After all the rave reviews of this play, I think I went expecting too much. I found it to be "much ado about nothing". Overly talky and almost irritating to watch. Couldn't wait for it to be over.

i had a great time at this event. the cast was superb. if you have an off sense of humor like i do this is a must see.

I thought it was great. All the actors and the script was fantastic. Thanks for the reduced ticket prices. Or else I couldn't have afforded this treat with the recession.

This was a superb performance with an excellent cast.

I hated the play - whereas Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf depicted the breakdown of relationships and was gut-wrenching, this play used cliched dialogue and interaction to do the same thing as a comedy and we did not find the destruction of relationships funny. The audience was roaring with laughter, but we found the acting phoney, the situations stereotyped and all in all were very disappointed.

A fun evening about something actually plausible! I would recommend it to friends.

Great show. All 4 actors were fantastic!

This was a great play...the cast was terrific and we felt very fortunate to see a "broadway" cast here in LA:D

Top notch entertainment! We belly-laughed. Great fun! Thanks.

We were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to park and get to the venue.

Excellent performance! Chemistry amongst the actors could not have been better. Although all 4 of the cast are accomplished movie/televison actors, there is nothing like seeing some of your favorite actors perform "LIVE"-no script, no retakes. All of which only helps you appreciate their love and skill for their craft of acting. We enjoyed it thoroughly and roared with laughter throughout, along with almost all the other members of the audience..

THis play is certainly a 5 star. Each actor was perfect for their part. By the end, we had tears rolling down our cheeks because of laughter. I have already recommended this play to others.

This was a wonderful production, artfully performed and brilliantly written. It is a very dark comedy, on the lines of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? For those folks thinking they're going to a comedy, be prepared for something significantly deeper, more provocative and frankly, unsettling. All a play should be.

Great cast, terrific theater, fun night out in LA. Story could have been better but it was worth seeing and when are you going to see all these great performers on one stage.

The play was thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining! A great cast with a funny, witty and dark comedic script, well executed.

Great cast, beautiful set decoration, outstanding writing - a great evening and well worth the price of admission.

Great show. We loved how they strip away all the characters' pretenses. Favorite line: "Children take over your life and then they destroy it"

It was a top notch cast and good production--not great, just good. There were too many "pregnant" pauses for effect, which was wasted time. The humor was very good but too many "F" bombs. Also, a bit pricey for 90 minutes.

great actors!

Great show, excellent acting. Highly recommend it,

Our guests and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

The mezzanine seating was very poor for seeing and hearing the play!

excellent acting and even though a comedy there was great depth to the relationships of the two couples

This show was hilarious, just as the other reviews have said. My husband and I were laughing so hard because we have children and can totally relate to the characters. A must see for parents!!

The show was great, the time flew by. The seats were good.

Overrated. Coarse and not contemporary in it's emotions. A shouting match. Enjoyed Marcia Gay Harden's physical comedy and the hot parched stage set.

Funny, but over-priced.

Wow. What a treat to see an ensemble of four such talented actors in a funny show with several twists and turns. Goldstar seats seem to be in the back row of the Mezzanine. Someone told me to get the free assisted listening device and that was GREAT advice for these seats. I could hear perfectly... and in this show, you don't want to miss one word! This show was a great deal for $50 in the Mezzanine. I checked out full-price tickets and the whole orchestra section was $200 a ticket retail directly from the Ahmanson!!!!!

Brilliant script, brilliantly acted by excellent theatre artists. The story is about two families, both of them have 11 year old sons. One child struck the other with a stick and the victim suffered lost teeth.The entire play takes place in the living room of the parents of the victim. The characters are the parents of victim and perpetrator. The vineer of civility gradually erodes as the "adults" discuss/negotiate how the situation should be "resolved".

Timing, use of pregnant pauses and witty dialogue stripped away pretenses of the two set of parents.

A STYLISTIC MELD BETWEEN ALBEE'S WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF AND NOEL COWARD in any of his works.

The script was brilliant but only rendered as such by the gifted actors. wow

Loved, loved, loved it. Was some of the best comedy we've seen in years. All seasoned actors who know their stuff. Seats were good, dead center.

