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The People in the Picture Reviews
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Review by: Solly, Jun 7, 2011 |
| Saw this show on May 23 with my wife and two daughters. Despite some slow and awkward musical numbers it conveyed one of the many brave and bold stories related to those who survived the Holocaust. How unfortunate that many of the heroic survivor stories have never been told. Fortunately, this one did. Accolades to Donna Murphy for a wonderful performance. |
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Make an effort to see
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Romantic Date, The Entire Family, Business Assoc.
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| 2 |
OY! GIVES "IN MY LIFE' A SHOT AT WORST SHOW Review by: , May 29, 2011 |
| If the show had only been about the Yiddish theater it could have worked. To try to intertwine that subject with the Holocaust and make it a musical goes together like blintzes and knockwurst. Please save your money and split it between a visit to the National Yiddish Theatre and a visit/donation to the museum of Jewish heritage: a living memorial to the Holocaust |
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Make yourself the person in this picture Review by: Diract 66, May 25, 2011 |
| The most amazing performance by an actress, this or any year, is Donna Murphy. If she does not win the TONY, there is no God! The way she transforms herself from a young lady to a grandmother by subtle changes with her body and face in an instant, is fascinating to behold. And she can sing pretty well too! Excellent performances by everyone in the cast make this a very believable show and let’s look at an Original Broadway Musical for a change,... read more, rather than recycled movies. The premise of the show is much more than its setting of a Jewish woman and her life in 40’s Germany, and 70’s America. It is the title of the show. The People in the Picture. Look at those old pictures at home from your childhood, your parent’s childhood. Those people lived! They have a story. They are your heritage. They are YOU! Life has its funny moments and its tragic moments and this musical explores both areas. The musical numbers are both humorous and touching. This is not a depressing musical, though all eyes were tearing at the end. Most of the first act is quite lively. It is an uplifting musical of life. You don’t have to be Jewish to see this show. You just have to be a person in a picture, and we are all that! See this show. Discounts are available. |
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| 4 |
Caution! Review by: theatre lover, May 21, 2011 |
The story was presented in a creative way. I would have enjoyed the music more if I could have understood the words - not that I needed a translation, just that the sound wasn't always very clear.
Not recommended if you have had a recent loss of an elderly loved one, or are sensitive to the subject of dementia and decisions about assisted living/nursing homes. This sub-plot just about tore me apart - I lost my 94-year old father in ... read more December under similar circumstances. This was not entertainment for me. |
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Worst Musical on Broadway Review by: Ritztheatergoer, May 20, 2011 |
| I went to see this musical because it had Donna Murphy in it. I left wondering why in the world did she do this show. This was by far the worst show that I have seen in the last 11 years that I have lived in NYC. The music was dull, there was no enthusiam or emotion in any of the actors as they performed the songs. The dance numbers in the show seemed almost robotic or as if they were just going through the emotions. I did not see the point ... read more of why anyone would want to bring this type of show to broadway. It would have been better off as a documentary on PBS. Roundabout should really look into the type of shows they are promoting if they going to continue to look for donations to keep their organization open. I bought the tickets at a discount price and I think the production should have paid me to set through it. |
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| 6 |
Give the show a try and give Donna the Tony! Review by: Doctor Pepper , May 17, 2011 |
I went to see "The People in the Picture" on Friday May 13th and enjoyed it very much. It's certainly better than many of the reviews by New York's critics would have you believe. The big draw for me was Donna Murphy and I wasn't at all disappointed - her acting is excellent as she moves seamlessly between the 1939 Warsaw and 1977 New York incarnations of her character, Raisel. I've also seen Patina Miller and Sutton Foster ... read more in their Tony-nominated performances this season and feel that whilst both are good, Murphy is a cut above them and in a more demanding role.
The supporting cast, especially Alexander Gemignani and Nicole Parker, were all very good and the staging and direction were thoughtful and excellent.
The score is pleasant and serviceable - it's no "Fiddler On The Roof" but the songs (mostly) move the story along and develop the narrative and the characters quite nicely and there is a nice Yiddish folk feel to several numbers. Apart from the opener ("Bread and Theatre") the better numbers are in the second act with good songs for both Murphy ("Selective Memory") and Parker ("Now and Then") although there's nothing here to show off the strength of Parker's vocal chops in the way "Wicked" did. But to be fair it's not that sort of musical.
I enjoyed the humour in the piece - I'm not Jewish so inevitably I was unlikely to feel the resonance or offence expressed by some other reviewers. The story is compelling and moving but it does get a bit schmaltzy in the second act (remember this is written by the same author as "Beaches").
