Caroline, or Change (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsMember Reviews (399)
See it if If you like a Tony kusher show. Confusing at times good singing and staged well. Musicians are very good.
Don't see it if If you want a musical that has good lyrics.
See it if Fantastic show with beautiful score and spectacular voices. Moving story with whimsical storytelling. Really great staging.
Don't see it if You don't care for sang-through shows.
See it if Best show I've seen since the reopening. Powerhouse vocals & performances from Clark and cast. Well written and engaging story.
Don't see it if You want a big splashy musical with dance numbers.
See it if You want to see a surprisingly relevant show that doesn’t feel at all like a revival, or a traditional musical. Eccentric (in a good way).
Don't see it if You don’t like shows that color outside the lines. The music feels odd, the set disjointed. Some parts just don’t make sense. Till they do. Read more
See it if you like entertainment with a message. Here a hard working cast with great staging take you to earlier decades with laughter & lots 2 ponder
Don't see it if you seek a happy, sing-a-long musical - here the lyrics are delivering serious messages about society and the treatment of others.
See it if you want serious issues like racial prejudice and wonderful scenes between mother and daughter. Funny characters such as Washing Machine.
Don't see it if You don't like racial issues. I was disturbed by well to do family being Jewish. It should have just been a white family. Read more
See it if witty diverse Tesori score; objects in Caroline/maid's life (washer-dryer etc) hilariously personified; SD Clarke riveting as lead
Don't see it if painful to watch, no catharsis: grim story, mirthless/unappealing lead: blk maid in despair Read more
See it if You’d love an under-appreciated, impactful, significant piece in the American musical theatre canon.
Don't see it if You prefer musical comedy over drama, or want something big and flashy. This is powerful, but small.
Critic Reviews (13)
"NYTImes Critic's Pick! The wonder is that it is never less than thrilling to experience. This being a musical, the music is part of that; Tesori’s wondrous score is like the search function on a car radio, picking up snippets of every genre on the dial...Clarke, who won an Olivier award for her performance in the British production, adds hers. She makes of the maid an almost Shakespearean figure; even at the depths of the character’s despair."
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"The same text by librettist and lyricist Tony Kushner, which had seemed so stiffly fragmented in that earlier production, finds a fluid cohesion here that makes not only Caroline’s solitude, but the isolation of almost everyone around her profoundly affecting...Anyone who has missed the overwhelming emotional power of a great Broadway musical in the past 19 months should look no further."
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"All of these story elements spun together wrestle with issues that are still urgent today. As one memorable lyric in the show states, there is “no underground in Louisiana.” But on the surface in New York City, there is an important musical revival on Broadway that is deeply meaningful, crucial to experience and definitely a necessary change."
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"Directed by Michael Longhurst with intensity and sensitivity, and performed by a cast that seems to have made a pact to sustain itself at the towering heights achieved early and unfailingly by its mighty star Sharon D Clarke, this Caroline, Or Change is a hurricane wind unleashed on decrepit legacies and newfound cautions."
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"Some performances tell an entire story unto themselves. Sharon D Clarke delivers one such stunning star turn in this revival of Caroline, or Change, propelled onto Broadway by her acclaim in its previous London run. With an earth- and rafter-trembling embodiment of the title character, Clarke animates a curious — and at times troubling — musical with undeniable life."
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"Clarke is strong in a role that’s damn tough...Of course, Kushner and Tesori’s show has always been a pompous slip of a thing that’s rather high on itself. There are no melodies to speak of, and the whole score sounds like a wind chime."
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Caroline, or Change has often been acclaimed -- for its powerful central characterization and for a score that melds the blues, klezmer, soul, and '60s pop sounds to powerful effect -- but it is a singular, indeed eccentric, piece that is not for all tastes. See it for Clarke; who knows when she will come our way again?
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"Sharon D Clarke doesn’t quite take the stage of Studio 54, mind you. She is cemented to it...Clarke—who has thus far been a remarkable, intensely controlled presence—breaks through with a searing intensity most welcome after the recent series of societal upheavals. Some of which, mind you, are especially relevant to the theme and content of Caroline, or Change."
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