I loved this play - it was the best comedy I have seen in a long time. However, the seats were too high up; Row L in Mezzanine, and did not like where I was sitting.

It was a lot funnier than I thought. Interesting characters.

The play and the acting were both wonderful! We sat in the Mezzanine and even from up there, you enjoy/see/hear all of it. I know the run is over now, but if it ever comes back, it's worth seeing.

What a fun evening. Seems like with the right people this could actually happen. Being on the outside looking in makes it hilarious. Any follow-ups or other situations like this would be fun to see as well, and very much appreciated.
Loved it, Karla G

The show was wonderful: well-acted and well-directed!! very good theatre experience

Outstanding cast unbelievably outstanding performance. I certainly understand how Marcia Gay Hardin won the Tony for her performance.

This stands out as one of my best theatre experiences ever. I do not remember laughing so much throughout any play. The acting of these great artists was impeccable. I took my son for his birthday and he loved it too. The parking was great, easy getting in and out. We got there early to pick up the tickets and had enough time to have a leisurely cup of coffee and a bite to eat on the terrace. It was a great evening.

Great!

LOVED IT! Very simple set but the actors were all equally powerful. So happy to be there on the very last performance in Los Angeles. Thank you Goldstar! It was wonderful! We even got to see Marcia Gay Harden before the show when she came outside to get better phone reception. Yea!

Great cast and subject matter - it wasn't easy to hear and understand, especially at the start of the play. Seats were good for the price -

Clever play. Terrific cast.

This was a play with many layers. Always hilarious with jabs of insight and ultimatley a very true reflection about the human condition. I am not as big a fan of the Ahmanson Theatre as I am the Taper space. But this play was so hard-hitting. Every pause (and there were few and meaningful ones) was earned. I was transported into the living room, into the conflict, and thrust into the issues behind the main plot-based issue of the fight between the two sons. Amazing. Funny, funny, funny. . .but leaving you with a thought-provoking question and only the shattered mirror of the last moment of the play to help examine it.

God of Carnage was very slow moving. No story line and it seemed as though it kept going in circles. After reading some of the review, I thought it would be quite hysterical. To my surprise, I didn't see much humor. In fact, I kept hoping it would fastforward so I could leave.

Play was excellent, but tickets were last row. Visibility was ok, but sound was awful! I am hearing impaired, but my husband is not. I usually get a listening device form the theatre, to be sure I can hear, and we had to share it (we didn't want to get up during the performance) - one side of the headset for each of us - and both of us got 'cricks' in our necks!

The show was great although at times had difficulty hearing the actors...and, the seats were much better than expected!!! Thank you.

This is a must see. We laughed until our sides hurt.

The play is as perfect as when it first came out. The humor is timeless!

We had high hopes for this play. We did not like the first half-hour, but the show did pick up. While some reviewers called it "hysterical" and the audience laughed loudly throughout, we thought it was a sad story of how unhappy people are.

I THOUGHT THIS PLAY WAS ONE OF THE MOST ENTERTAINING PERFORMANCES THAT I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. THE FOUR ACTORS WERE SO FULL OF ENERGY, THE SCRIPT WAS SO CLEVER AND THE ACTING WAS SUPERB.
I TOOK SOMEONE'S SUGGESTION AND USED THE EAR SET AND FOUND IT MUCH EASIER TO HEAR ALL THE CLEVER LINES EVEN UP IN THE MEZZANINE.

F A B U L O U S

Seats were great! ... God of Carnage with its all star cast was great...laugh out loud great...

Excellent play with a dream cast. Fantastic!

great intelligent show

While the whole cast was really good, Marcia Gay Harden is hysterical. She was very physically funny and her timing was amazing. James Gandolfini was also great. They played really well off of each other and had great comedic chemistry.

The cast was stellar! The material was funny, yet sad at times. It was like watching 4 masters at work.

Great show. The cast was incredible. The play had us laughing throughout.

The play is smart and funny, but has a subtext that is worth thought. The play closed last night, but if you ever get the opportunity to see a good production, with 4 such incredible actors, go!

Tour-de-force acting from the first-rate actors mitigates the thinness of the material but not entirely.

