Carmelina NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (24)
See it if you like old fashioned musicals revived by very talented folks.Andrea Burns is a delight.
Don't see it if you are looking for something edgy.This is just pure old fashioned fun. Terrific score, great performances.
See it if you are a fan of Lerner or if you just want to hear two of his rarely performed love songs.
Don't see it if You're expecting My Fair Lady or Camelot. This piece is lovely, but not traffic-stopping like MFL/C. Read more
See it if you want to see a beautifully sung, quite amusing staged reading of a charming piece. Wonderful cast. I had never heard of it but loved it!
Don't see it if you don't like staged readings. The cast holds their scripts and staging is rudamentary. But the cast is so wonderful, you should still go!
See it if You like to see shows that were shunned originally get remastered to shine, even if for only a short time
Don't see it if You like flash and dazzle, that's not what Mufti is about
See it if you want an original score Mamma Mia story and don't mind a rough version, as it is not fully staged.
Don't see it if you don't like sappy love stories.
See it if you like musicals. Despite the spare set and no costumes, this show is very engaging. Great talent and cleaver lyrics carry the show.
Don't see it if you don't like heart warming shows. The plot kind of peters out with a hokey resolution. But that does not matter too much.
See it if You want to see a classic musical that's sweet, funny, and just a good time.
Don't see it if You want theatre that will profoundly move you - this is theatre fluff at its fluffiest.
See it if you are open to the mufti style and want to see a solid production of a rarely-done show.
Don't see it if you dislike shows that have a very pat ending or if you prefer a big fancy showbiz-type musical. Read more
Critic Reviews (11)
“Leeds directs the York's latest visit to this underappreciated effort, a very enjoyable book-in-hand production featuring a terrific cast...Burns gives a gutsy, dramatically sung performance as the title character...The score features the catchy, Neapolitan-styled ‘It's Time For A Love Song’, a wonderfully-structured story-telling selection, ‘Someone In April’...Certainly, ‘Carmelina’ is a musical that deserves at least one more walk around the garden.”
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"No justification is needed for an entertainment as charming and tuneful as this...The show had only thirty-six hours of rehearsals; one imagines that, had he had more time, the director, Michael Leeds, would have cleaned up a bit of business...But the laughs are plentiful, the songs fall beautifully on the ear, and a show that once seemed destined for the flop shelf now looks like a highly playable proposition."
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“Witty, well-crafted, romantic, smart...and gorgeously melodic...Harman's heavily rewritten book plays just fine, and the score, re-conceived and reordered as it is, remains both a model of musical-comedy efficiency...It's a rare look at a late work from musical masters, and, as much as it's been tampered with, a fun story that speaks eloquently of spiraling deception, fragile male egos, and parental responsibility.”
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"Though not in the same class with Lerner's masterpiece, 'My Fair Lady,' 'Carmelina' has a similar theme: how a young woman reinvents herself. While the three soldiers are under the impression that they invented Carmelina in the classic Pygmalion and Galatea fashion, in fact Carmelina has reinvented herself, also a major theme in the Lerner canon, along with Coco...This charming musical comedy also features a Tony Award-nominated score which deserves a second and a third hearing."
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"It was my pleasure to see this charming show in a well-staged, sweetly performed and beautifully sung production...I was hooked. Burton Lane was one of the great melodists that ever wrote for the theatre (or film), and his score for 'Carmelina' is no exception...If you’ve never experienced a 'mufti,' then you can do no better than to luxuriate in Burton Lane’s outstanding melodies in 'Carmelina,' sung by a talented eight-person cast."
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“The cast is superbly cast, with the fathers getting the best numbers. The show is extremely ballad heavy...The York and its company give this show a winning revival in their Mufti series. Musical Director David Hancock Turner makes the score sound lush and Director Michael Leeds, keeps the cast on its toes. Audiences of an older generation will find this show charming, while the younger generation will find this show overtly sweet...Bravo to The York for giving shows another look.”
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“Staging under the direction of Michael Leeds, with David Hancock Turner as musical director, is quite delightful. Yes, the plot may still be a stretch, but the story abetted by some very good songs offers the opportunity for performances that are amusing and also sometimes touching...The York has come through once again with an impressive cast of eight who bring the tale to life.”
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“This is a warm bath of a musical with some lovely, if unmemorable songs, light, comic moments, and romance; a sweet story full of people who do the right thing, despite initially feeling betrayed. The production is deft, direction engaging, voices excellent all around...Casting is spot on in this production. Everyone looks kind of like we’d imagine. All have talent...Director Michael Leeds approaches the presentation with more attention to detail than many other successful muftis."
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