Overall a very enjoyable evening out with Murphy showing again that she is a class act who is worth every penny of the price of your admission.
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Make an effort to see
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A Love song to the Yiddish Theatre now singing on Broadway Review by: Michael, May 12, 2011 |
A Love Song to the Yiddish Theatre Now Singing on Broadway
A Review of Roundabout's The People in the Picture playing at Studio 54 By Michael Isaacson
The big question for all who are concerned about the continuation of Jewish values and culture in 21st century America is “How do you make Yiddishkeit come alive for today's American Idol generation? The answer of course is you emphasize the multifaceted joys of “remembering who you are” ... read more as delightfully performed by the cast of The People in the Picture, the new Roundabout Theatre Company's musical which opened last week. It stars the amazing Donna Murphy as Raisel, once a headliner of a Warsaw Yiddish Theatre troupe and now Bubbie, the fading Manhattan grandmother of Jenny (the delightful Rachel Resheff) who wants to hear all her wonderful old stories. The obstacle is Raisel's daughter Red, played by the captivating Nicole Parker, who would rather forget the past and put her short-term forgetful, aging mother in an assisted living facility.
Sounds like the plot of a Second Avenue Yiddish Theatre melodrama doesn't it? And that's just the point. Book writer and lyricist Iris Rainer Dart (author of Beaches), has brought her impassioned mission of recollection via the intelligent, knowing eye of director Leonard Foglia to remind us of both the tears and the fun of this forgotten genre (at least by most of the NY daily theatre reviewers) and refresh our memories in countless ways from Yiddish aphorisms now translated into English, to quotes of Warshavsky's Oyfen Pripitchik, to banter and shtik once served up by Menashe Skulnik, Pesach Burstein, Fyvish Finkel, more recently Mike Burstein, Bruce Adler, and now in this show expertly volleyed back and forth by Hal Robinson, Lewis J. Stadlen, Joyce Van Patten, and Chip Zien as members of the Warsaw Gang Theatrical Troupe. While the style may be Yiddish Theatre the level of performances are superbly honed in today's highest musical theatrical conventions.
Donna Murphy is a joy to watch as she weaves back in forth in time between the young Raisel and Bubbie. Her perceptions and dialect are elegantly perfect eschewing clichéd mannerisms while holding fast to all that we loved about watching Yiddish Theatre stars Molly Picon, Lillian Lux, and the bevy of other endearing singing comediennes. Murphy's spot-on performance lead one woman sitting next to me to inquire “Are you sure she isn't Jewish?”
The songs by the team of Mike Stoller and Artie Butler are fun, tuneful, and contemporary in a mindful way. Stoller's Before We Lose the Light and Red's Dilemma, expertly orchestrated by Michael Starobin and conducted by the formidable Paul Gemignani, hold up well against any of today's dramatic musical theatre scores while Butler's tuneful Remember Who You Are and the giddy comedy song Ich, Uch, Feh are bouquets to the Yiddish Theatre's astounding influence on the Catskills, TV, film, and yes, the contemporary Broadway musical. Where would uptown be without Second Avenue?
This is just the kind of show that mothers and daughters, and grandparents and their grandchildren should enjoy together. It has a limited run so don't wait too long before securing your tickets. The People in the Picture is not only a joyful, tuneful, heartfelt entertainment, but its a great way of passing forward those savored values that made us who we are and all that we love about our transposed heritage in America. |
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My recommendation:
Make an effort to see
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I saw this show with:
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| 8 |
I loved this show Review by: cbarno11, May 10, 2011 |
| I had no idea what this show was about when we went. As roundabout subscribers that's often the case, but what a wonderful surprise for my wife and I. We know the holocaust well. But there are many stories of people that died in it. This treatment did not dwell on its horrors as much as its complexity and the struggles to cope with it, then and now. Who would think there could be a memorable musical about the holocaust? But this is one and ... read more it shouldn't be missed. As a psychiatrist, I thought the playwright well-captured the long-term emotional consequences of it. For anyone who's visited Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust Museum) in Jerusalem, this show would fit there quite well because of its treatment of the victims as people. It makes the horrible touchingly available to everyone, thanks to a brilliant cast, good music, and sensitive direction. |
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must see!
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| 9 |
Nonstop Manipulation to Make You Cry Review by: Go, May 6, 2011 |
I write this review as an avid theater goer and daughter of holocaust survivors.