I love all of the actors, but this play was a waste of my money. I don't understand why people were laughing. I think people just liked it because it's art.

Contemporary, beyond funny, biting. Sometimes hard to hear though, and some lines were missed :(

Yazmina Reza must cite Edward Albee as her biggest inspiration, mentor and muse.
I'm sorry, but her plays all remind me of an Edward Albee play or a mixture of his plays.
She writes good plays, but they're really not original, this one especially.
I just couldn't get it out of my head all through the play that this was basically exactly the same as Albee's "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf".
I thought more Americans know or are aware of that play and movie (since it got 5 Oscars and to this day it's the only movie to be nominated in every eligible category at the Academy Awards), but it seems I was wrong.
If you do not know "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf", I understand that you like this play, but if you're as familiar with it as I am (I practically know it by heart - being my most favorite play of all time) you just can't enjoy "God of Carnage" and you can't escape from not comparing it to "WAOVW".
The two couples (one a little younger), the non-present boy(s), the alcohol, everyone turning out to be an animal and hating each other and themselves by the end, the phone call (telegram) at the end that ends the play, I mean, it's all there. She even put the puking in there. Ridiculous. How can you expect people not to notice that's practically the same play?
I give kudos to the actors. Indeed, we can hardly see such a superstar cast in LA. They're all great, but I didn't feel that they were passionate to do this play. It felt like they're there to do a job they're getting paid for and they couldn't wait to finish it. I like plays when you can feel that the actors put everything into their playing (110 %) and they are convincing. Maybe that's why I like amateur theater a lot, because there actors put their whole life in their roles.
So, I am sorry, but I wasn't very pleased.
Having said all this, I urge everyone to check out Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the Mike Nichols movie version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf".

"God of Carnage" is an amazing piece of theater. Hilarious, fast-paced, well-acted, and did I mention it is funny as hell? An insanely talented cast, this show is one you cannot miss.

The play was witty and entertaining, although sometimes I had a hard time hearing all the dialogue. I was in row F on the side of the mezzanine and I noticed the person in front of me asking his partner to repeat things, so I don't think I was the only person having difficulty hearing everything that was said on stage.

fabulous acting in a good script

By the time I saw this play the production was over-hyped, so the expectation was not what I anticipated. Gandolfini kind of 'called in his performance' until midway when he turned into Tony Soprano; Jeff Daniels was mediocre; Marcia Gay Harden was fabulous and worth the price. My favorite moment was that throughout the show an audience member (two rows in front of me) was on her Blackberry the entire performance texting -- and everyone around her just let her text away.

I loved the play, what I could hear, the sound was so poor that we missed much of the dialog. I was very unhappy about the inability to understand much of what was said on the stage. I thought that it was my hearing, however as we exited the theater, my partner said the same thing and we heard many other people complaining about the sound and the lack of understanding the dialog.

We were seated in row K seats 16& 17 in door 23

Great seats, thanks Goldstar for sending my request through to the venue. But I just could not find the funny in this play. I was so bored I fell asleep.

Over hyped and underwhelming. Cast very good but the play was Who's Afraid of Virigina Wolf LITE without the depth. Lots of obvious laffs, with slapstick stuff, but the play missed its target what ever that was. Very bad sound. We were in the mezzanine and could not HEAR a lot of it. The actors were too weak to cover the vast Ahmanson venue which was inappropriate for a four character play. You could not really see the facial reactions. Not a sterling evening in the theater.

The best thing about it was that it was 90 minutes!

Perfect seats for a Perfect Price! Worth it and funny as %$$##@@**&&^^

I want to see it again! Sit as close as you can and bring your opera glasses:)

An extraordinary cast with top notch performances.

A complete delight

HOLY MOLY - that was AMAZING!

A great evening of theater! Marcia Gay Harden is magnificent.

Although I had several opportunities to see this play on Broadway, I hesitated - and only through Goldstar was I convinced it was the right time to actually go see the play with the original cast. Although I'm a fan of the cast, I did not feel that this production was very funny. The characterizations were overacted and the story and pacing were weak. I honestly laughed 3 times. In addition, I sat in the Mezz section for this performance due to the late purchase and agree that the sound was very weak and I encountered tremendous headphone feedback interruptions from the older adult community that sat around me, I don't understand why they tend to pump the volume on their headsets which disturbs those seated around them. That in addition to a patron who sat behind me that continually said out loud "isn't this hilarious" - made for a theater experience far from stellar. I think I'll stick with the main floor only from here on out.

