In the Green NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (89)
See it if you like experimental musicals. Glorious, all-female voices. Storytelling is confusing, but raises women issues then & now. Untradl staging.
Don't see it if you want a fully coherent story. Read program note before. Innovative approach to biography. Dark material, but some light songs. Stick w/it
See it if Sublime collage of medieval and modern musical elements sung by 3 Hilde's and 2 Jutta's w/band. Feminist story is more fiction than bio.
Don't see it if You won't enjoy a strange, mystical musical experience. The story had its high points but left me deflated. Terrible ending.
Critic Reviews (9)
"For audacity and opacity it’s hard to top 'In the Green'...Unless you’re already acquainted with the masterworks of Hildegard, you’re unlikely to appreciate Ms. McLean’s splintering riffs on the original. The entire production is steeped in a mixture of archness and earnestness that prohibits emotional engagement and easy listening...Give credit, though, to the bold musical experimentation going on here, generated by an ace team."
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"In its gracelessly blunt lyrics and its gimmicky concepts...the show wears its subtext on its long medieval sleeves. But the music is heavenly...The tunes soar even as the story stays earthbound. Director Lee Sunday Evans can't liven up the inaction...An abrupt and seemingly tacked-on ending briefly shows Hildegard's post-Jutta existence and hints that 'In the Green' needed more time to ripen...However, McLean’s promise shines through this fascinating if flawed experiment."
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"Under the elegant, just-playful-enough direction of Lee Sunday Evans, In the Green tells a speculative version of the extraordinary story of Hildegard von Bingen...If 'In the Green' doesn’t always thread the needle with its narrative, it makes up for it with its score. Medieval Christian mysticism was amazingly physical — and McLean creates a musical texture for Hildegard’s story that flows straight from the body."
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"Grace McLean's innovative new musical tells the story of Hildegard von Bingen's formative years."
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"Chamber musicals don't get much more chamber than composer/lyricist/bookwriter Grace McLean's In the Green, an intriguing new piece receiving its premiere at LCT3's Claire Tow Theater."
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"Abstract, though not so much that you can't follow the plot, 'In the Green' is a fascinating work...For a new and experimental work like this, there are really only a couple of bumps along the way...'In the Green' works best when the players are confined to their cell. And musically, this is a score I hope will be recorded so that I can listen to it over again."
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"★★★ A cool though cryptic musical considers Hildegard von Bingen"
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"★★★ A new musical by and featuring Grace McLean recalls a singular woman (and saint) to beguiling, bewildering effect"
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"Watching McLean - who has thrilled audiences in 'The Great Comet' - is almost a religious experience in itself; she has a dynamic presence that almost dares you to look away and a powerful voice that reverberates in your soul. As a songwriter, she smartly combines African, Asian and American-influenced melodies, and the near-hypnotic and deeply felt lyrics, which help explain Jutta's unusual outlook on life and create a more sympathetic portrait of a potentially difficult character."
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