Rosie O’Donnell’s Common Knowledge Review: Funny, Heartbreaking and Her Most Personal Show Yet

In her new one-woman show, Rosie O’Donnell blends comedy, family, grief, Ireland and Donald Trump into an emotional 75-minute journey before opening up to SPARK in an exclusive post-show interview.

Rosie O’Donnell is back in the States and that’s a good thing for the theater — if not for Donald Trump.

Her one-woman show, Common Knowledge, which opened July 22 at the Daryl Roth Theatre in New York City for a limited 12-performance engagement through Aug. 8, is a riveting 75-minute journey that plays like the title of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” We get the sharp-edged, flat-out funny Rosie O’Donnell who endeared audiences with her down-to-earth persona and infectious enthusiasm — especially whenever one of her idols, like Barbra Streisand, appeared on The Rosie O’Donnell Show. But we also meet a far more vulnerable Rosie, one whose heartbreaking story begins with the loss of her mother at age 10.

That devastating loss shaped much of her life. We learn that her mother adored Streisand and left behind not only a treasured collection of the legendary singer’s recordings, but also an immeasurable void in her family’s heart.

In Common Knowledge — a title borrowed from a phrase used by her youngest child, Clay (formerly known as Dakota), an autistic, nonbinary and remarkably creative “caboose kid” who becomes the emotional center of the show — O’Donnell explores the lifelong struggle to fill that void. She describes losing her mother as feeling “like The Wizard of Oz in reverse — all the colors were sucked out of our world.”

Although the show begins and ends with the profound sadness of her mother’s death, O’Donnell knows exactly when to lighten the mood. She quickly pivots from grief to laughter, sharing  a confetti canon moment and a hilarious story about her family’s first trip to Ireland after her mother’s death in 1973, during one of the country’s most turbulent periods.

The Move to Ireland and What It Gave Rosie

Ireland becomes much more than a setting. It’s where O’Donnell returned 52 years later after leaving the United States in search of peace following years of highly publicized clashes with Trump and an increasingly exhausting political climate. Her recollections of those exchanges — and the social media posts that accompanied them — earn some of the night’s biggest laughs and loudest applause.

O’Donnell wastes little time acknowledging why the sold-out audience came.

“I know you didn’t come here for Angela’s Ashes,” she says early on.

“There will be jokes.”

It’s classic Rosie — self-aware, quick-witted and immediately in command of the room.

From there, she takes the audience through stories of motherhood, identity, family and Irish heritage with the warmth and humor that have defined her career. She speaks movingly about finding a sense of belonging in Ireland and says one of its greatest comforts is what she calls the country’s “non-adoration of celebrities.”

The Rosie – Trump Feud in its Place

Of course, the audience waits for Trump to enter the conversation.

When he does, O’Donnell recounts the timeline of their very public feud and rereads one of her social media posts:

“I was not yours to silence. Never was.”

The audience responds with cheers and applause.

On opening night, she also previewed what she described as a newly written parody she plans to perform while guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning Aug. 17. Set to the melody of The Wizard of Oz‘s “If I Only Had a Heart,” O’Donnell’s version — retitled “If He Only Had a Brain” — had the audience roaring with laughter.

Some of the 211 digital paintings O’Donnell said she created of Trump during those years also flash across the screen in a montage awash in shades of red, orange and burnt sienna. They reveal not only the intensity of her anger, but also her considerable talent as an artist. O’Donnell admits she once told her therapist the paintings had become “an obsession.”

Creativity and Connection

That creativity, we learn, is evident in Clay — who’s artistic abilities, briliance, and blunt insights often give O’Donnell — not one to be stopped in her tracks very often — pause. (That said, O’Donnell almost seems distant in terms of the Trump troubles – acknowledging the feud, but also grounded in a different place.)

