"My First Ex-Husband" - by Joy Behar - Huntington Theatre Company (Boston, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Joy Behar and others will appear in "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," presented by Huntington Theatre Company at the BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, MA. through September 28, 2025. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
"Marriage is a work in progress all the time."
- Joy Behar
Huntington Theatre Company
Presents Joy Behar's
"MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND"
Written by Joy Behar
Directed by Randal Myler
Cast Includes:
Weeks 1 & 3 (September 12 through 14 & September 26 through 28) Joy Behar, Veanne Cox, Judy Gold, Tonya Pinkins
Week 2 (September 19 through 21) Jackie Hoffman, Veanne Cox, Judy Gold, Tonya Pinkins
Performances:
September 12, 2025 through September 28, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. 02116
TICKETS:
Available online at huntingtontheatre.org, by phone at 617-266-0800 or in person at THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston.
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review may contain spoilers)
The Huntington Theatre presents the hilarious "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND" - a debut play from comedienne and “View” co-host Joy Behar that premiered Off-Broadway in New York City just this past February.
The show is both funny and revealing and the four performers involved bring their "A Game" to the stage as they read from pages in a comfortable, four-person "panel room" staging (those familiar enough with comicons will get that reference - the rest of you, just punt).
While known for her long association with ABC’s “The View,” as a performer and stand-up comedian, Behar is no stranger to the stage, either, having performed in 1994’s “Comedy Tonight” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, in “The Vagina Monologues” in 1999 at the Westside Theatre Off-Broadway, in “The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken” at the Gershwin Theatre in 2008 and in 2014’s “Me, My Mouth and I” playing, of all people, herself, at the Cherry Lane Theatre also Off-Broadway.
Behar has a reputation for being “unfiltered” - speaking her mind, speaking the truth and forever speaking over fellow “View” co-hosts Sunny, Whoopi, Ana, Alyssa and Sarah (stop that, by the way, Joy).
Yet when Behar speaks, everyone listens, and she has a lot to say here, and so do the people whose true stories she has affectionally and respectfully brought to the stage.
So, when you attend "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," listen intently so you don't miss a word.
(Photo: Tonya Pinkins from "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," presented by Huntington Theatre Company at the BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, MA. through September 28, 2025. Photo Credit: Danny Bristoll)
More than once, Behar has stated “the truth is the truth” and, in "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," through her comprised series of monologues, four actresses reveal various “truths” as told in their respective stories about relationships.
As the play unfolds, the stories speak to women’s associations with the ultimate relationship disaster - divorce - and how it traverses with work, fame, money, religion, the reality of “life after divorce” and even life itself.
Most of all…these stories are simultaneously true and funny as hell.
Behar has also authored other books including 2017’s “The Great Gasbag: An A–Z Study Guide to Surviving Trump World.”
Now this "shy violet" has put together this fabulously frank 90-minute collection of insightful (or inciteful, depending on your “View”) observations contained within eight monologues Behar crafted for "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND" after interviewing a diverse group of divorcées.
(Photo: Veanne Cox from "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," presented by Huntington Theatre Company at the BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, MA. through September 28, 2025. Photo Credit: Danny Bristoll)
Sharing the stage with Behar is an accomplished group of performers: Veanne Cox, nominated for an Emmy for “Indoor Boys,” also appearing in “You’ve Got Mail” and “Erin Brockovich”), two-time Emmy Award-winner Judy Gold (shared for her contribution to “The Rosie O’Donnell Show”) and the multi-award-winning performer Tonya Pinkins who has appeared on “All My Children, “Fear of the Walking Dead” and in the film “Enchanted.”
In Gold's selected readings, Gold comes across as being the most comfortable or “in tune” with Behar's material, first conveying the story of “Jessica,” who is having an affair with an Indigenous American in “Walla Walla Bang Bang;” and then telling the tale of “Serena,” who is in some serious denial over the reality that her spouse is cross-dressing, even though the spouse begins regularly dressing and living as a woman in “Clothes Make the Man?”
Cox embodies the characters of “June,” who is finding it hard to grieve over the death of her ex in “The Widow;” and of a woman who deals with a cruel mother, a cruel spouse and an Alopecia diagnosis in “Monica and Me.”
