Dear World (New York City Center) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (114)
See it if A real old fashioned entertaining musical with great performances and lovely music
Don't see it if I loved it all
See it if You want to see a new version of Dear World with a beautiful cast and an incredible orchestra.
Don't see it if You want to see a contemporary musical. Read more
See it if Donna Murphy back on a New York stage where she belongs. Amazing performances all around. Delightful staging and production for Encores!
Don't see it if The plot is definitely a madcap rollicking adventure that wouldn't hold up in a full production, but this is the perfect Encores show.
See it if you want to see Donna Murphy at her peak. The show has a lovely warm-hearted message and is performed beautifully by all the actors.
Don't see it if you cannot get a ticket. Read more
See it if A Jerry Herman gem…with it’s quirky, almost absurd book and wonderful score, doesn’t come off as dated.Donna Murphy and cast are enchanting.
Don't see it if A throwback to classical musical of the 1960’s
See it if you know this rarely produced musical and want to see stellar cast including Donna Murphy performing it. A lovely score indeed!
Don't see it if you want to see popular Broadway shows or you are expecting mega staging and flawless plotting. Read more
See it if you love unexpected theatre. (But you can't see it.)
Don't see it if - never mind, you can't see it. Read more
See it if You are open to older musicals that haven’t been rewritten for contemporary audiences. Also it is surprisingly progressive politically.
Don't see it if Corny plots and dialogue annoy you. But it is over fifty years old. Read more
Critic Reviews (6)
CRITIC’S PICK: "Considering our current climate of reactive, out-loud politics, the melodramatic straightforwardness of Lawrence and Lee’s story doesn’t seem as far-out as it once did. Now, as then, Herman’s tuneful, yes-we-can score holds a steady beat for all to march to."
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“A downsized ‘Dear World,’ without the sweeping vocal arrangements and orchestrations, is far less thrilling. It is probably too late to seriously resuscitate ‘Dear World’.”
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“The flaws of Dear World are pretty apparent. It doesn't quite make sense, nor does it really work as a musical comedy. No, this production does not make a sudden case for ’Dear World ’as a neglected gem, but it does give this cuckoo crazy musical the best possible contemporary production it could want.”
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"Dear World," the not terribly successful 1969 Jerry Herman musical based on Jean Giraudoux’s "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1945), was basically a vehicle for the brilliant Angela Lansbury. It needs a star to pull off its quirky inconsistency and New York City Center Encores! has a gem, Donna Murphy, who, though under-rehearsed due to a Covid scare and carrying her script, gives a colorful and moving performance as its central character, Countess Aurelia.
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“This is how it should be done...It has it all: a lush orchestra playing a forgotten score, Broadway luminaries, laughs, romance, social commentary, and some minimal, but captivating design.”
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more than just a vehicle for Donna Murphy…. It’s also a vehicle for other terrific talent, especially two of Broadway’s funniest character actors, Christopher Fitzgerald and Anne Harada, as well as a wonderful dancer named Kody Jauron ….I certainly gave Herman’s songs a dutiful listen, but I think I understand what might have kept audiences half a century ago from fully appreciating them – because I don’t fully appreciate them now either.
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