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Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo Reviews
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Review by: Val, Jun 25, 2011 |
| Came in with high expectations and respect from Robin Williams and in the first ten minutes wanted to leave. Stayed just to see how bad it can get and it did. After two hours of pure torture came out outranged!!! After this-lost all my respect for Robin Williams. As for the producers and the screen writers-they should be sent to boot camp for a week or perhaps more to see how it really is in the military. It is NOT funny to make dumb and ... read more inaccurate assumptions of the soldiers that die for us everyday. Simply disgusting!!! |
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My recommendation:
Don't go
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Terrible, left at intermission, biggest disappointment of my theatre going career Review by: TD, Jun 19, 2011 |
I admittedly went into this play with high expectations, having the highest respect for Robin Williams' talents on both a comedic and intellectual level. His role, unfortunately, could have been played by a puppet with absolutely no loss to the story line or production.
This play is all about suffering, the suffering of the Iraqi people, and of the soldiers - and ultimately of the audience. If this was some hidden truth about what has ... read more been going on in Iraq then maybe the play would at least be able to argue it was educating the audience, who would just have to overlook the fact it is a terrible play. However, that is not the case as we've all seen this on CNN et al for years now. So we're left watching a directionless play full of screaming people inflicting suffering on others for no apparent reason.
Having Robin Williams in the cast, much less billed as the headliner in a trivial part, is a misrepresentation, false advertising, a theatrical bait and switch. He had to know it when he agreed to it, shame on him and I pity the audience members who pay good money to see this production. Even if you're offered a ticket for free, stay away, anything else you can think of to do (eg, laundry) would be a better use of your time than watching this mess.
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| 3 |
Brilliant Review by: prof, Jun 15, 2011 |
| Brilliant! The story was so powerful: sophisticated and creative. The acting was great. One of the best plays I have seen. |
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must see!
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| 4 |
Review by: Susan, Jun 13, 2011 |
| This show should carry a warning - "Not fit for human consumption. May result in overwhelming rage". I have been attending the theater regularly for many years and this is the very first time that I have walked out on a show. This was not just awful. It was god awful! The antithesis of art. I am not bothered by vulgar language but this was nothing more than an immature and crude display that was beyond offensive. A complete waste of ... read more time and money. I was actually so angered by the nonsense I was seeing that I was tempted to shout at the stage before I walked out. I did not so much as chuckle once. There was some (nervous?) laughter at times in the audience but this is by no means a comedy. All I can say is "How dare they?!" |
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Why? Another inaccurate war drama! Stupid! Review by: Broadway Writer, May 24, 2011 |
Why? What's the point?
The ghost of a dead lion? Jeez! How stupid can you get. Only a playwright fresh out of school with no life experience would come up with this amateur plot device!
Another inaccurate war drama!
Please! Real people die in war. Respect them by telling their stories honestly and accurately. Don't use them as fodder for you artistic statements and clichéd drivel. We all know war sucks and people die and are under ... read more stress... but how about taking real stories and using them instead of stupid plot devices like ghosts and dead lions and CLICHE after CLICHE!!! I've seen it all before. Try something new.
Stupid!
The only thing worthwhile was seeing Robin Williams... and that is sad when he is a bad actor, and does a bad stage performance, and makes the dead lion a funny, wise-crackin' ghost, and generally sucks in his role... but you still enjoy it because it's Robin Williams and you want to see him! |
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| 6 |
Great Show Review by: alex, May 10, 2011 |
| I saw this with my Father and we had a great time laughing throughout the whole play. Robins Williams and Arian Moayad were fantastic actors and really held it all together. The play is truly a, "heavily metaphorical musing on life's purpose in a godless universe". |
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My recommendation:
Make an effort to see
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Good stuff. Check it out. Review by: devo, May 3, 2011 |
| This play asks the never ending existential questions: Why? Why do we live to die? What is the point? Why killing? Why war? Why here? Why now? All in the backdrop of the War versus Saddaam in 2003. With humor, a large dose of reality, irony and more, we travel through the lives and deaths of the many subjects of this war wondering, why? And to be in the same room as Robin Williams is always a treat. It is modern. It is direct, at times,... read more, and unfathomable at others, but I enjoyed it greatly and would recommend it to those who aren't offended by war and crass language. |
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My recommendation:
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Talanted but very disturbing Review by: Juliana, Apr 22, 2011 |
Saw this play 4/21/11. Well, the acting is excellent and Robin Williams is great. However, if you are a religious person and do believe in god(doesn't matter what your religion is) this play will be very unpleasant to watch. Characters call god "mother f**er", make durty jokes about him etc etc. It is atheistic play with concentration on violence in this world, where people turn to beasts and beast to person. All of them are ... read more lost souls who were violated in different ways, all of them; and Even after life can't find answers, peace. The world they live in has no harmony what so ever, no purpose, no beauty at all. The language used in this play is VERY adult(every second word is f...) so be cautious to bring your kids, you can be uncomfortable to watch it together. Hope this help
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For the lover of theater Review by: brooklynlady, Apr 11, 2011 |
| Saw this play this past Saturday. Had seen Grusome Play- ground Injuries and love it and wanted to see Baghdad because of the refreshing writing in Playground. I found Baghdad engrossing. Robin Williams follows the script and I think he was just great in the role as all the performers were excellent. It is not a happy play but it is very human. It show the human spirit in very difficult living conditions and how the conditions effect the ... read more people suffering through. Every one is seeking what they think is the good of the world. It could be God, gold, power over others, friendship, a beautiful garden or a way to survive. In the play no one gets what they are seeking. It is a thinking theater goers play. |
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must see!
