Thoughts of a Colored Man (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsMember Reviews (110)
See it if The show has monogue, dialogue , song, poetry and a variety of showmanship.
Don't see it if Story is fair at best acting is passable but nothing is deep here.
See it if you like a good story in a non-traditional way: I feel like I really know these seven characters just spending 90 minutes with them.
Don't see it if you are looking for a traditional play, but know that you are missing a current story sharing important messages with good staging.
See it if You’re interested in Black voices and self-reflection from a variety of American Black men.
Don't see it if You’re hoping for something lyrical/poetic. Though thought-provoking at times, it still suffers from stereotypical characters & situations.
See it if Want to see a brilliant piece of theatre! Bravo!
Don't see it if You feel uncomfortable about the African-American experience in our nation.
See it if you like good stories told by good actors.It's a series of short, mini one-acts.Each story is riveting & meaningful.Acting is uniformly good
Don't see it if you are uncomfortable being 1 of the few white people in the audience.Actually you should go and feel like a minority, and face the truth Read more
See it if Deep monologues and segments of dialogue on the intersectionality of Black men with class, socioeconomic status, age, opportunity, sexuality
Don't see it if Black men sharing their feelings, shootings, profanity (N word), no major plot, slightly preachy aren't your thing. Read more
See it if you enjoy a series of scenes giving slice-of-life moments to reveal universal truths.
Don't see it if you only like a linear narrative where all the scenes contribute to one main story going forward.
See it if a "male For Colored Girls" more accessible, very timely. well acted.
Don't see it if don't like monologues but want a full play. some scenes are very standard and bring nothing new
Critic Reviews (13)
"Who is the Colored Man? It’s a question that Scott’s Broadway debut...doesn’t quite know how to answer. [Thoughts of a Colored Man] aspires to be a lyrical reckoning with Black life in America but only delivers a gussied-up string of straw-man lessons."
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"Love is often trapped in gummy lyricism (“The world fell silent as I listened to the internal instrumental my heartbeat made. As I came behind her, I touched her shoulder like the wind”), and with so many topics to cover, the characters are sometimes overwhelmed. Under Steve H. Broadnax III’s artful direction, however, the cast avoids falling too neatly into type."
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"Under the able direction of Steve H. Broadnax III, Scott’s poetic distillations gleam with insights and vulnerabilities of heart and mind."
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"Remarkable...the first fully realized reflection of the shutdown era. A play of immense compassion and keen insight, with a vise-grip on the dreams and disappointments of its characters, Thoughts of a Colored Man is a paean to life as both survival and celebration, a tribute and exploration of the Black men who find beauty, dignity, frustration and inspiration where they can."
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"And that’s what’s most successful about Scott’s writing — his ability to be both street-corner specific and universal at the same time. Find me a 35-year-old who can’t relate to debt and purposelessness."
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"Within the play, Scott also touches on many hot-button culturally specific topics, including homophobia, class divides, fatherhood, and what being a man truly means. It’s an overflowing basket of topics for one play; any of these threads could be a play by themselves, and hopefully they will be. As Thoughts of a Colored Man shows, Scott is able to skillfully write multiple differing viewpoints and his luscious prose should continue to be shared with audiences."
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"Perhaps the first praiseworthy statement to make about Keenan Scott II’s Thoughts of a Colored Man is that in the nearly two hours it unfolds not a single word spoken fails to carry the ring of absolute truth."
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"Revolving around numerous themes endemic to the Black experience in contemporary America, Thoughts of a Colored Man is the sort of finger-on-the-pulse work that elicits murmurs of approval from its audience, one that is more racially diverse than usually seen on the Great White Way."
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