Children of a Lesser God NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (779)
See it if you love seeing diversity in ability on stage. If you have any connection to deaf culture DON'T miss it!
Don't see it if you don't appreciate deaf culture.
See it if Extraordinary performance from Joshua Jackson. Kudos to the cast, director, scenic designer, and to the rest of the team.
Don't see it if If you are not interested in the subject matter Read more
See it if you enjoy thoughtful drama, well acted, about the human condition
Don't see it if you are bothered by superficial human blemishes Read more
See it if you want your consciousness expanded. Don't judge, just listen.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy reading while watching a performance.
See it if You are looking for some really powerhouse acting and wonderfully simplistic staging that works so perfectly.
Don't see it if Aren't a fan of plays. If you don't like sign language.
See it if you like great acting both vocally and through sign language. Enjoy multiethnic casting, enjoy a dialogue heavy, intense storyline.
Don't see it if you don’t want to watch one lead character sign the whole show & the other interpret while speaking & signing his own.
See it if This is what a Broadway play is about. I saw this many years ago and it’s as if it were yesterday.
Don't see it if If you’re not interested in dramatic plays.
See it if You are open to trying to understand daily experience of people who are differently abled, appreciate great acting
Don't see it if You have difficulty understanding how some deaf people speak, need to hear all dialog, are not interested in interpersonal relationships
Critic Reviews (46)
"A knockout professional debut performance by Ridloff...A lovely performance by Jackson...Leon’s direction seems random...The play falters badly in its second act...Eventually you realize that Mr. Medoff simply did not have the wherewithal to dramatize the fundamental conflict any further because James is his hero but Sarah is right. The play, written when it was, can’t quite support that — not because of its deaf politics, but because of its sexual politics."
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"Maddeningly heavy-handed...Some of the problems are structural...But a larger problem is tonal. To today's audiences, James's relationship with Sarah is manifestly jerkish from the get-go...A different production might have hidden these failings or even jujitsu-ed them into virtues. But Leon's revival, broad and ungainly, exacerbates them...Ridloff is the only thing in the play that seems to have any inner life at all. She is a wonder; the rest is mostly unspeakable."
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"There are two intense scenes...Both are performed with instinctive brilliance by acting rookie Ridloff, Broadway's most accessible show ever for the hearing-impaired is at times inaccessible or awkward for the hearing - which is maybe the most thematically resonant technical flaw ever to afflict a play...Leon’s direction leans into the play’s age as well as its loose plotting...Logistical concerns vanish in the play's best moments."
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"'Children' is too dramatically creaky to survive its own transformation into a period piece. Today we want to see inside the deaf culture at whose existence Medoff hints, instead of merely looking at it through a window...The only other thing the play has to offer is a chance for a virtuoso deaf actor to strut her stuff...Ridloff's performance is stupendously bold and expressive—she signs like a ballerina dances—and I can’t imagine this will be the last that Broadway sees of her."
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"Lives on now mostly as a well-constructed if somewhat dated relationship drama and as a showcase for its two primary, argument-siding characters...Sarah's stance, hardly the revelation it once was, becomes clear at the play’s emotional peak...It is entirely to the credit of Ridloff's powerhouse performance that the moment still hits as hard as it does...Jackson’s performance can seem broad, pitched too big, but the exaggeration makes as James' importance as translator comes into focus."
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"Only fitfully engaging and stirring...Medoff's script can be simplistic and preachy. And creepy...'Children of a Lesser God' is, ultimately, about connecting. Leon's stark and chilly production actually doesn't nurture intimacy...Ridloff, a wonderfully expressive actress, provides the show with its vibrant beating heart. She connects with and conveys Sarah's anger, desire, vulnerability and independent spirit - and leaves a lasting impression."
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"Ridloff is a stunning performer...Conflict between the speaking world and the silent world was portrayed more forcefully in the original production...Lacking that solid thematic foundation, Medoff's play deflates into just another romantic drama about mismatched lovers...The writer doesn’t seem to have any special aptitude for the language of love, and his efforts to lighten it up are embarrassing...Jackson doesn’t give off much heat for a lover with a burning heart."
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"The production tips the balance away from the author's sensitive handling of deaf politics toward the bland reaffirmation that the heart is a more powerful communication tool than the human voice...Leon's sluggish production does eventually gather some steam...Those basic rights of autonomy, respect and visibility should still resonate today, perhaps more than ever...And yet they are strangely muffled by Leon's insipid treatment of the love story."
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