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Brilliant Review by: Ly, Apr 8, 2011 |
| The play is certainly controversial but I found it incredibly deep, it explores the topics of war, violence and philosophy with great majestry. Robin Williams is brilliant and his role is fascinating. Really loved it. |
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must see!
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VERY BAD Review by: Maddie, Apr 5, 2011 |
| Don't spend the $, unfortunate because Robin Williams is a delight and was trying to do the best he could and had nothing to work with and nobody to work with, the rest of the cast was terrible. For the first time ever we left at intermission. Painful |
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Robin Williams you are huge disappointment! Why did you agree to take this role? Review by: Rod, Apr 3, 2011 |
| My family (two high school students, my wife and I) felt lucky to get discount tickets for the second night of the show, 7th row, stage center. We saw no reviews since it was new, but this is Robin Williams. I should have known it was too good to be true. We were disappointed that Robin Williams was not funny, but did the play really need the "f" word to be used 400 or 500 times? I understand that there is some shock value to using the "f" ... read more word, but this was totally unnecessary. I guess we had expected a *MASH* type play, but even if we knew the play was serious, we would not have expected it to involve several on stage murders, and deal with rape, prostitution, masturbation, torture, and other disturbing topics. See another show, anything else. |
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A play that provokes debate about war and dictators, very timely Review by: Dublin Diva, Mar 31, 2011 |
This is a play for people who want to have a debate afterwards. For a play that deals with the brutal Hussein regime in Iraq, it's ironic it opened the week NATO started shelling Gadaffi and his regime in Libya. I saw this play last week and found myself making comparisons between Hussein and Gadhaffi as I watched the events unfold.
As for the previous critics - it's about war, of course they swear! A lot! Anyone who is familiar with the ... read more military won't find that to be odd. And no, it's not particulary violent - after all, you really can't show true violence in a live action play, this isn't Hollywood. But there is one scene that as a mother I hoped would not carry though to the implied end and it wasn't (the torture of the young girl that was about to happen was mentioned, thankfully not too graphically, and the torture was not even acted out - it was implied, a la Hitchcock, but admitedly enough to make you want to hurl at the thought of these horrors, clearly the playwright's intent and again, given current events, even more intense).
The acting is uneven but the material is difficult - a mixture of intense emotions, few of which are familiar to any of us, thankfully. You will leave the theater more affected by the messages conveyed than from the acting, but this is a play where the message is far more important than the stars.
As for the review who thought this play made fun of amputees - there was nothing in this play that made me feel the playwright was ridiculing anyone, indeed, I thought the playwright was trying to show the horror of war (and the horrors that lead to war), from all sides.
Bottom line: this is NOT a play for children or anyone who is extremely sensitive. It is a play that will leave you wanting to debate the issues raised afterwards. |
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My recommendation:
Go see if you get a chance
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Pure junk... Review by: Oceandiver, Mar 31, 2011 |
| Watching a little girl dragged off stage to be raped...a hand job...a guy cutting off his hand and then a 5 minute clinical description of how he did it...the only funny lines being how many times and ways one can say "fu#*"...with so many good plays on Broadway, one could not find a worse way to spend their money and time. |
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My recommendation:
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| 15 |
Don't go to see the Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo Review by: Di, Mar 29, 2011 |
Very disappointed with this play, and the way the subject of war was handled. Extremely
upsetting. We walked out, along with many other people, who were angry and requested a
refund.
Most people expect Robin Williams to be engaging, funny, and captivating.
Unfortunately, he was not.
Making fun of amputees suffering from consequences of war isn't funny. |
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My recommendation:
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| * Review is an opinion of a BroadwayBox user and not that of BroadwayBox.com and BroadwayBox, Inc. |
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