(Photo: Judy Gold from "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," presented by Huntington Theatre Company at the BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, MA. through September 28, 2025. Photo Credit: Danny Bristoll)
Behar recalls two hilarious tales:
First, we meet “Monica,” who deals with being married to a “mob guy” in “The Touch,” and then we are introduced to ”Gloria,” who would rather deal with Monica’s dilemma than the constant demands of her own sexaholic spouse in “Get Off of Me.”
Pinkins reads about a pregnant female celebrity “Lalla” (whose real name is never revealed but you’ll have a lot of fun trying to figure out who it is), who comes to a revelation with regards to her serial-philandering spouse in “Where Are You At?”
Then, Pinkins later recounts the tale of the tormented existence of “Karen” being “The Drummer’s Wife.”
The week that Behar is off for "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND" (September 19 through 21) audiences will be equally entertained by critically acclaimed actress Jackie Hoffman.
Nominated for both an Emmy and Critic’s Choice Award for her appearance in the movie “Feud,” Hoffman is also known to many (this reviewer included) that have enjoyed watching her as the combative, acerbic “Uma Heller,” a recurring character on Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.
(Photo: Joy Behar from "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," presented by Huntington Theatre Company at the BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, MA. through September 28, 2025. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus)
These are stories that reflect upon the intimacy of relationships and which can be quite graphic in some of these recollections.
However, these moments can also be equally hysterical.
But not only is the show infused with humor, there are moments of great poignancy as these, again, are true stories about real women going through very difficult situations and very real circumstances.
"MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND" continues at the BCA/Calderwood, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, MA. through September 28, 2025 and, because the laughs come fast and furious, unfortunately some of the dialogue might be missed over the audience responses.
No problem – just go see the show again.
Then, also as part of its 2025-2026 season, go visit the stage in the Huntington Theatre over at 264 Huntington Avenue where you can enjoy “THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA” by Jez Butterworth, which runs through October 12th, 2025.
For tickets and more information, contact Huntington Theatre Company online at huntingtontheatre.org, by phone at # 617-266-0800 or in person at THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston.
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Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Huntington will host the hilarious "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND," a new comedy by Joy Behar and featuring a cast of stars from theatre, television, and film including Joy Behar, Veanne Cox, Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman and Tonya Pinkins.
Produced by Caiola Productions and Cyrena Esposito, and directed by Randal Myler, this North American tour plays on weekends only at The Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont St) from September 12th through September 28, 2025.
"MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND" is a bold and heartfelt adaptation of true stories by the legendary Joy Behar, comedienne and co-host of "The View."
With razor-sharp wit and no filters, it explores the messy, hilarious truths of love, sex, and relationships.
Whether you’re happily coupled, cautiously committed, or considering changing the locks, relationships are complicated—and universally relatable.
These stories are your stories, only funnier.
Each weekend, a cast of four stars from theatre, television, and film join the show, bringing their unique personalities to tell these tales that may be eerily familiar.
Outrageous yet deeply relatable, this show will resonate with anyone who has navigated the turbulent and often titillating seas of love.
Times Square Chronicle says that "MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND"“appeals to men, women, and anyone who has ever been in a relationship.”
“The stories are very relatable,” says playwright Joy Behar.
“Even if you never got a divorce, you still have problems with in-laws, let’s say, or sex, or kids, or money — everybody has problems. Marriage is a work in process all the time.”
Called “a boldface lure of comic relationship stories” by The New York Times and “as relatable as it is outrageous!” by People Magazine, the production was originally conceived by Behar along with lead producers Rose Caiola and Cyrena Esposito.
Behar crafted the evening of monologues based on interviews with friends and colleagues who had navigated breakups.
"MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND" was first presented at Bay Street in August 2024 before opening the new Off Broadway MMAC Theatre in January 2025.
ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY
THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY is Boston’s leading professional theatre and one of the region’s premier cultural assets since its founding in 1982. Recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award, THE HUNTINGTON brings together superb local and national talent and produces a mix of groundbreaking new works and classics made current to create award-winning productions. THE HUNTINGTON runs nationally renowned programs in education and new play development and serves the local theatre community through its operation of the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. THE HUNTINGTON has long been an anchor cultural institution of Huntington Avenue, the Avenue of the Arts, and will remain so on a permanent basis with plans to convert the Huntington Avenue Theatre into a first-rate, modern venue with expanded services to audiences, artists, and the community. THE HUNTINGTON cultivates, celebrates, and champions theatre as an art form.
