Hundred Days NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (213)
See it if Concert cum performance art cum bio-drama powerfully sung & performed by charismatic Bengsons Focus more on Abigail's story w/mixed results
Don't see it if Elegant staging by Kauffman can't mask song cycle's innate self-absorbed quality But songs are both heart-felt & poignant enough to win out
See it if ...you like smart alt rock or folk music, & would like to see the genre extended & expanded -- a "concept album" in the flesh.
Don't see it if ...you require a play -- this is not that, & has only one, extended (& touching) scene; the rest of the story is told in song.
See it if you're a fan of folk rock music, unconventional narratives, intimate love stories like Once, or powerful voices (Abigail's voice is INSANE).
Don't see it if you don't enjoy folk rock music. This performance has a concert feel with a narrative interwoven. But it's all in the music.
See it if you want to see two supporting performers—Jo Lampert and Reggie D. White—steal the show from Abigail and Shaun Bengson!
Don't see it if you are not interested in a new genre: concert as theatre. Read more
See it if Enjoy indie-rock music and wish to hear the story of a couple.
Don't see it if Read the reviews which really praised this so I was disappointed.
See it if ...you are a fan of unconventional music. The story is sweet, but slight. The performers were engaging.
Don't see it if I did not care for the music. I found it tuneless and self-indulgent. The show was basically a concert with story. I was bored.
See it if love story of the Bensons told in a concert format with some dialogue in between songs; wonderful folk-rock music - some very moving
Don't see it if you want more of a traditional musical with elaborate staging; would be put off by loud music (& much drumming) which can hide the lyrics Read more
See it if you enjoy soul searching pieces that relate to real life scenarios and charm you
Don't see it if whimsy, edgy, operetta style pieces are not your cup of tea
Critic Reviews (21)
"A luminous musical memoir...Staged with resonant economy by the talented Kauffman, with sharp and subtle movement direction, 'Hundred Days' is cabaret as cri de coeur, and it is advisable to watch it with a handkerchief...The shift in focus from outside to inside clarifies and intensifies what was already an affecting piece...The Bengsons are stirring, and surprisingly witty, company. The Bengsons’s distinctive stage presence matches the story they tell."
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"Director Anne Kauffman plays against the internal emotional extremism of the material with an elegantly spare staging...Though only 75 minutes long, 'Hundred Days' has a slow, deliberate sensibility, in keeping with the Bengsons’ ways of dealing with death: not to outrun time but to force it to the pace you choose, extending it by a shared exultation in detail. The trick to sustaining love at first sight, their show suggests, is to never stop looking."
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"A deceptively simple affair: a stage largely unadorned save for musical instruments, a book by playwright Gancher that gives a voice both wry and poignant to the story of the Bengsons’ meeting and marriage, and of course, a collection of lush, plaintive, soaring songs...Shaun is a model of the classically self-effacing, hella-talented indie rock musician—his guitar holds the show together—and Abigail, out of her roiling anxiety, is able to release a vocal hurricane."
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"Despite its rollicking indie rock- and folk-flavored score, it feels entirely like TMI...There's little dramatic tension derived from watching the couple making moony eyes at each other, and their profuse declarations of love become more than a little grating...All this is a shame, because their music proves consistently tuneful and engaging, even if the amplification often prevents the lyrics, so important to the storyline, from being fully understood."
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“Exceptionally entertaining, not to mention deeply moving...An earlier version was seen at last year’s Under the Radar festival, and it’s gotten sharper and better in the year since...Accompanied by four equally personable and talented musicians on a stage seemingly lit by Edison bulbs and astutely directed by Anne Kauffman, the show takes just 90 fleet minutes to sink its teeth into your heart. It’s funny and charming and dead serious without ever being deadly.”
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"More squarely concentrated on Abigail's journey now, which works because she is an extremely exciting performer. Her vocal work is overwhelming in informing the rawness of her character. With slightly less of an emphasis on Shaun's side of the journey, the story's arc as a whole feels not quite as well rounded as before...Kauffman and the Bengsons have created a universal story, recognizable to anyone who's ever loved and lost."
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"Abigail delivers some of the most unearthly vocals that I have heard in a long, long time...Some of their songs are quite fetching...But it isn't very long into 'Hundred Days' before the feeling sets in that the Bengsons aren't really playing fair with us...Leaves one with the feeling that the Bengsons, for all their surface charm, are a self-involved and self-dramatizing pair...Even so, 'Hundred Days' is informed by real talent and enjoys a sleek production."
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"There will undoubtedly be people who enjoy and connect with 'Hundred Days,' but if you're like me you'll find it a challenge...The story, written in conjunction with Sarah Gancher, can't support a 90-minute drama even when it's shoehorned into a 'concert musical' framework...If this sounds like a bore, it is, despite the fact both Abigail and Shaun Bengson are charismatic performers. There were many times during 'Hundred Days' I had to stifle the urge to yell 'who cares?!' at the stage."
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