The Royale NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (153)
See it if You want an entertaining, original, thought-provoking show with great acting and direction, a layered discussion of race and representation.
Don't see it if You want a mindless comedy. Otherwise, see it!
See it if you want to be moved emotionally and kept on the edge of your seat
Don't see it if you are in the mood for a musical or something funny rather than witness racial issues and tension that are bound to impact you.
See it if You love good theater. The set, staging, acting, lighting... everything was meticulously planned, and beautifully executed.
Don't see it if you're looking for something uplifting
See it if You want terrific performances, gorgeous writing, incredibly inventve staging and a true exploration of racism that is still timely.
Don't see it if Expect to see a real boxing match.
See it if It is a beautiful transformative piece of theater art; holds a life lesson for all of us and touches a painful part of our American history
Don't see it if Don’t see it if boxing and the use and abuse of people is too upsetting for you.
See it if you are interested in an aspect of American racism in boxing, love good writing and wonderful staging, Want to be enveloped in the moment.
Don't see it if Are uncomfortable with discussion of racism in America; surrealistic fight scenes with sound, or you want a light frothy play with no depth.
See it if You are interested in America's racial history, want to see amazing staging, a show about boxing, set in the ring, not one punch thrown.
Don't see it if You do not want to know the truth, do not want to feel the intense pain of suffering caused others.
See it if you're ready for an emotional journey. It perfectly captures and distills the legacy of the racial divide in the U.S. Exquisite acting!
Don't see it if -you're indifferent or in denial about the racial divide in the U.S. -you don't like serious drama -you want something light and fluffy
Critic Reviews (29)
"Marco Ramirez’s absorbing drama…Staged with a swift, stark lyricism by the impossibly versatile Rachel Chavkin, 'The Royale' boldly takes on and reorients a familiar genre and a familiar tale…The entire cast of this production embody their parts with laser sharpness…Occasionally the script tips into overstatement and overexplanation…But you don’t feel like picking apart the individual elements when they cohere into such an organic whole."
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"Not a single flesh-on-flesh punch lands in Marco Ramirez’s intensely focused boxing drama, yet it’s like you see the blood and teeth flying and hear the crunch of broken ribs. In 'The Royale', the endless sucker punch of a historically racist society is the chief means of violence. Words are another, and they come fast and furious in a percussive script…The big showdown is handled in a fairly ingenious and surprising manner. It connects and it bruises."
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"Much of the dialogue among the four men has the rhythm of jazz; the words and actions punctuated by syncopated clapping and stomping…Rachel Chavkin, an inventive and keen director, knows her immersive theater and she also, on the evidence, honors writers. So do the design team...'The Royale' has heart and a conscience, and it’s unquestionably the work of a writer still finding his voice. Like his champion Jay, he’s got style."
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"Newcomer Khris Davis brings muscle and fine acting chops as Jay. Montego Glover adds steely passion as his concerned sister…Rachel Chavkin replaces typical jabs and hooks with claps and stomps and makes you look at fight scenes with fresh eyes. She also imagines the championship fight in an ingenious way that involves Jay’s family. The terrific performances and the striking, stylized staging deliver one-two punches."
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"Sometimes the most powerful fights are the ones we have in our own minds — a fact vividly depicted in 'The Royale,' a riveting play by Marco Ramirez…A spare and intimate story of internal struggles, propelled by the dynamic, imaginative direction of Rachel Chavkin and performed by a terrific quintet of actors…It’s a struggle made all the more dramatic by a coup de theatre that has the boxer realizing this battle is as personal as it gets."
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"Featuring elaborately stylized staging that fails to compensate for the thin writing, 'The Royale' doesn't fulfill the promise of its powerful subject…The evening only sporadically comes to dramatic life…To make up for the skimpiness of the material, the dialogue is frequently accompanied by rhythmic hand-clapping, a repetitive device that quickly becomes annoying...The actors' strong efforts aren't enough to make the play feel anything other than pedestrian."
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"Chavkin's rendering realizes every bit of tragic theater that the primal sport embodies…Scene after scene of Ramirez's thick dialogue can sit heavily on the brain. When it's roused by Chavkin's clear aesthetic point of view, the narrative comes to life…Just as Ramirez builds his own version of the great Jack Johnson's history, Chavkin interprets the power struggle that occurs when two boxers enter the ring. Each takes liberties with reality, but both artists' renderings couldn't be more truthful."
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"Marco Ramirez's inventively-crafted 'The Royale,' given a tense, rhythmic and evocative mounting by Rachel Chavkin, merits high scores of its own…Davis' attention moves seamlessly as his character goes back and forth from sparring with Fish to sparring with the press...The championship match is represented with unexpected dramatics, as Jay must eventually learn the price of his victories, and of the victories of his people."
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