His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (17)
See it if you want to experience an engaging, high energy, topical, cabaret style performance; great jazz/beebop from a wonderful trio of musicians.
Don't see it if you don't like Lord Buckley; satirical, non-fiction, political theater touching on past and present; you dislike jazz and intimate settings. Read more
Critic Reviews (13)
"For more than 10 years now, Jake Broder has been on a quixotic mission to preserve the memory of Lord Buckley...Mr. Broder, holding a cigarette that may or may not be wacky tobacky, throws himself into the routines. But the novelty of Buckley’s lingo grows thin quickly, culminating in a particularly dull bit...At this point Buckley, who died in 1960, is more interesting than his material. Mr. Broder might consider redirecting his passion into a biographical play."
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"Liberal, contemporary political statements are cleverly embedded in the dialogue...Broder's portrayal of Lord Buckley showcases his creativity and wonderful comedic timing. Michael Lanahan is ideal as the the Hip News Man…The excellent musicianship of the jazz trio makes the pacing of the show lively and fascinating…See this zany, yet incredibly relevant show while it is on the New York City stage. It is an outstanding piece of theater for the holiday season."
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"An exhilarating recreation of the 1950s cult performer’s act...Broder's performance is a series of enthralling, fast-paced, and animated recitations of Buckley’s routines as well as superb jazz singing...His script fuses the 1950s set pieces with anachronistic topical references, achieving the fantasy that Buckley exists in the present...Director David Ellenstein supremely blends all of the spoken, musical and technical elements into a briskly paced production with creative flourishes."
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"It’s funny, in a gallows humor kind of way. Missing, however, is any sense of Lord Buckley himself...Audience members who know little-to-nothing about the Good Lord B will be forced to take a trip to Wikipedia…It’s a tragic story. And although Broder does a terrific job of imagining Lord Buckley’s reaction to the foibles and frustrations of 21st century life, I wish some elements of Buckley's personal history had been woven into the narrative he delivers."
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"Doomed to mediocrity...Its shock value and originality are virtually invisible today...But director David Ellenstein and writer/performer Jake Broder give it their all...Broder’s script is, for no apparent reason, set 'Now' and includes contemporary political barbs, most aimed at Donald Trump. If you’re going to travel back in time to relive a cultural moment, it seems counterintuitive to make current references...Buckley’s act simply doesn’t stand the test of time."
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"Broder is doing the world a great service by recreating Buckley’s unique political humor for contemporary times. The message of love, peace, joy, tolerance, respect, sharing, is particularly appropriate for Christmas time. But it is not corny at all. It is delivered with swing and hipsemantics, and comes at you sideways, hitting you upside the head…There is so much that is funny and poignant and profound in this show…I loved this show and may even go again."
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"The most racially insensitive production I have seen at a major theatre...Though its actors may not be wearing blackface, 'Lord Buckley' is a minstrel show, a recklessly cartoonish misappropriation of black culture...A sleek mess of jumbled storytelling and retrograde politics...This isn’t a matter of speech-policing or political correctness: Quite simply, 'His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley' is an act of cultural appropriation dressed up in a condescending veneer of reverent nostalgia."
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"Mr. Broder’s delicious, 90-minute, two-set foray to those depths is special indeed and a must-see event…Mr. Broder delivers an unbridled, full-bore fusillade against racism, sexism, xenophobia and all things president-electoral...Mr. Broder’s honesty and authentic performance offer true insights into the human condition and the state of the nation in the present. He is engaging, informed, and understands the role of comedy in effecting significant change."
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“I went to 'His Royal Hipness' hoping to get hip to his groove, but the show didn't give me the solid I was hoping for. His material, at least as contemporized by Broder, is leaden, and the hipster lingo of half a century ago, with which the show's obsessed, seems as dated as stereos and old LP comedy records...Throughout the show, the most obvious target is...the president-elect...Buckley may be hip but he's not Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, Jon Stewart, or Seth Meyers.”
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"Superbly directed by David Ellenstein...Lanahan has a fine voice, and croons with Broder, whose vocals are equally surprising and excellent...Throughout, Broder is a musical virtuoso attuned to the rhythms of jazz...'His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley' is at once ingenious and sterling in its innovative approach to dynamic musical theater, using echoes of the past to translate universal themes into the present."
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"You simply mustn’t miss 'His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley' and the man who stands in for the legend, one Jake Broder...If you dig classic licks and linguistic tricks, spend two out-of-this-world hours with Jake Broder and company...Broder keeps his performance humming. It looks like no easy feat reciting all that purple-tinted prose, but he does so without a stumble...He takes the original Buckley’s work and runs with it."
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"A wild, charming, make-your-head-spin work that lets you into the erudite, frenetic, funny world of, well, Lord Buckley...The language is delicious be-bop hip...The band is quirky and certainly a character in the piece. The music is worthy of a show of its own. This is an amazing, current-events-meets-history piece given to us by a one-of-a-kind man who is wry, funny, angry and who invites us all into his wildly individual club."
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"The premise of Lord Buckley’s act is a kind of grotesque masterclass in cultural appropriation...Broder is clearly a Buckley superfan who believes that what these dark times need is His Royal Hipness’ message of love and un-squareness. I can see where he’s coming from...But that does not excuse the fact that a largely homogeneous audience is applauding an all-white cast in what is essentially an act of minstrelsy...A tone-deaf and incredibly uncomfortable 90 minutes."
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