The show, deftly directed by Gabriel Barre, finds the full-circle connections and through lines between motherhood — O’Donnell raising five children, as her mother did — and Ireland, a place of solace and a spirited heritage from which O’Donnell draws the ability to tell a good story, endure, make ’em laugh and not flinch. Always a passionate advocate, here O’Donnell puts the focus on what it means to have and raise an autistic child.

When the show ends, the audience rises immediately for a standing ovation, but O’Donnell is quick to leave the stage, telling them to “enjoy the slideshow” as images of her children and chosen friends begin to play. It is a distinctly different collection of images and clips from the one that opens the show, featuring a younger Rosie embracing the many idols and celebrities she has known and welcomed on her talk show.

Full circle. Full stop. Full on Rosie — and learned truths about what matters and what endures.

SPARK INTERVIEW WITH ROSIE O’DONNELL

After the show, O’Donnell returned to the theater to patiently greet each friend and fan waiting to see her. SPARK caught up with her in that moment to talk about bringing Common Knowledge to New York, revisiting deeply personal memories and what’s next after the show’s limited run.

SPARK: You’ve been performing this show to great acclaim in Ireland and Australia. But bringing it to New York — how did it feel?

Rosie O’Donnell: It felt great, I have to say. It was a real New York audience. Yesterday I did a show for the invited dress, and it was everybody I knew, so it was a little different — a little quiet. But tonight the crowd was rowdy, they were great, and they were very New York, so I had a wonderful time.

SPARK: What made you want to tell this story now?

Rosie O’Donnell: I tried to do this show 10 years ago with Dick Scanlan, who wrote it then, but I couldn’t stop crying when I performed it. Now, after living in Ireland, it was just me and Clay, and I saw all these older people who looked like my family. I started writing about my mother and my father and all of this stuff — how do you learn to mother without being mothered? What effect did that death have on me? That’s sort of where it came from.

SPARK: The show reveals so many different sides of you. You weave in your experiences with Trump, then return to the pain of losing your mother. Was it satisfying to finally see all of those pieces come together?

Rosie O’Donnell: Yes, it was wonderful. I was very happy when it was done.

SPARK: What’s next after this run?

Rosie O’Donnell: After the run, I’m hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! the week of Aug. 17.

SPARK: Then it’s back to Ireland?

Rosie O’Donnell: Yes, back to Ireland, because my child is starting eighth grade.

SPARK: Will you come back to the United States?

Rosie O’Donnell: As soon as Clay’s done, yes, we’ll come back.

SPARK: And maybe do this show again?

Rosie O’Donnell: Yes, I would love to. If Daryl Roth thinks it’s something we could move to Broadway, I would love that.

Rosie O’Donnell may now call Ireland home, but Common Knowledge makes clear where her heart still lives: with family, motherhood, laughter, grief and New York.

After decades as an entertainer, comedian, actress, producer, author, television personality and advocate, O’Donnell reveals that her greatest role has been motherhood. She is now also a proudly “kvelling” grandmother, and the wisdom that comes with those experiences gives Common Knowledge an emotional depth that surprises as often as it entertains.

As O’Donnell continues sharing more of herself, audiences seem more than ready to take the journey with her.

If You Go

Rosie O’Donnell: Common Knowledge
Location: Daryl Roth Theatre, New York City
Dates: July 22-Aug. 8
Run: Limited 12-performance engagement
Tickets and information: darylroththeater.com

Angela LaGreca

Editor, Co-Founder/Publisher

Angela LaGreca, Editor-in-chief and co-Founder/Publisher of Spark Hamptons, is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, writer and comedian/host. Her TV credits include NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “The View,” and, most recently, the primetime cable news program “Cuomo” on NewsNation. On the East End, she was the Creative Director at LTV, VP Features/Events/Photo Editor at Dan’s Papers, and has performed at Guild Hall, Bay Street Theater and the WHBPAC. Her publishing career began at Modern Photography, where she was managing editor. LaGreca lives in Manhattan and East Hampton and can be reached at angelatvmedia@gmail.com and angela@sparkhamptons.com .