On the Twentieth Century NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (135)
See it if you appreciate a big musical with all the dancing, singing, and comedy of yore.
Don't see it if you're seeking a modern show and aren't looking for a big revival. Read more
See it if Great singing, Kristen Chenoweth, fun songs, trains, costumes
Don't see it if Nothing
See it if You simply want to be entertained.
Don't see it if If period musicals don't appeal.
See it if you love a dance heavy chorus
Don't see it if you bore easily of simple scores
See it if If you like musicals. Good staging and good music
Don't see it if If you don’t like musicals
See it if you are a fan of any of the lead actors and want to see some great comedic performances
Don't see it if you need a strong story line or memorable music. This was a very unsatisfying book Read more
See it if Kristen C. Pure musical fun.
Don't see it if Looking for the original ... so many great are gone including Madeline Kahn and Imogene Coca
See it if you like musical revivals.
Don't see it if you don't like Kristin Chenoweth Read more
Critic Reviews (31)
"In the theater, there is overacting. Then there’s over-the-moon acting, which is rare and occupies its own special cloud land in heaven. I am delighted to report that this latter art is being practiced in altitudinous-high style...Scott Ellis’s ripping, lavishly appointed revival of this 1978 musical about dueling giant egos knows that when it comes to being hyperbolic, there’s no people like show people...sit back, relax and savor the blissfully bumpy ride in luxury accommodations."
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"The 1978 musical itself is written in an affectionately arch style that combines comic operetta with farce and screwball sex-battle comedy...The action and the notes are at a higher pitch than we’re used to...'On the Twentieth Century' may be a cartoon, but it’s a Hirschfeld cartoon, and worth a trip."
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"There are a lot of reasons to pick up the phone NOW and get tickets to this production...this musical is a predictable piece of fluff that Scott Ellis has whipped up into a soufflé of extraordinary proportions. It is as fine a production as you will find anywhere. And if musicals are your preferred theatrical flavor, you will be in h-e-a-v-e-n."
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"Especially when it moves and sings it sparkles like new, with each small detail detailed as if for the first time. But not everything works...The score, like the somewhat wayward script, only coheres under certain conditions, few of which are available anymore."
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"So you’re looking for a good time? Look no more: The Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of “On the Twentieth Century” is is the best musical to hit Broadway since 'On the Town'... it’s a fluffy exercise in high-octane pleasure, blessedly devoid of deep thought and certain to satisfy anyone not congenitally po-faced... 'On the Twentieth Century' isn’t perfect—but it’ll do quite well enough."
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"It deserves as long a run one could wish for a charmingly silly homage to the old-fashioned operettas that were once a mainstay of Broadway but whose time had long since passed when the show opened in 1978...Scott Ellis’s production works very hard at solving the show’s problems, with mixed success...'On The 20th Century' reveals Comden and Green in their twilight, the brilliant magic evident, but fading."
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"Next stop, Broadway musical bliss. That’s where the Roundabout revival of “On the Twentieth Century,” directed with verve by Scott Ellis, takes you...In the show’s title song, it comes out that the Twentieth Century famously gives passengers 'nothing but the best.' This production, fizzy and dizzy entertainment, does likewise."
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"Scott Ellis’s dazzling production of 'On the Twentieth Century' looks like one of those legendary Broadway musicals that exists largely in our collective memory of great shows we never saw...For a lot of us, this is the show of our dreams...The plot is pure screwball comedy with some classic farce moves for broader chuckles."
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