Very entertaining...a funny look at parenting and male/female relationships. Great acting by a great cast.

This piece was so spot on about the state of PC parenting and relationships. I loved the cast and the writing was clever.

There is a little bit of everyone I know in each character. Fabulous talented cast. Everyone and everything (including the set) went from phony proper to real chaos in 90 minutes. HYSTERICAL!

The strong interraction of these fine actors was amazing! I was disappointed every 3rd word was "F...k." A commentary on the lack of vocabulary skills even with Noel Coward! Rather sad, even today. Gold Star seats were great! Parking was easy & dinner on the patio was convenient. A wonderful Sunday afternoon!

Very entertaining - a marvelous performance by all four actors

Started out a little slow and had me wodering what all the buzz was about...THEN the tables turned and it was one hysterical laugh after another as we watched these two odd ball couples start to reveal their true selves. An excellent comentary on today's society and the coddling some do to their children. An excellent production. It just goes to show that a play doesn't need a lot of costumes, glitz and glam to be spectacular.

Humorous and intense. A very fun evening. Great cast and cohesiveness between all the actors. Thanks Goldstar.

One of the best live theater experiences of my (too many to count) live-theater-experiences life ! ! Funny. Well done. The writing, direction and acting are tantamount having a celebratory feast. I am trying to go see it again before it closes. If you have ever had children, are thinking about having children or were ever once a child, this is for you ! !

Wow, only (4) characters on the stage and you are riveted by the action and dialogue the entire time, a 90 minutes that just flies by! To see how they all emotionally unravel by the end of the play is hilarious and sobering at the same time.

great performances!

What a wonderful cast. What great writing. I feel very fortunate to have seen this play with the original cast, they play it well, with the ease of the professionals they are!

Totally Funny, ALL of the actors were Amazing! Loved Loved Loved it!!

God of Carnage was very very funny. The cast was amazing. I would highly recommend....

I saw this show in NYC in 2009 but loved it even more the second time. So did my husband who is not much of a theatre-goer. Great night out!

Phenomenal cast in a great play!

Great play with a terrific cast! Excellent center mezzanine seats which cost less than the balcony when purchased by Goldstar. Took the advice from previous reviews and opted for the hearing device. There was no charge and we heard every word. GO SEE THIS PLAY BEFORE IT ENDS!!!!!!!

Totally loved this play! Brilliant writing and acting! So happy this was on Goldstar, couldn't have seen it otherwise.

Great acting, amazing dialog and would see it again.

Amazing acting, timing - fantastic quartet of actors.

Excellently performed and well staged. Jeff Daniels was particularly awesome for me, though the entire cast is, as expected, amazing. Worth the price alone. For me, though, the reason it's four stars and not five is the actual play itself. As the description points out, the play is about two couples who get together to discuss a fight that their respective sons got into. And secrets are revealed, etc., etc., insults, etc., etc. Personally, I didn't understand why the visiting couple didn't just leave - didn't seem realistic to me. And as a result, I was always aware that I was watching a play.

Otherwise, fantastic.

Fantastic! Great to see an event that lives up to the hype. I think some of the audience reaction was a bit over-the-top, laughs-wise. But then again, how can you fault people for laughing at something that's actually funny? I highly recommend catching one of the last few shows -- it's the last chance you'll get to see the original cast!

A magnificent work of art. Echoes of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" catapulted into the 21st century. Bravo!

Fabulous! I felt honored to see such fantastic actors in a wonderfully written ensemble play. When is the last time we got to see four of the greatest together in LA!

The entire cast was fantastic! great show. I loved the fact there was no intermission.

outstanding! hilarious!!

loved it. An intimate play, not usually a great choice at the Ahmanson. But the stellar cast, set and direction made the intimacy transcend the huge space and put it squarely in our laps. (block that metaphor!)