Elyria
65

Elyria NYC Reviews and Tickets

65%
(90 Reviews)
Positive
54%
Mixed
28%
Negative
18%
Members say
Slow, Confusing, Ambitious, Absorbing, Disappointing

Two women meet after making decisions that have affected each other for decades.

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Member Reviews (90)

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926 Reviews | 932 Followers
77
Well acted, Soap opera fun, Entertaining, Absorbing

See it if You are in the mood for a fun, soap opera like adventure. Great staging and acting.

Don't see it if could be a bit shorter.

735 Reviews | 158 Followers
70
Unfulfilling, Confusing, Ambitious, Imperceptible, Slow

See it if you like southern Asian dancing, family stories with drawn-out twists, stories of immigrants of various wealth, south Asian casting

Don't see it if you need time periods and specific characters within them clarified early on, plays that introduce new issues toward the end, heavy accents

489 Reviews | 57 Followers
75
Refreshing, Great staging, Great acting

See it if enjoy a new voice for those not often seen on stage. well staged and balanced production.

Don't see it if want everything spoon-feed. need to pay attention to figure out what's going on, when - as it takes place in multiple time frames.

WH
432 Reviews | 77 Followers
74
Loose & multiple storylines are confusing, In the round -- some rough sightlines, Uneven casting & performances, Script needs to be trimmed & focused, Stories of family secrets

See it if You like family dramas. Are interested in Indian culture and the U.S. immigrant story.

Don't see it if You need a polished & focused script and production. Need the entire cast to be believable.

406 Reviews | 86 Followers
65
Bad writing, Slow, Disappointing

See it if You appreciate diversity of culture and want to support more Indian-American theater. The actors tried their best with the material.

Don't see it if The play is poorly written, full of cliches and predictable twists. It drags on without saying much.

371 Reviews | 104 Followers
65
Long

See it if you're interested in plodding family drama

Don't see it if you're not

347 Reviews | 78 Followers
71
Some nice moments, Good acting, Slow, Confusing

See it if you like shows that reveal themselves slowly, don't mind not being sure what is going on at first. Interested in stories of immigrants.

Don't see it if you want an action driven play. Are bothered by sections of untranslated dialogue (although you get the idea in context of what is said).

313 Reviews | 39 Followers
73
Slow, Absorbing, Intelligent, Thought-provoking, Confusing

See it if I have to admit I had no idea what was going on for the first act.Only in the second act did it come together and work.Good acting, plot

Don't see it if having a significant part of the dialogue in a language unknown to you is confusing and off-putting. Universal themes of self versus should

Critic Reviews (8)

The New York Times
February 27th, 2023

“Patel’s Charu is perfect...Charu is comic and reckless, selfish and decent, myopic and real. It’s an exhilarating performance, a work of actorly alchemy.”
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Time Out New York
February 27th, 2023

3/5 Stars...Under Awoye Timpo's uncharacteristically unfocused direction, Elyria takes a while to find its rhythm in the exposition-heavy yet confusing first act, which builds to a telegraphed reveal. Act II is more engaging intellectually, if not emotionally, as Purohit unpacks the baggage that all immigrants schlep with them. But by then we’re not wholly invested in the contents."
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New York Theatre Guide
February 28th, 2023

“Awoye Timpo’s fluid production is not to be missed, and its ghosts will haunt you after the lights go down.”
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Theatermania
February 27th, 2023

“Shagginess and confusion aside, the production boasts a few fine performances...But that's not enough to recommend ‘Elyria,’ which struggles to find a cohesive plot to put flesh on the bones. It is an ambitious attempt, but ultimately experimental theatrics get in the way of a potentially good story.”
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Lighting & Sound America
March 8th, 2023

Ambition is a great thing in a playwright but, in the case of Elyria, Deepa Purohit's reach exceeds her grasp; this tangled, multi-generational tale might test the skills of her more accomplished colleagues, and certain aspects of Awoye Timpo's direction don't prove helpful. Purohit certainly has something but wrangling her many characters and imperfectly woven plot strands proves to be something of a struggle. There's enough material here for at least eight episodes on Netflix; condensed, confusingly, into a little over two hours, one strains to keep up.
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Talkin' Broadway
February 27th, 2023

“The performances by Nilanjana Bose and Gulshan Mia as the two central characters are solid and engaging, but neither the plot, nor Awoye Timpo's direction, nor the sometimes confusing design elements are able to pull the disparate pieces into a fully realized production. Elyria feels like a work in progress, its potential as yet unmet.”
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TheaterScene.net
March 16th, 2023

What makes "Elyria" intriguing is how its American location affects the hidebound ritual social rules of its Southeast Asian characters. That all the characters emerged from an African diaspora that seemed to have little influence on their ingrained Indian culture only adds to the colorful rendition of an old-hat story.
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Theater Pizzazz
February 27th, 2023

“In Deepa Purohit’s ‘Elyria,’ most of the characters are off-balance...Unfortunately, the play itself struggles with the same problem—there are compelling scenes and uniformly winning performances from the cast, yet the show is frustratingly uneven, adding up to less than the sum of its parts.”
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