This show was a cheap tearjerker. It did not make you think, it did not elucidate deep or complex feelings of the characters. It was set up to make you cry. When they started to sing "Oif en Pripechuk" I nearly gagged and had to leave. Have they no shame - manipulating with everything they could find?
The acting was terrific all around. The music was ... read more good but lyrics were banal and kitchy - looking for rhyming words to fit.
The holocaust has been done over and over again. This one trivializes people's experiences which is sad. No one felt real. Everyone was a stereotyped caricature.
They could not have smeared the shmaltz on any thicker than they did. It is a mockery of the Jewish experience. |
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| 10 |
Review by: Stuie, May 6, 2011 |
| I want to agree with Jordies review whoever is behind pushing this show as a wonderful theatrical treat is on drugs. Jordie you hit the nail on the head, murphy is always wonderful, show is simply awful shame on roundabout for sure, but then most of their shows are somehow inferior |
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| 11 |
Review by: Rex, Bx, May 1, 2011 |
| This production about an elderly Jewish grandmother who shares the memories of her younger days as a performer in Nazi occupied Warsaw with her grandaughter will entertain and tug at your heart strings simultaneously. The people in Grandma's{Bubba's)old photographs come alive as they recount the happy and tragic experiences they encountered as traveling performers during this reprehensible period in human history. Adult ... read more children who are faced the challenges of caring for their aging and sickly parents will also relate to the emotional struggle betwen Bubba and her adult daughter as Bubba strives to maintain her independence in spite of her progressing state of dimentia. Donna Murphy is flawless as she transforms between the younger Raizel and the elderly Bubba. Although the musical numbers are not the most memorable, they appropriately enhance the plot of this production. The supporting cast members do an excellent job in their performances as well. If you decide to see this production, bring some tissues, because you'll definitely laugh and cry during this performance. |
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My recommendation:
Make an effort to see
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I saw this show with:
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| 12 |
A memorable evening and a stellar performance by Donna Murphy Review by: cameraguyed, Apr 29, 2011 |
I have been going to Broadway theatre since 1944. I have seen many shows in there original productions which keep being revived and with good reason, they hold up to the test of time. I found my evening at this show engrossing, funny at times and very moving in it's overall message.Donna Murphy is an extraordinary talent who moves between the young Raissel to the Bubbie with ease. A change in her stature and gait are far more believable than a ... read more change in makeup. Her performance is inspirational. Ms. Murphy is worth the price of admission. She is surrounded by a stellar cast and the youngster who plays her grand daughter
is an incredibly gifted young lady.
The score is absolutely perfect to carry the audience through a moving and wonderful story of a terrible part of Europe's history. Humor is used to lessen the load of a very sad era in history. I recommend this show to anyone who want's to relive a tragic time and the people who survived. |
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My recommendation:
Make an effort to see
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I saw this show with:
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Recommended for:
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| 13 |
FEH, BLEH, OY Review by: jordie, Apr 29, 2011 |
| I can't believe that people were moved by this. Donna Murphy is superb, as usual, but the show...shame on you, Roundabout! |
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| 14 |
MUST SEE FOR EVERY GENERATION Review by: Big Shecky, Apr 29, 2011 |
This is a FANTASTIC show with excellent actors, choreography, story and music. Do you remember when a show brought tears to peoples eyes.
There was a horrible Holocaust. But that is only part of many peoples past. This show makes everyone think about there ancestry. This show is about Jewish heritage but could be easily translated to ANYONE.
Are you proud of you heritage? Do you know where your ancestors came from? Would you ... read more like to know? Would you like you children to know?
I believe most people would like to know. Here is a show that reaches out and shakes you. This is a MUST SEE. Who said so? I DID !!!
Go see this show. You'll be GLAD you did!!!
Who said so? I DID!! |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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I saw this show with:
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Recommended for:
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Great all around Show! Review by: Taken10x, Apr 29, 2011 |
| I saw this with my mother, 16-year old daughter, a friend and her 16-year old son. We all loved it and had much to talk about after the show! The story is very well thought out and moves quickly with its layers of subject matter complemented with music and dance. This show has a lot more to offer than Donna Murphy's stellar performance, and it is Not only a story related to the Holocaust. My theatre loving daughter did not like it when I ... read more said, "The People in the Picture" would make an outstanding novel and a 5-Star movie. We are likely going back to see this show again! |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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I saw this show with:
Family
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Recommended for:
Romantic Date, Business Assoc., Seniors
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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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