What the Constitution Means to Me (Broadway)
Closed 1h 40m
What the Constitution Means to Me (Broadway)
86

What the Constitution Means to Me (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

86%
(408 Ratings)
Positive
93%
Mixed
5%
Negative
2%
Members say
Relevant, Intelligent, Absorbing, Thought-provoking, Clever

About the Show

Heidi Schreck's comic and hopeful exploration strives to breathe new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of American women.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (408)

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77 Reviews | 37 Followers
100
Epic, Must see, Great writing, Clever

See it if You like a one person show who wrote the show and a debate. She really opens your eyes!

Don't see it if ….

87 Reviews | 10 Followers
100
Absorbing, Intelligent, Thought-provoking, Relevant, Clever

See it if You like thought-provoking, innovative theatre

Don't see it if You want to see people tap dancing to Mamma Mia

59 Reviews | 4 Followers
100
Relevant, Profound, Must see, Intelligent, Great acting

See it if you need a place to put your own socio-political anger/frustration/fear, or to understand others'. (And it's funny!)

Don't see it if you want a traditional play.

129 Reviews | 18 Followers
100
Must see, Thought-provoking, Absorbing

See it if you like a very original show that will touch your heart

Don't see it if don't care about women's issues

94 Reviews | 13 Followers
100
Must see, Intelligent, Great writing, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if you want to see a smart, funny, thought-provoking, emotional, unique, and engaging play that will surely be one of the best of the year.

Don't see it if you want to escape politics for a night.

167 Reviews | 51 Followers
100
Entertaining, Resonant, Relevant, Profound, Must see

See it if This had all the elements of things I normal can’t stand, and it was perfect and everyone should go! Almost everyone.

Don't see it if I mean. There’s only a handful of people on this planet that shouldn’t and you can name them.

60 Reviews | 7 Followers
100
Intelligent, Ambitious, Absorbing

See it if You like one-woman shows (it's not, but it has that feel), love the US Constitution, worry about the US C, or wish you better understood it

Don't see it if See it! (I saw this production when it was at NYTW before moving to Broadway. I didn't know what to expect but it blew me away.)

e8
226 Reviews | 40 Followers
100
Thought-provoking, Relevant, Quirky, Profound, Great writing

See it if You want a deeper understanding to how our constitution works/what the problems with it are, but also would what happens if we didnt have it

Don't see it if it should be a civic duty to see this. GO GO GO GO GO!

Critic Reviews (46)

The New York Times
March 31st, 2019

"Nothing less than a chronicle of the legal subjugation of women by men...It is a tragedy told as a comedy, a work of inspired protest, a slyly crafted piece of persuasion and a tangible contribution to the change it seeks. It is not just the best play to open on Broadway so far this season, but also the most important...Schreck gives a real and wrenching performance, not a speech…‘Constitution’ is one of the things we always say we want theater to be: an act of civic engagement."
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Time Out New York
March 31st, 2019

"It’s the rare indie theater piece that doesn’t require intimacy...It’s theater in the old sense, the Greek sense, a place where civic society can come together and do its thinking and fixing...The text itself doesn’t seem to have changed since its Off Broadway run last year, yet the show has deepened, sweetened, and strengthened in its move to Broadway...Broadway’s oxygen has turned her into a wildfire. On the night I saw the show, the audience roared its response."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
March 31st, 2019

S.H.: "Schreck’s performance has developed muscles. It’s gotten more visceral — more risky and exposed. The pain of it all—and the defiance—is more visible underneath what she calls her ‘psychotic politeness’...Schreck has us in hand both as a performer and as the constructor of the play." I.C.: "And that’s ultimately what I found so bold and moving: That she unapologetically puts herself — and to some extent the story of other people left out of the Constitution — at the center of it."
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The Wall Street Journal
April 4th, 2019

"The problem is that Ms. Schreck, for whatever reason, is rarely willing to grapple directly, at least not for very long, with the raw emotions triggered by her truth-telling...A reminiscential lecture about feminism, thinly disguised as a play. I would have preferred the lecture on its own—Ms. Schreck is a phenomenally powerful storyteller—but 'What the Constitution Means to Me' wouldn’t have been nearly as popular had it not been sweetened up far past the point of indigestibility."
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Deadline
March 31st, 2019

"Indelible, subversive, and audaciously funny...Schreck has carried a particular true-life story within her for 30-odd years, and she springs it on us when we need it most...Schreck, a monologist in a league with John Leguizamo and Spalding Grey, will shift back and forth from the girl she was to the woman she is...A word on the old speech. It’s terrific, in and of itself...As the play proceeds, Schreck deconstructs not only the Constitution, but her younger, more naive view."
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New York Daily News
March 31st, 2019

"For progressive feminists and admirers of solo performers who can combine cheery didacticism with personal vulnerability, melding radical constitutional theory with genuine warmth and humor, this is a terrific time...a Broadway show for a moment of rapid ascendancy in personal narrative...Schreck is a gifted writer and this personal history is exceptionally compelling...It is enormously effective and offers something crucial to all political shows, which is hope for the future."
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Variety
March 31st, 2019

"The engaging writer-performer is all smiles and so are we...But by the end of the show, we’ve been stirred — and challenged — by her penetrating insights into that document...Although she never drops her unthreatening demeanor of all-American niceness, Schreck takes a more acerbic tone as she works up to her true subject...To her credit, Schreck doesn’t let righteous anger curdle into polemics. On the contrary, she closes with an uplifting message."
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The Hollywood Reporter
March 31st, 2019

"Few new works for the stage are as instantly, trenchantly timely...It's a play of ideas for which people are not just hungry but starved...It challenges us to step back and look at the bigger picture...The thoughtful craftsmanship that has gone into building the play is fully evident, notably in the skill with which Schreck relates her own history to the gaping holes in the Constitution where adequate protections for women should be...Unique, stimulating, and exquisitely heartfelt."
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