Bella Bella NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (184)
See it if Smart and funny. One of Fiersteins’s sharpest solo shows. Really enjoyed it. Learned a lot.
Don't see it if You don’t like Harvey Fierstein.
See it if Harvey F is both serious and hilarious, as he does a wonderful job channeling Bella Abzug. I didn't know much about her, but now I do!
Don't see it if You don't like solo bios. You are uninterested in a pioneering Jewish feminist social-justice NY lawyer/politician from the 1970's.
Critic Reviews (17)
"Abzug and Fierstein, on the Same Ticket in ‘Bella Bella’: When the former Edna Turnblad plays the feminist firebrand of the 1970s, there’s no dress but it’s still a drag."
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4/5 stars "Informative and respectful throughout, but there's an unavoidable incongruity in the fact of Fierstein's male presentation. The tradeoff for this is Fierstein himself: He's so distinctive a performer and so immensely appealing as Abzug…that it's hard to imagine the role being played by anyone else.
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"Four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein wrote and performs this affectionate solo tribute to political firebrand Bella Abzug, set on the night of her 1976 bid to become New York State's first female Senator."
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"Fierstein wrote this homage to legendary New York politician Bella Abzug -- and plays her, too."
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"Harvey Fierstein’s ‘Bella Bella’ Is Classic Harvey Harvey"
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"Harvey Fierstein Takes On New York Politics in 'Bella Bella': Fierstein plays the real-life politician Bella Abzug in a new solo show."
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"Harvey Fierstein Tips His Hat To The Iconic Abzug in 'BELLA BELLA'"
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"Nobody works a room like Harvey Fierstein. In a time dominated in part by a fraught conversation about women and power, it's good to remember how Abzug built an indelible career by demanding that her voice be heard -- even if, all these years later, a man has to play her.:
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4/5 Stars "'Bella,' which Harvey Fierstein wrote and performs, is a funny, pointed, affectionate tribute that reminds us how far dedication and, yes, resistance can (and can't) go in effecting positive change."
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4/5 Stars "The beautiful thing about 'Bella Bella' is its timing: a fiercely intelligent, outspoken woman fighting for equal rights, civil rights, and abortion rights, blazing her own political trail and creating a legacy that future generations can admire and emulate? We can never see too many of those."
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"While Fierstein performs the role in male clothing (albeit with red toenail-polished bare feet), he essentially transforms himself into Abzug, a woman who spent her entire life overcoming adversity."
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"Methinks, this inquiry, and much of what follows it, is more about the current occupant of the White House than any previous one, which, no matter who Fierstein is pretending to be, still ends up coming off like mansplaining."
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"This isn't a traditional drag performance…Bella Bella is a tour-de-force by Fierstein, one done in tribute to Abzug, a woman he channels with love and affection but never lets off too easy…Fierstein lets us see the vulnerable side of a venerable woman."
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"Filled to the brim with Bella Abzug's trenchant wit and wisdom. For older theater goers, it's a trip down memory lane that spans many administrations, detailing presidential good deeds as well as the all too frequent surrenders to political expediency...for millenials it's an enlightening history lesson"
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"There are times during Harvey Fierstein's performance...that the audience is convinced that he is the iconic social activist 'Battling Bella.' Harvey Feinstein wisely chooses to 'be' Bella Abzug and not simply "portray" her. There are no gimmicks here, no backups, no filters, no frills - just Bella."
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"Fierstein's affection for Bella Abzug is abundantly evident - he seems to have turned her into himself…The show is entertaining and surely inspiring…The downside is how uncomfortably close Fierstein comes in his portrayal to the way her detractors painted her.
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"Fierstein…did not originally intend to play 'Battling Bella,' but, given his dipped-in-New York/Yiddishkeit persona, it’s hard to think of anyone (male or female) who could more delightfully have brought her to raging life, warts and all."
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