T'Challa

See it if You like the movie, maybe? tbh you could just watch the movie. If you LOVE production design.

Don't see it if You want a good book / lyrics. If you're looking for something that... Well, frankly, if you're looking for something good.

See it if You're interested in a story that deals heavily with the ideas of how we untangle ourselves from the long arms of grief.

Don't see it if You're not interested in understanding or navigating grief.

See it if You're interested in a deep unraveling of what it means to be attracted to white people or be desired by white people.

Don't see it if You're not ready to handle having a honest conversation with yourself about desire and what it means.

Also The thing about this play, is that for me, the first two acts are literally perfect pieces of theatre. They are great and set up what could be one of my favorite things I've ever seen and then it falters in the third act because of the scene between the white man and black woman. I'm fascinated as to why black writers seem interested in retrauamtizing black audiences. I think this play is an important look at the nature of desire and what it means to be desired in a post slavery land scape. It also just... It reminded me that white people, at the end of the day, are white and that is something they need to know too.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a deep mediation on why white people are always a step behind on the fight for racial justice.

Don't see it if You're not interested in laughing at the white people we all know.

Also This play, for me, reminded me of the overall uselessness of whiteness. The teeth of this play exist in the moments when the focus isn't on the Thanksgiving play because... Of course it is. It's in these moments that we are allowed to remember that white people can simply step away from racism, that they can take a break and move on to something else because it isn't life or death.... Read more Read less

See it if you love Brecht, John Doyle, or that fine ass Raul Esparza.

Don't see it if you have difficulty with Brecht or John Doyle just doesn't do it for you anymore.

Also This was my first time seeing Brecht and while it took my brain some time to fully engage with the text, once it did, the whole thing was dazzling.... Read more Read less

See it if You're looking for a show that is a deep meditation of the theme of grief. How does it swallow us? How do we attempt to escape it?

Don't see it if You're looking for black pain or the chance to see a black woman be "strong". This is a story about grief and love and want.

See it if I honestly have no idea why you would want to see this show.

Don't see it if You like having fun or enjoy a good time.

See it if You wanted a thoroughly constructed and then deconstructed conversation about race.

Don't see it if You want to be comfortable or you want an easy pill to swallow.

Also FAIRVIEW left me exhausted and squirming in my seat. It felt so great to see all the things that white people force onto people of color laid out so well, put down, and left behind. All of it felt like a huge release that I didn't know I needed. It's transformative.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a dazzling show that really makes you consider the healing power of storytelling. Also: THAT DAMN ALEX!!!

Don't see it if You want something that won't break your heart or don't like discussions of colorism.

See it if You want a great look at the life of people who the American theatre routinely leaves on the outskirts of conversation.

Don't see it if You want something clean and pristine and afraid of endings that leave you wanting more.

See it if You want to learn more about birth than you probably ever would have or an incredibly warm story.

Don't see it if You want something that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

See it if You like being bored and watching two people talk at each other for hours on end.

Don't see it if You value your free time.

Also I'm still confused by this show because I went in wanting very much to like it despite not caring about either of the writers being written about. However, halfway through I realized that nothing I saw was grabbing or interesting or made me feel anything. I don't get why Mr. Dawkins wrote this show or why Abingdon decided now was the time to do it.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a show that REALLY tackles a lot of problems facing the American theatre today. It really dives in and goes for it.

Don't see it if You want a show that sticks the landing. Everything up until the end of this show is fucking solid.

See it if You're looking for just an average night at the theatre.

Don't see it if You're looking for a deeper dive into the systems that keep so many folks from the hood out of ivy league colleges.

Also The idea of this play is wonderful, but it just doesn't move or go anywhere like it should. It could be so much more if given the chance.... Read more Read less

See it if You want an exploration of two characters who know nothing and everything about each other. The writing feels a lot like Anne Baker.

Don't see it if You want something groundbreaking or heavy in spectacle.

See it if You want your face melted off from the singing going on. If you want a nuanced view into the lives of black women in the south.

Don't see it if you hate singing, directing, and all the other elements that culimate together to create a breath taking show.

Also I cried four times.

See it if If you want a show about people that normally aren't thought about in the theatre and the way race divides each and every one of us.

Don't see it if If you'd prefer some big spectical or don't like having to engage with text and people who are not like you.

See it if I honestly can't give you a reason to see it other than maybe you enjoy something akin to House of Cards and bad dialogue.

Don't see it if If you want to see something good. It feels so long and the dialogue is just sooooo much at once and not in the good way.

See it if If you like having someone rap at you for a while or if you can tell a storyline from the first ten or so minutes. The set is POPPIN.

Don't see it if If you're expecting something life altering or shifting. It's a really cute concept that doesn't go much further than that.

See it if You want a nuanced revenge story that gives you a literal fucking mountain on stage. Come on, you know you wanna see how that works.

Don't see it if You hate good theatre and would much rather go see something on broadway which won't make you do anything other than laugh.

See it if You're interested in plays that deal heavily with who this society decides to believe and who it doesn't.

Don't see it if You don't like things that are too on the nose or don't really move into new and uncharted lands.

See it if I don't, honestly, know why you would want to see this show. I can't find a reason.

Don't see it if You want a good time or enjoy life or enjoy not having your time wasted.

See it if you're interested in making a choice and maybe, quite possibly, even disagreeing with the writer.

