Bella: An American Tall Tale NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (246)
See it if You want something different
Don't see it if You hate musicals
See it if Wonderful show with a tongue-in-cheek book that is great fun! Cast and tech, especially costumes, are fabulous!
Don't see it if you don't want to have a good time. It's a well-done evening. Second act could be trimmed just a little.
See it if Like a wild wild western, done by an all black cast. Wonderfully done, absolutely entertaining. Will go back to see AGAIN.
Don't see it if Don't like women in a western play. Read more
See it if You enjoy tall tales, great music and an enjoyable evening.
Don't see it if You are looking for so.ething more conventional.
See it if you're looking to see a fun show that can laugh at itself and isn't too deep. If you want to see a talented cast who can sing very well!!!!
Don't see it if you want to see a serious show, can't suspend disbelief, expect to see a perfectly developed show. You get frustrated with silly shows. Read more
See it if you like fun musicals based on tall tales and legends rather than historical fact, along with superb singing.
Don't see it if if you prefer a more serious and dramatic theater experience.
See it if you like to be challenged by a quirky musical that is very different than anything else.
Don't see it if you only like traditional musicals.
See it if you like funny, satirical, rollicking musicals with good music and lyrics. Exuberant performances by a great cast with some terrific voices
Don't see it if you want a quiet evening at the theater.
Critic Reviews (28)
“‘Bella: An American Tall Tale,’ book, music and lyrics by Kirsten Childs, is a rambunctious, sexy new musical at Playwrights Horizons. Ms. Childs, whose ‘The Bubbly Brown Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin’ (2000) will be restaged this summer as part of the Encores! Off-Center series, has written an adventurous musical which occasionally sags a bit, but is always sassy and lively.”
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"Kelley’s Bella is delightful. Wide-eyed with a high-pitched voice, she’s innocence personified, with a tee hee giggle that makes her seem like a child...'Tall Tale' gets a little unwieldy here and there, but for the most part director Robert O’Hara keeps it on track...'Bella, an American Tall Tale' is, for the most part, a study in frivolity that sometimes lights up the stage and sometimes doesn’t."
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"Attempts to tell the forgotten tales of the haunted and the hunted, and all those who came from far off lands to build, populate and protect this country’s frontiers…The sad part is, there is so much talent on the stage. But the staging is static, and the book and the plot are confusing, juvenile, and don’t accomplish Childs’ lofty ideas. She’s not offering empowering alternative archetypes, she’s regurgitating stereotypes.”
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"'Bella' succeeds as a delightfully imaginative, spirited story that fuses reality and fiction to such a degree that we're not entirely sure which is which—or if it even matters. Kelley leads a cast brimming with energy and enthusiasm...A wild, whimsical ride filled with moments of extreme silliness. Not that that's a bad thing—actually, I think we probably need more silly theatre. And this particular brand of endlessly clever, satisfying silliness strikes just the right chord."
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"This show leaves us scratching our heads...I’m not sure I understand the directorial choice of having so many characters be so campy and over-the-top, but it certainly didn’t help keep me engaged in this meandering concoction or care about the outcome...Kelley, as Bella, is the shining star in this circus of a show...It’s just a shame she is centered in the swirl of a musical that is having an identity crisis, saddled with some of the silliest scenarios I’ve seen."
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"The collection of ambitions and forms and storytelling devices can’t sustain a consistent position on this particular juxtaposition between depicting a powerful black female in the 1870s who is battling to reclaim her ancestry versus the action-hero 21st century satirical version of the same female who effortlessly fights off the bad guys by booty-smacking them...The prevailing tone is one of antic silliness, one that straddles the line between the absurd and the asinine."
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“Bouncy, bloated, and blithely bizarre…A musical paean to big, black, female bottoms, and the women they belong to…Whereas Act One's dramatic progression is weak, being essentially a series of adventures, Act Two provides a sharper narrative…Childs's music ranges from the melodically bland to the tunefully enjoyable…'Bella' is all over the place, unsure of its satirical purposes...It becomes difficult to tell just what it is we're watching.”
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"There is a lot to admire about Childs’ 'Bella'...The entire cast is vocally strong and a great deal of fun...The score is interesting....The script, however, is a mixed bag...The problem is 'Bella' is three shows, which is one too many...Robert O’Hara’s direction also seems a little over-the-top and, instead of grounding Ms. Child’s work, he has set it to flight...I would like to see this piece reworked and brought back. There is a gem inside all of this disorder."
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