Do I Hear a Waltz? NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (43)
See it if You love Sondheim if you love Melissa Erico if you want to sees rarely produced show if you want perfection
Don't see it if You want a happy feel good musical. This has a dark side.
See it if You like music of Richard Rogers and Stephen Sondheim, 1960's musicals, Melissa Erico, liked the film Summertime.
Don't see it if You like full scale productions. You like modern rock musicals. You waqnt all the bells and whistles.
See it if You like classic musicals with a beautiful score & great story. Performances are excellent, realistic story, one of my fav shows @ Encores!
Don't see it if You don't like old fashioned musicals or need a fairytale ending. I enjoyed the very realistic approach to the story.
See it if Early Sondheim wit & late Rodgers romance. Top theatre professionalism. Cosmic Karen Ziemba. Sonorous Richard Troxell. Encores right on!
Don't see it if No interest in old-fashioned and flawed curiosities from our American musical theatre heritage.
See it if Beautiful old fashion music. Great voices and talent. Some eternal, some surprising themes and blunt psychological treatment.
Don't see it if You don't like concert productions, prefer your endings tied neatly & would rather avoid controversial themes. It ends like real life would.
See it if Fantastic casting, thoughtful staging, luminous Melissa Errico; Rogers/Sondheim completists
Don't see it if Lack of thrills, Adequate to very good songs without a true memorable song, realism may be a turn-off for escapists
See it if If you want to experience a great take on bittersweet love and romance by an early Sondheim
Don't see it if are bothered by adultery and less than happy endings
See it if You enjoy old-fashioned musicals, with clever lyrics
Don't see it if You dislike musicals
Critic Reviews (18)
“Comes across as a show about the pursuit of passion that has little passionate urgency itself...I can’t say that this ‘Waltz’ ever thrilled me. But I was fascinated by every second of it...The tone of ‘Waltz’ wobbles between sentimentality and cynicism. The same tension is felt in the songs...Rodgers’s score mostly seems to float up a lazy canal...Every so often, though, a whiff of the ‘wonderful mystical magical miracle’ stirs the air.”
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"Many shows that look on paper like they shouldn’t work have nevertheless been brought to glory by terrific stagings. 'Do I Hear a Waltz?' is not one of those; it’s the opposite. The conflicts and compromises that leave their marks on its material are subtractive, not additive, making it very difficult to pull off...The staging, by Evan Cabnet, was frequently awkward and generally monotonous. It was, of course, sung well."
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“Although the Encores! semistaged production doesn’t hide shaky spots and is a bit dry and underwhelming, the show is a fascinating, seldom-seen curio. There are some terrific songs...Rodgers’ melodies have typical sweep and bounce. Sondheim’s lyrics boast signature wit and acid...Leona is by turns nice and neurotic. She’s also a mean drunk. Errico traces those curves with gusto and her voice shines.”
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“None of it registers as among Rodgers or Sondheim's best work, but even their second-tier material is superior to almost everyone else's. Still, the piece is most effective in the book portions, which don’t successfully mesh with the musical sequences...Errico delivers a haunting performance. The rest of the ensemble is equally fine...It's easy to see why ‘Waltz’ failed originally. But one must be grateful to Encores! for providing the opportunity to reassess this flawed gem.”
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“The show spawned no standards and hasn’t been revived since its 1965 premiere. Yet a new semistaged Encores! production is lovely: Turns out ‘Waltz’ is loaded with gorgeous Rodgers melodies and terrific, biting Sondheim lyrics...Led by Melissa Errico, Karen Ziemba and lyric tenor Richard Troxell, the cast is in fine voice and honors the songs — even as the hilarious Sarah Stiles steals the show in a monosyllabic role.”
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“The score is extremely uneven. Half of the songs show signs of the acerbic wit that Sondheim would employ to great effect five years later in ‘Company’ while the rest are uninspired, hollow ballads. Laurents’ book contains an interesting protagonist...but the storytelling is often static and sleep-inducing. As directed by Evan Cabnet, this is an elegant production of a work that is better off left in the drawer, as a footnote to Sondheim’s unparalleled career.”
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“Often enjoyable, even when one can recognize that it is not a particularly great musical...The pieces never quite fit together in a way that engages our hearts, rather than just our brains...Under Cabnet's imaginative direction, it's the supporting players who make the strongest impression...Unfortunately, most of our time is devoted to the 'wash and wear Americans' at the center of the plot...The stakes couldn't be much lower.”
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“Well cast and skillfully handled as a knowing chamber piece...Melissa Errico is a chipper bundle of buoyancy...Opera star Richard Troxell makes an impressive musical theatre debut...Encores!'s ‘Waltz’ makes a strong case for the musical not being fully appreciated fifty-one years ago. True, there are plenty who do not go to musicals for lessons in shrugging off failed romances, but those seeking a mature and sober look at the perils of coupling will be singing its praises.”
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