About the Show

A wild musical ride through 5,000 years of chaos, survival, and starting over—again and again.

Ethan Lipton’s The Seat of Our Pants is a sharp, musical reimagining of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, following the endlessly resilient Antrobus family as they lurch through 5,000 years of disasters—both cosmic and domestic—while facing the same anxieties we all do today. With songs, absurd twists, and an irreverent sense of humor, the show explores how we keep starting over in the face of chaos. Directed by Leigh Silverman and choreographed by Sunny Min-Sook Hitt, this timely spectacle reminds us that survival is a messy, human art.

Critic Reviews (9)

"The musical’s first act is stunningly close to perfect, the other two less fully accomplished."
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"Survival, like theatregoing, can be exhausting — but we keep showing up, by the seat of our pants."
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"Everything from here on out is a cocktail of joy and dread, natural bedfellows in life that director Leigh Silverman manages to make just as cozy on stage."
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According to the program notes, The Seat of Our Pants has been in development for ten years; the figure is alarming because -- there's no other way to say it -- the piece is a total failure.
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"And because Act I contains every strength, theme, and comic outtake of the overall production and runs just under one hour...I'd have been quite content to see the evening end there."
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"The biggest surprise — and not a happy one — is how much of the play remains untouched by Lipton’s too-respectful adaptation. "
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“The production argues that resilience isn't triumph—it's the exhausting, absurd, necessary act of continuing despite everything.”
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‘The Seat of Our Pants’ is not for everyone, but fans of Thornton Wilder will rejoice at this fresh, melodious take on a genuine classic
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