A Walk With Mr. Heifetz NYC Reviews and Tickets

71%

(138 Reviews)

Positive

66%

Mixed

27%

Negative

Members say

Intelligent, Slow, Thought-provoking, Absorbing, Great acting

About the Show

Based on true events, Primary Stages's world premiere drama tells the story of how music helped Israel find its cultural identity during its formative years.

In 1925, an unforgettable event occurred when Jascha Heifetz, the most celebrated violinist in the world, played a concert in pre-Israel Palestine. People flocked from all over the globe to see this performance, including Yehuda Sharett, composer and brother of future Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett. Legend has it that after the performance, Heifetz and Yehuda walked together and shared a remarkable conversation that resonated twenty years later when, in 1945, Moshe echoed Heifetz’s experience with his brother in a similar exchange that changed the world as we know it.

Member Reviews (138)

Ambitious, Absorbing, Slow, Thought-provoking, Inadequate

See it if you are interested in the violent development of the Israeli state, the role of art in politics, the impact of grief, brotherly relationship

Don't see it if you're not interested in 20th century history of the Israeli state, don't know much about the Sharret brothers, not into Israeli music

Ambitious, Great acting, Great staging, Relevant

See it if you want to see some good acting a beautiful set, an interesting topic & some nice background violin work. Pre Israel, Israel ..the setting

Don't see it if you need a history lesson. It sometimes gets bogged down in the minutia.

Intelligent, Profound, Ambitious, Disappointing, Slow

See it if Covers an important time in world history, and gives an insight into the early days of Israel. I found the first act compelling.

Don't see it if But the second act was disappointing. It didn’t really go anywhere, and ultimately didn’t have much to say. However... Read more

Intense, Intelligent, Thought-provoking, Interesting

See it if you're interested in a play that ties music with the formation of the State of Israel with personal stories.

Don't see it if you're impatient; you don't like talky plays.

Tedious

See it if you are so fascinated with the modern history of Palestine that you don't need much of a story. Acting was excellent but did not save it.

Don't see it if You require a basic plot and not just arm-waving about principles.

Not surprised it's the playwright's 1st play, Boring, Fails to make us care, Disappointing

See it if you're strongly pro-Israel &/or would enjoy anything to do with Israeli history, even if the play itself is poorly written & constructed.

Don't see it if you want an interesting, cohesive play that gives you a reason to care about what's onstage, esp if you're not already strongly pro-Israel. Read more

Cliched, Dated, Disappointing, Slow, Fluffy

See it if you really want to see something about the history of Israel/Zionism

Don't see it if you're looking for an interesting, engaging way to learn history. this is quite boring

Confusing, Ambitious, Clever, Entertaining

See it if You know about the History of Israel in 1926 and have a understanding of what transpired and you understand Hebrew.

Don't see it if If you are looking for an easy understanding of what is happening between characters.

Critic Reviews (12)

"A play constructed for the sake of an argument...Mr. Inverne wants to make a point about the vital role of music in establishing a culture...But for all the biography in it, this play is an awkward amalgam of hastily sketched history, which will read clearly only to those who already know it, and stories told in detail to characters who would surely not be hearing them for the first time...A show that often aims much higher than it can reach."
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"These are all astute observations made by a writer who has thought deeply about Israeli history and the role music had in shaping it. Inverne, however, forgets to infuse his thoughts with dramatic stakes to make his characters more than just mouthpieces for his reflections...Violinist Mariella Haubs is the most moving element of the production...It's a peek into the emotional dimensions the play could have explored, and a disappointing realization of how much was left on the table."
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"Inverne's rather chatty and sedate drama about art, history, and politics...Its dramatic boiling point remains so high that it never escapes a certain quietude...Leynse's direction maintains a civil tone throughout, which may be a mistake...'A Walk with Mr. Heifetz' has a lot on its mind, and most of it is intelligently expressed, but it rarely rises to the level of drama. It's hard to believe in the transformative power of art when the drama onstage is so earnest and so given to speechmaking.'
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“Although an interesting idea, James Inverne's ‘A Walk With Mr. Heifetz’ has lofty ambitions which it is unable to fulfill. While the advertisement proclaims that these two encounters ‘changed the world as we know it,’ none of that comes through in the play. The thinness of the material and the two-dimensional characters fail to bring the story to life. Much more needs to be known or revealed to flesh out this intriguing but undramatized story.”
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"What little drama is present is overshadowed by historical and aesthetic issues…Plays can get away with talky, polemical considerations only when they're embedded in strong dramatic circumstances, with interesting characters. Here, the characters are little more than mouthpieces for ideas; just because they're embedded in the grand drama of Israel's birth or are accompanied by optimistic visions of the future, artistic and political, doesn't make them stageworthy."
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"Interesting but didactic...Leynse does what he can to keep our interest alive...The play's willingness to keep the three characters talking about the role the artist plays in nurturing and also empowering a nationalistic musical esthetic is, however, not quite enough to satisfy our thirst for more intense drama. It is fascinating to hear how the tune that was to become the Israeli national anthem was found. What hasn't been found is a compelling enough story to tie all the rhetoric together."
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"A seminar on the history of Israel that manages to be one-sided and absent of fireworks of any sort...Plot is nowhere to be found...No drama...The actors do the very best they can, but neither their work, nor the beautiful music, nor Leynse's direction are enough...Inverne intended this play to be a story that captured the passion of a people prepared to sacrifice anything to have a home. Instead he ended up with a play that has all the intrigue of a warm bowl of milk. A missed opportunity."
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"In his debut as a playwright, Inverne is able to convey his deeply-felt emotion about Israel but his characters are too simply drawn and he touches on too many themes. Despite a good performance by Yuval Boim as Yehuda, the character is distracting and seems unable to focus...It deals with many themes and often they become interwoven and too complicated...In a good historical drama you can actually learn something too."
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