A Clockwork Orange (New World Stages) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (239)
See it if You're a fan of loud, violent, in-your-face shows. The performances (especially Jonno Davies) are great, and the music is very fitting.
Don't see it if You don't like depictions of rape and torture. Or mostly naked men. The droog's fictional language can also be very difficult to understand.
See it if You like very fit actors and don't need to understand what they are saying.
Don't see it if You want to be able to follow the story. The acting was fine. Perhaps it was bad directing? It was just so confusing!
See it if you want to see 10 gorgeous, fit men dancing and putting their all into the show.
Don't see it if you expect a faithful interpretation of the film. This is not. It is dance-y and somewhat jumbled. Hard to understand if you don't know film
See it if you want to see great acting by JONNO DAVIES who played Alex DeLarge He is what makes it worth seeing
Don't see it if you want more than just one bright light in a mismash otherwise
See it if You like experimental theatre and the world Burgess creates.
Don't see it if You are triggered by violence or aren't willing to open your mind to new and unique theatre.
See it if everything I wrote above is cool w/you. If you know the movie or book you'll appreciate how the violence is toned-down, freeing the message.
Don't see it if you don't study & prepare. Only a fool will miss these guys go at it intensely, physically, verbally, musically AND erotically for 90min. Read more
See it if You're a fan of the film and can piece together what they're doing on stage. Newbies will probably find it confusing, as I did.
Don't see it if You prefer something more straight-froward in its storytelling.
See it if you're a fan of new innovative pieces, Shakespeare-ish like texts, & gorgeous muscley guys. The choreography is creative; overall pretty ok.
Don't see it if you're expecting violence, brutality, and vulgarity as the book & film sources would have you believe. There's a concept but no committment.
Critic Reviews (48)
"Retains a freshness and vigor that both excites and repels...A testosterone-heavy, noisy and boyish production...While Burgess has imagined vivid images for this moral debate...he has provided few ideas for us to get our teeth into...The show is visually striking and, very occasionally, uncomfortable to watch...What’s missing is a real emotional connection to either Alex or to any other character. Also absent is any real feeling of criminality...There’s no sense of danger."
Read more
"The bodies are preening, shirts off and on like some sort of Diet Coke advert gone mad, and they are all bodybuilder ready, particularly that of Jonno Davies, who plays the lead...It’s 90 minutes without an interval and it’s quite unremitting, what with the loud music and the violence that includes broken bottles and anal rape...It’s a spectacle, this show, bodybuilder dance theatre, but it feels more interested in testosterone shock and awe than conveying Burgess’s classic novel."
Read more
"A 90-minute account rich in movement and fight sequences, which animates the world of ultraviolence in which Alex and his gang live, but may render it too smooth and too easily palatable...Jonno Davies as Alex is, let’s be frank, a hunk...There’s much here to be admired, although I never felt the visceral thrill that informs the characters’ ultraviolence."
Read more
"An exhilarating 90 minutes...This is physical theatre with a capital PHYSICAL, rubbing testosterone into the face of the audience, performed to a blistering soundtrack of not just Beethoven...The cast waste not one minute drilled to a high level...They have your attention from the minute they walk slowly into the bare space, demanding your concentration...Inevitably some roles are little more than caricature...Imprinted with an originality that will stay with you after the play ends."
Read more
"It propels you mercilessly into a hideous world of drug-fueled violence...These bad lads cavort with grace and swagger in ultra-violence set pieces that dazzle with their visual imagination...It's disappointing that the women are uniformly caricatured by the all-male cast...This crisply directed and fabulously choreographed production takes a thoroughly nasty bunch and charts their fall and rise with an intensity that makes you very glad they don't live in your part of the world."
Read more
"An extremely good group of performers. Davies perfects controlled arrogance but demonstrates deep versatility when necessary...Spencer-Jones’ production has so many strengths but there’s ambiguity in droves. The second half especially requires too many scene changes...The violence too, is more inferred than demonstrated...The show is mostly strong and brings Burgess’ story to a new generation; however, the big smack in your face impact just unfortunately isn’t there."
Read more
"Director Spencer-Jones gives full expression to the novel’s philosophical richness while creating a distinct–and distinctive–theatrical experience. Her use of the all-male cast makes the scenes of sexualized violence suitably sickening without being prurient. At their best, the choreographed fights recall the 'rumpus' from 'West Side Story.' The charismatic Jonno Davies heads a virtuosic ensemble in a striking rendition of a modern classic."
Read more
"A fantastically well-written piece of work that has certainly stood the test of time as far as a story goes...Jonno makes the part his own and delivers a tour-de-force performance...Spencer-Jones really makes the most of every aspect of the story and her cast...It is impossible to drag your eyes off the stage. The production is intense and gripping from the start...A really amazing and awesome production."
Read more