black odyssey NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (161)
See it if you want to see a refreshing and still relevant update to The Odyssey
Don't see it if you want to see traditional, linear theatre.
See it if you're a follower of reinventions of The Odyssey and care about expanding the ways to tell that story
Don't see it if you want to watch a performance. This one will involve you emotionally and thoughtfully
See it if you delight in seeing 9 shapeshifters create a universe w/ nothing more than a rowboat, choice costumes & Marcus Gardley's brilliant script.
Don't see it if you resent genius. This contemporary spin on Homer's epic (reset in Harlem) is so wisely, intricately done that it's downright humbling. Read more
See it if you want to see a talented cast in a great show. To support smaller theater & support a POC cast. To enjoy a night out. For a fantastic show
Don't see it if You don't travel downtown. You don't like retelling of classic stories. If you are closed minded to social issues. Read more
See it if Fabulous reimagining of The Odyssey, the ancient Greek epic poem, updated with the experience of a black man and his loved ones in America.
Don't see it if 3-hrs or seating where can’t see all action & hear all dialogue would bother u. Also pass if you don’t like plays based on Greek mythology. Read more
See it if You want to see a unique, creative spin on The Odyssey with an all black cast. Excellent acting and singing. Clever dialogue.
Don't see it if Some may be turned off by profanity and there is a sexually suggestive scene. But that would be their loss if they missed seeing this play.
See it if you like plays that have something to say, with actors who are at the top of their game, in an intimate setting. Please go!
Don't see it if you are looking for a frothy musical.This play has a lot to teach us, but is never pedantic.It's one you will be thinking about for days.
See it if Poet’s monument to (black) american inheritance. Casually brilliant Gardley dishes out a smorgasbord of rhythm, richness, drama. Come hungry
Don't see it if Hews to Greek epic structure rather than Greek dramatic structure: sprawling, episodic, & out of sequence (vs. tidy rising action, etc.) Read more
Critic Reviews (9)
“This classic-meets-modern, Greek-meets-Black production traverses a lot of ground in its two-and-a-half-hour running time, making the journey feel tiresome by the end. Still, ‘black odyssey’ offers a set of heroes — and villains — and a grand spectacle of Blackness to make the trip worthwhile.”
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“The play is at times captivating and clever, but it is more interested in reveling in its own cleverness than in seeing its choices through. The unevenness makes Gardley’s script feel a little corny in its reliance on on-the-nose pronouncements.”
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“...’black odyssey’ has an impulse toward overexpansiveness. Gardley wants to fit nearly everything into his big mythological universe”
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“In a theatre scene that can sometimes be risk-averse, Gardley's consistent originality and breadth of vision marks him as one of our most interesting playwrights... ‘Black Odyssey’ is an epic journey that pays commensurate with its challenges.”
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“...if I were still a high school English teacher, I would recommend black odyssey as required viewing. It is a show that is simultaneously enjoyable and edifying.”
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“The cast is uniformly excellent with superb comedic pacing and the heft for the more profound segments of Lincoln’s journey...Following the conception of his play from beginning to end reveals Gardley’s ability to effect exposition into action...This is one to see.”
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" 'black odyssesy' is theater you can really sink your teeth into — dramatic, imaginative and detailed. It takes a little patience, but once we hit our stride the storm tossed seas, and vivid nightmares are smooth sailing."
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“...Gardley’s play is most entertaining when you stop trying to match up his characters to the originals...And while Gardley is a master writer of comedy, he also knows when to keep it serious to explore his themes of persecution and injustice.”
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