See it if A Must-see to enjoy a new stage material (some fast but mostly sad songs /poems) about the struggles of the jews during the holocaust.
Don't see it if not interested in Jewish history or Yiddish, tho there's English subtitles. If the whole show was performed in English, I would give it 100!
See it if The show is as relevant today as when the songs were written
Don't see it if It is hard to watch the action and read the supra titles at the same time Read more
See it if you are ready to be transported to a time that will break your heart. This beutifully performed musical touches the soul and mind.
Don't see it if if you are afraid to look at harsh history and seek answers to questions we have yet to solve.
See it if you speak Yiddish/are willing to watch supertitles: great songs/projections about terrors Jews endured and yet had hope during the Holocaust
Don't see it if you aren't open to watch supertitles or don't want Holocaust stories.
See it if you want beautiful, heartfelt performances that remind us how low a society can go, while delivering a message of warning for our times.
Don't see it if you don't like supertitles, even though these are easy to read if you need them.
See it if A beautifully executed, extremely talented cast transports us to the Jewish experience before/during WWII in the ghettos/camps
Don't see it if You don't want to see a show about the Holocaust; you can't sit through a show in Yiddish with English supertitles
See it if Wonderful songs masterfully performed. Beautiful music, superb actors, meaningful subject matter.
Don't see it if More of a song cycle than a plot driven play.
See it if you can deal with yet another Holocaust story: this time it is about ordinary people surviving & ultimately about their resistance.
Don't see it if you aren't open to a musical culled from the memories of displaced persons (which may seem incongruous but is the story of their experience) Read more
“ ‘Amid Falling Walls,’ though, relies heavily on lyrics and spoken text, almost all of it in Yiddish; non-Yiddish speakers, like me, will spend the performance reading supertitles, which are in English and Russian.”
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“this 80-minute musical revue takes audiences to the ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna, and Lodz, where makeshift Yiddish theaters and underground cabarets gave voice to the fears and aspirations of the people crowded within...No other company does this kind of work, and it would be a shame to miss this moving and revelatory showcase of mostly forgotten songs that still embody the spirit of survival and resistance.”
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"It's a tragedy too terrible to bear, a triumph almost too bitter to celebrate. And yet, the very existence of 'Amid Falling Walls' is cause for celebration, not least for its ability to convey the day-to-day reality of living, and outlasting, a world of horror. An important, highly valuable piece of the past has been finally retrieved."
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Director Matthew “Motl” Didner manages to make what might have been just a well-staged concert of moving songs into a dramatic whole with a deep feeling for the ebb and flow of emotions from happiness to hopelessness. "Amid Falling Walls"—an apt title, unfortunately, still consequential in 2023—does come during a spike in anti-Semitism. Though an entertainment, the show provides ample historical evidence of blind prejudice. If only the message could register.
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Putting today’s politics aside—assuming that’s even possible—Amid Falling Walls is absolutely worth a trip to Battery Park. You don’t need to know Yiddish to love it, and you’ll probably come to feel that without Yiddish it would lose half its power to move you.
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a simultaneously delightful and devastating musical revue … performed with verve and heart in Yiddish (with supertitles in English and Russian) by a lively nine-piece orchestra and an adept eight-member cast.. The songs demonstrate a breadth of tone, and a depth of talent by the creators, who ranged from amateurs as young as eleven to songwriting pros, all expressing themselves with humor and sorrow, rage and resistance,
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“This show of ‘songs of survival’ is a collection of Yiddish songs that are emotional and illuminating testimonials...The 80-minute revue encapsulates hope, resistance, bigotry, desperation, love, grief, tragedy, joy, and pride."
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"The production’s structure has nonlinear ghetto and partisan scenes and a loosely linked narrative, so in some ways it resembles a poignant musical revue. This framework strengthens the play’s focus on collective memory of tragedy and celebration of resilience through musical numbers that provide the 'glue' for the show...Certainly, this production’s message of Jews’ resilience amid tragedy and sorrow is an appropriate message for events of the day. "
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