Review of All Nighter at the Newman Mills Theater

In March 2025, which is when this blog post will also go live, I had the opportunity to go up to the city for work. The theater I worked at was putting on a production in Queens, so I booked a bus ticket up, made some arrangements so I had somewhere to stay, then began looking at things to do when I wasn’t working.

Theater is one of the biggest activities I do when in New York. I went to college here (before COVID shut everything down a year and a half into my college life), then my professional life happened to just be based here as well. That means I’ve probably done it all when it comes to touristy things, and I even venture to to like Jamaica, for example, just to find something good to eat.

That said, I know where to get a good ticket, and I keep an eye on all of the upcoming shows. I’m getting kind of tired of the shows on Broadway right now, and I don’t want to pay expensive prices. Most of what I saw this trip was through TDF (check it out if you’re eligible—it’s literally changed my theatre going life), but there was one ticket I bought while it was on preview sale: All Nighter.

I knew about it because of Havana Rose Liu being cast. I loved her in the movies I’ve happened to catch her in, especially Bottoms, so that was a draw for me. I also knew that Julia Lester is such an incredibly talented actress, as I saw her as Little Red Riding Hood when Into the Woods was revived a few years back.

A front row balcony ticket during previews was $50. That was such an insane steal to me, and it was actually the first ticket I booked for this trip because of that. I honestly didn’t know what to really expect from this show, as the marketing kept the plot and conflict tight-lipped. I was also very surprised to see Brooklinen tote bags and silk eye masks on every seat when I entered—that was a pleasant surprise, but probably only for early previews.

I had the aisle seat all the way to the left, which was fine by me when it came to viewing everything. Most of the action takes place on the center of the stage, but they move to the right and lefthand sides of the stage to have private conversations away from the main action.

Let’s get into my review! I don’t want to ramble too much in this introduction.

As five girls, four of whom are roommates, prepare for the last all nighter of their college lives, things are about to get dicey.

As the title of the play suggests, the premise and driving force of getting these characters together is one last all nighter before they graduate college. It’s crunch time and they all have assignments due, and they have a special table (which they don’t secure at first) where the group does their all nighters together. Four of them are roommates, while Julia Lester’s character floats in and out of scenes to provide comedic relief and move the plot forward in some cases.

Darcie is set to be the lawyer of the group and the most successful, but even she is popping Aderall by the time the play starts getting moving. Lizzy is someone who went through a great trauma at the beginning of college, and there’s some tension with her recent actions with the rest of the group. She’s also missing two Aderall, which is odd because she obsessively counted them earlier in the day.

Jacqueline is getting a move on with another girl, but there’s tension between her and her best friend, Tessa, because the night before the events of the play the girls got massively drunk and Tessa kissed Clara, the girl Jacqueline likes. There’s also another huge plot pointing unfolding when Tessa realizes her credit card has been stolen, and it’s looking more and more likely one of the other girls might’ve taken it.

As I mentioned before, Julia Lester’s character, Wilma, floats in and out. At first she’s having a slight mental breakdown of sorts because Darcie said she wouldn’t look good in orange and it hurt her feelings, but then Wilma becomes an important aspect of providing the outside perspective to the other characters.

She’s friends with them, but she isn’t insulated in the friend group to the point where she can’t not see their flaws. It’s the perfect set up for her to start playing detective and probing deeper when needed, allowing insight into the plot we probably wouldn’t have gotten without her there. She’s also hilarious—Julia Lester is a brilliant comedic actor.

We do get some moments of studying (which also provides comedic relief), but this is a play that has multiple different plot points and conflicts. There’s the existentialism of graduating, but then questioning about what their friendship will be after they go their separate ways outside of this little podunk college town.

The show is an hour and thirty minutes, which is about right with when we got out of there. The set is also pretty realistic of a college library, and there are moments in the play where the sound design actually makes you feel like you’re in a library with other (not seen) characters in the distance of shuffling about as they leave our protagonists behind.

Overall Thoughts

I personally found the plot of this show to be on the weaker side. I actually guessed some of the surprises early on in the show, which made it more about the journey of getting there. The ending felt a little rush and half baked to me in the end, but I did enjoy the journey throughout.

The cast is what makes this production come alive for sure. It’s an experience, especially as there are a good amount of moments that will make you laugh out loud. Then there are serious moments about sexual assault, what being a good friend means, and how easily someone can become a stranger.

I could really see these characters in real life though. More time with them could’ve been great to see more about their lives beyond this moment, but I’m happy with what we got for now.

All of the actors do their jobs well, and that’s what we needed for this show. I think if you’re interested in it, definitely go see it! I am glad I saw the show, and I don’t regret it. I think I’ll check out MCC in the near future, as the space was also quite nice (albeit a pain to get to in the pouring rain, especially as I had no umbrella).

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