Fire in Dreamland NYC Reviews and Tickets

67%

(120 Reviews)

Positive

46%

Mixed

41%

Negative

13%

Members say

Great acting, Disappointing, Slow, Confusing, Absorbing

About the Show

Set in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the Public Theater's new drama breaks the boundaries of time and narrative to explore the astonishing things we create in the face of devastation.

A disillusioned do-gooder named Kate meets Jaap, a charismatic European making a film about the 1911 fire that burned Coney Island’s Dreamland amusement park to ashes. Desperate for something to live for, Kate buys a ticket on the thrill ride of Jaap’s passion. The only trick is to keep the roller coaster from running off the rails before it destroys them all.

Member Reviews (120)

Disappointing, Slow, Banal, Overrated

See it if Your a/c is broken

Don't see it if You’ve got anything else to do

Ambitious, Banal, Confusing, Disappointing, Slow

See it if you are jonesing for a fix of Naomi Jones on stage, but know that she doesn’t sing a note in this production.

Don't see it if you are expecting to ride the rollercoaster pictured on the cover of the playbill, because this carnival ride gets stuck on the tracks. Read more

Confusing, Slow, Disappointing

See it if You like disjointed and confusing plays with bad writing and no chemistry between the actors

Don't see it if If you like a well written play that is easy to follow and holds your interest

Banal, Disappointing

See it if I honestly have no idea why you would want to see this show.

Don't see it if You like having fun or enjoy a good time.

Disheveled, Disappointing, Confused

See it if you're a completist for the playwright or actors or odd details about the process of making an independent film.

Don't see it if you'd rather see a promising love story after its been untangled from a lot of superfluous minutiae.

All-over-the-place, Showy, Cinematic, Something, Costumes

See it if you like romanticized nostalgic escapism

Don't see it if you crave crisp structured stories Read more

Good acting, Confusing, Strange stage direction

See it if You have an affinity for 2-3 person plays, you like Coney Island, you can tolerate atypical stage direction and fragmentation.

Don't see it if You dislike fragmented storylines and atypical stage direction; you prefer traditional narrative storytelling. Read more

During previews

Disappointing, Confusing, Excruciating

See it if you enjoy a confusing mess of a drama or mermaid costumes.

Don't see it if you like to know what's going on. This show completely disappointed me. I couldn't wait for it to end. No intermission so you're stuck.

Critic Reviews (29)

"Rinne Groff’s shaky parable of art and love and licorice...Affectionate, but never especially persuasive...The play borrows from the current template of the rom-com, in which love allows a childish man to grow up and an uptight woman to loosen up. But there’s something uglier and yet not ugly enough operating here...The play takes a more compelling turn just at the end, exploring what we do after a calamity and how we might, with care and pain, rebuild our boardwalks and our hearts."
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"Faltering but beautifully performed dramedy... Director Marissa Wolf does strong work, and Groff’s script includes a number of elegant touches, like time hops and flashbacks...The play’s weakness comes from its lack of a serious central conflict...Its main tragic moments, told in monologue, concern animals that have been dead for more than a hundred years. For a drama that's about focusing on reality and present suffering, there's more sentimental smoke than emotional fire."
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"If 'Fire in Dreamland' falters a bit in its tale—which remains compelling overall thanks to Groff’s humor and sensitivity and the production’s game trio of actors—it does so by never quite grabbing us fully by the throat. It has us firmly and kindly by the hand, and it leads us on a largely lovely journey, but there’s pain and shock and betrayal along that path, and in Wolf’s rendering we’re kept largely insulated from these gut feelings."
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"This fascinating and funny new play...Jones makes an appealing and instantly relatable everywoman...Director Marissa Wolf has tightly staged this play with jump cuts, denoting a shift in scenes using only a slight pulse in the lights...Groff makes a persuasive argument: That dishonesty exists because we want it to — because we prefer beautiful dreams to depressing reality."
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“A play that is marked by persistent vagueness of purpose...Jones's presence is effortlessly compelling, her delivery authoritative...Kate, as written, isn't sufficiently engaging, and her willful blindness to her circumstances becomes increasingly grating...Wolf, can't bring any clarification to this skittish tale, her overall handling feels professional...An unpersuasive drama about art and love. A great drama about this terrible event has yet to be written.”
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"Choppy but nonetheless intriguing and well-acted play...One of the strengths the playwright brings to the table lies in her ability to take a familiar trope and provide it with unexpected twists and turns. None of the three characters is merely a stereotype...Under Marissa Wolf's direction, all three actors leap fearlessly into their performances...There definitely are times when the play would be well served with the trimming away of superfluous elements."
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"Marissa Wolf directs Groff’s opus creditably, and Jones, Gjokaj and Beltran perform it well. Though perhaps ultimately unable to make Kate completely sympathetic, Jones does her attractive utmost...As Groff spun her unsatisfying tale, I knew what every word meant, but more and more I stopped caring."
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"It’s an interesting and beautifully staged play, directed by Marissa Wolf, with a fantastic central performance from Rebecca Naomi Jones, that’s less than entirely fulfilling only because Groff tries to squeeze quite so much into its 90 minutes...Here, there’s real-world tragedy, too. But the experience ends up being, perhaps, a bit like that fire: thrilling and exciting, and just too much to take in."
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