Gwyneth Goes Skiing
Directed and performed by Awkward Productions’ Linus Karp and Joseph Martin
SoHo Playhouse | 15 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013
October 14 – November 16, 2025
Photo Credit: Anna Clare
Jade eggs, bone broth, stealth wealth. Prepare to be gooped, friends.
I had the pleasure of attending Gwyneth Goes Skiing with a group of ten people. They had decided on their own to see the show, and I just so happened to have set my date to review. We walked into a hot theatre filled with energizing music (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “…Baby One More Time,” “I Love It”) and a slideshow of Gwyneth’s films flashing across the screen.
As I got comfortable in my seat, I turned back to see that the performers would be playing to and with a full house.
A play in two acts. Act 1, set in 2016, presents the background of Gwyneth Paltrow (Linus Karp) as a nepo baby and award-winning Hollywood actress who has spent many perfect days of skiing throughout her life, and Dr. Terry Sanderson (Joseph Martin), a retired optometrist from Utah. It is an interactive theatrical experience where audience members become the jury; Brad Falchuk, Paltrow’s then-boyfriend and now husband; Karlene Davidson, Sanderson’s then-girlfriend; and even the Deer Valley shopkeeper who sells a $300,000 necklace featuring the Deer of Deer Valley.
Act 2 takes us to the 2023 trial where we learn there is protocol for crashing into another skier. We also learn that Sanderson, while under doctor care, was traveling the world, three trips to the Netherlands, scuba diving, and taking long hikes, all documented on Facebook.
A fun moment for the audience comes with the montage of “world-changing” events between 2016 and 2023, a clever reminder of how absurdly dramatic this whole saga is.
The play leans into farce, complete with spontaneous bursts of song and scenes populated by puppets, cutouts, and talking objects. It is a playful mash-up of theatrical styles that pushes the whole thing into deliciously meta territory. The Snow White metaphor of Paltrow singing with the animals is spot-on.
The definition of “goop,” according to Merriam-Webster, is goo or gunk. But when you Google the word, Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness and lifestyle company dominates the results for at least five pages.
Paltrow has long been a polarizing figure in popular culture. She is the epitome of Hollywood privilege, born to actress Blythe Danner and director Bruce Paltrow. Shakespeare in Love, Glee, Seven, The Royal Tenenbaums, and a handful of superhero films mark her repertoire. Her poised, polished demeanor can come off as aloof, making her seem unrelatable. The launch of her luxury wellness brand, Goop, in 2008 only fueled her reputation for being out of touch. Its expensive, pseudoscientific new age products and rarefied tone of self-care made her both a target of ridicule and a symbol of elite wellness culture. Over the years, her comments about lifestyle, privilege, and hardship have reinforced that image: admired for her success, but not necessarily well liked.
This background matters because it is what made the 2023 ski collision trial so captivating. The case, in which retired optometrist Terry Sanderson accused her of negligence, became less about legal claims and more about the woman at its center. Paltrow’s calm, minimalist presence in court was scrutinized as both calculated and graceful, qualities that have long defined her public image. In the end, the jury ruled in her favor, awarding her a symbolic $1.
Winter in Deer Valley and I’m Kristin VanOrman are two songs written by Leland that are fun interludes that highlight just how preposterous this entire situation really was. The lighting design punctuated each scene beautifully, enhancing the show’s rhythm and wit.
Karp as Paltrow is sublime. Simple, engaging, and capturing the elitism that defines Paltrow’s image. Martin’s Sanderson is entertaining and funny as he leans into the cranky old man trope with gusto. His declaration to his daughters, “I am famous,” earns both laughter and a knowing nod from the audience. Together, they create a production that is as absurd as it is sharp, a clever reflection of celebrity, privilege, and perception. Gwyneth Goes Skiing is a theatrical gem that manages to be both parody and portrait, reminding us that truth, like fame, is often a performance. Regardless, I wish you well.
Review by Malini Singh McDonald.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on November 2, 2025. All rights reserved.