little Bear Ridge Road Booth Theatre 222 West 45th Street New York City. Running time 95 minutes with no intermission. The show runs through February 15th, 2026.