“Little Bear Ridge Road”, Booth Theatre, New York
Glenda Frank in Midtown Manhattan
27 November 2025
Sarah, a nurse, has never been warm and fuzzy, but she’s Ethan’s only living relative. Returning to his small hometown near Troy, Idaho, to sell his father’s house, he takes shelter in her home, still raw from a failed romance and a prolonged writer’s block. Welcome to Little Bear Ridge Road, a powerful new drama by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Joe Mantello, at the Booth Theatre.
Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock.
Photo credit: Julieta Cervantes.
What this brief introduction doesn’t tell you is that Sarah is a brusque, complicated woman, an unusual character in the canon, Laurie Metcalf (Three Tall Women, A Doll’s House, Part 2, Tony awards) brings the many corners of Sarah’s personality to life from the inside out. Sarah’s world is not defined by the white circular rug and three seat sectional where set designer Scott Pask has placed her. She lives within a community that both reaches out to her and rejects her. A world like most of ours.
Ethan (Micah Stock, It’s Only a Play, Tony nomination) resents everything. His single father was an abusive addict and when he asked Sarah to take him in as a child she refused. His hopes for the sale of the house aren’t realized, and then he finds he’s been cheated. He’s drifting, caught in a depressing downward spiral, but he meets James at a bar. Ethan thinks it’s a hook-up. James (John Drea) who is a student from a wealthy family thinks it’s a date. They become mismatched lovers – Ethan, hypersensitive and averse to change, and James, doggedly pursuing a doctorate in astrophysics.
And while this is playing out, Ethan and his aunt are forming a relationship, rehashing old wounds and designing new bonding routines, mostly initiated by Sarah. She confesses that after work every day when Ethan was a child, she would ride by his house to see if he was okay, but she never went further. “I failed you,” she admits. When Ethan confesses that he’s gay, expecting rejection, she tells him that that is the most interesting thing about him. And she is fascinated to watch the developing friendship between the two men. James becomes a third family member.
Sarah’s work life is in crisis; they keep cutting back her shifts. And then there are her medical problems. A friend offers Sarah a room in her house, but she’s inveterately independent. And Ethan’s increasing dependence on their relationship may cost him his romance. The play gains in magnitude as the focus shifts to the important choices of ordinary people. The characters seem to mirror aspects of our lives, and we’re rooting for them.
The role of Sarah allows Metcalf to display her wide range. The emotional shifts are seamless and natural. Her deadpan delivery becomes warm and friendly when talking to the local man who is cleaning out Ethan’s home. It’s angry and strident when she is challenging the hospital about her reduced hours, then a controlled rationalism as she asks for more. Her terror at finding a stranger in her kitchen in the early hours fades into curiosity tinged with anger as Ethan introduces her to James. So many emotional colours! There is so much to admire.