Don't see it if you aren't interested in participating and want something that leaves you on ground that hasn't been shaken apart.

Also Heidi Schreck is now the white artist that all others will be held against. What she manages to do on stage is dazzling.... Read more Read less

See it if You enjoy a good sci-fi story and want the chance to shout with your fellow audience.

Don't see it if You're not into folk. I'm not and while there were moments of the music that did it for me, I still found myself disconnected often.

See it if You want to have a moment of collective healing, if you want the chance to be in a room full of Black people celebrating themselves.

Don't see it if You're uninterested in Black people and I really mean that.

Also Aleshea Harris has crafted a ritual that is dedicated to the broken black bodies that we've gotten so used to seeing in the media. She has ripped open a space for all people, but most specifically black people to engage with this and attempt to find some sort of peace. It will happen again. It is happening now, but despite this, despite this tragedy, we are still here and there is something beautiful in that.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a great look at a time in world history that hardly gets any discussion.

Don't see it if You're wanting something more than a drama about a family.

Also This story wrapped me in a warm blanket and lulled me into a false sense of security. Then it slowly began the process of picking me apart until the only thing left was my bones.... Read more Read less

See it if You want a bad play masquerading as something good.

Don't see it if You're looking for another other than a trans man being used as a stand in for EVERY trans person.

Also This play is dangerous. It seels itself as an introspective look at the state of transphobia within the LG community, but it doesn't go much further. It stops attempting to analyze and dissect this and quickly turns into a play about the nature of monogamy, which, is much more interesting than what it has going towards the first half.

The play would be great,maybe, if the writer focused on that and not on being the cis dude writing about an easily constructed trans strawman that will let people who hate trans people off the hook.

This is one of those plays that will get done at regional theatres and people will think it great, will think themselves progressive, will think themselves challeneged. However, a closer look will only reveal that they are probably walking away with the same predudices that they came in with.... Read more Read less

See it if You're invested in stories about black men being seen as human. If you want a real show about race in America.

Don't see it if You're going to leave reviews talking about "ghetto talk" that ain't got shit to do with the show.

See it if You want something good? or something worth seeing?

Don't see it if You like the typical jukebox that just asks you to sit there and enjoy yourself.

See it if You want a nuanced view of black people in a world that is constantly trying to push them out.

Don't see it if You don't want to get pulled into a narrative that will punch you in the gut by the end.

Also Dominique Morisseau crafts and completely compelling narrative that gives us such a nuanced view of a large community of people. The story grabs you and doesn't let you go until the very end.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to be pulled in by a story and gripped.

Don't see it if You want something huge in spectacle or set or any of that. Everything derives from the actors and what you are watching on stage.

See it if You want to see what musical theatre could be and want to see someone push the form.

Don't see it if You want to sit there and not be moved or involved or invested in anything happen on stage.

See it if You like musicals and centrist ideas of "you are just as bad as the people that want you dead."

Don't see it if You want something more than a basic music that really doesn't do anything for anyone.

Also The show is... Lackluster. Most of the songs don't move the plot forward because the people talking are doing that. It gets repetitive after a while and it just isn't good. There are also a few problems concerning casting and the ideas of how lesbian women are represented. You can tell the show is written by a man and it just makes you wonder... Was there anything else that could have been done?... Read more Read less

See it if You enjoy pain and punishing yourself having a good day.

Don't see it if You want an experience, something good, something that you'll want to remember forever.

Also The Flea has an AMAZINGLY talented acting company, but they are never used to their full potential. It's disappointing at best.... Read more Read less

See it if You love getting the chance to see a group of actors dominates the stage. If you love supporting voices of color or if you just a good show.

Don't see it if If you don't like table dramas or angry young men talking about their anger.

See it if If you want to watch humans recon with their own mortality and what it means to leave everything behind when you die.

Don't see it if If you don't like direct adaptions that just sort of twist things into a modern lens.

See it if You want all the intersectional feminist drama that you can handle. The acting is POPPIN. The story is POPPIN.

Don't see it if If you don't want to reckon with the way in which white women are also part of a white supremacist system.

See it if You enjoy a good romcom that starts off like a raging fire and slowly fizzles out towards the end. The opening of this show is INCREDIBLE.

Don't see it if If you don't enjoy romantic comedies or stories that follow similar narratives.

Also There are great commentaries on the way in which women are forced to be "the perfect woman" and what that does to them. It just got really long there towards the end.... Read more Read less

See it if You like the cookie cutter broadway musical and don't really see a point in engaging with ideas that make you think about... anything.

Don't see it if If you like seeing characters make mistakes and face consequences that aren't the chance to sing in a apple orchard at the end of the show.

See it if You REALLY like Andre De Shields and everything that he has going on. He saved the show, breathed some life into it, and is great.

Don't see it if You're interested in the premise because it literally just stops at "what if women weren't here" and doesn't seek to explore it.

Also "Women are gone. Dude. Women. Are. Gone." That's the play. It doesn't seek to investigate what happens if one of the two binary genders just up and vanishes from the face of the earth. I wanted to like this play, in fact, I wanted to love it. It continued letting me down and I felt like I could have left at the end of Act I because it literally just repeats on and on and on and on.... Read more Read less

See it if You enjoy a nuanced show about black people and the ways that class can carry you away from the people you love.

Don't see it if If you don't like plays that tend to get a little rocky towards the second act.