Joan of Arc: Into The Fire NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (247)
See it if Great voices, music, story. Winningham's song and singing are transcendentally moving. Nice staging. Clear story and lyrics.
Don't see it if you want this to be an inquiry on the veracity or Joan's story. This is a telling, not a documentary. Some of the songs do feel the same. Read more
See it if You'reInterested in historical stories & like catchy pop/rock scores with great singing; Jo Lampert it great and leads a STRONG ensemble
Don't see it if You dislike musicals that are sung through with little dialog. Surprised at how much I enjoyed this show especially after reading reviews.
See it if You want to learn some history about Joan of Arc. The story is told dry and with very little heart. We're given no real reason to care.
Don't see it if You're expecting anything near another Here Lies Love. The songs in this show are a dry narrative and even the movement seems forced.
See it if primarily for powerhouse performance/intensity of Jo Lambert as Joan, inventive choreography
Don't see it if music is monotonous/full of full-throated rock anthems, fails to explore complexities in Joan's character or influence, in all disappointing
See it if you enjoy a good female empowerment story; religious themes; or a classic, true story paired with a contemporary rock score.
Don't see it if you don't like seeing religious stories represented in a nontraditional manner, or you prefer a more traditional Broadway score.
See it if you want to be dumbfounded seeing how the creators of the incredible Here Lies Love could make something so utterly unexciting.
Don't see it if you expect a show to have a reason to exist. The storytelling has no point of view and so you're just left asking "why am I watching this?"
See it if You're a fan of David Byrne. You like modern takes on historical figures.
Don't see it if You want an in-depth view of Joan of Arc: there's nothing new here. You want to hear a variety of music: all the songs sound alike. Read more
See it if you like everything David Byrne; you enjoy bizarre casting, direction and writing; depending on one actor for all the heavy lifting.
Don't see it if you don't mind music and lyrics you can't remember, statically written scripts, pointless productions; big disappointment from David Byrne.
Critic Reviews (36)
"How did the immense talents behind ‘Here Lies Love’ come up with something so inert?...It’s as unswerving in its course as its heroine and just about as reverential…Mr. Byrne’s musical wit surfaces only in a calypso-beat number given to the tribunal...Basically, Joan’s character allows no room for the contradictions and idiosyncrasies of which convincing portraiture are made. She is unvaryingly, achingly sincere.”
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“A monumental dud. Plodding, reverent and dramatically inert, it suggests a ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ stripped of wit, ambivalence and social commentary. Which is to say: Jesus Christ. The lean Jo Lampert, who plays Joan, has a robust voice and a compelling androgynous–kick-ass look, but the show gives her nothing to play but uninterrupted self-belief, rendered banally. Although the music is sometimes energetic, the libretto hardly ever lives up to it."
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“Of the many problems besetting this disappointing rock oratorio, its implicit recommendation of a Catholic martyr as a model of current civic engagement is the most intractable…Byrne is a very talented composer, and Timbers an unusually imaginative director, but this story has defeated them...As Joan, Jo Lampert is a vocal powerhouse and fearless stage animal. It’s not her fault that the character as written is such an unplayable patchwork of clichés and ‘timely’ parallels.”
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“A misguided alt-rock musical that reduces the crusade, persecution and death of the 15th century French heroine to a simplistic ‘Martyrdom for Dummies’ with a repetitious beat…The show boasts fabulous production values…It's the surprising lack of sophistication or emotional depth in the material that deflates expectations…The grit, commitment and gutsy vocals of Lampert can't inject emotional nuance into the baldly explanatory, episodic writing.”
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“Lampert is necessarily required to carry those numbers (and by extension, the show) on her glittering, chain-mailed shoulders, a thing she does with admirable fervor — even when her voice is more powerful than precise…It’s all impressively brisk and smartly executed, though it’s also never quite clear in the end why this version of Joan is especially crucial, after literally hundreds of interpretations on stage and screen.”
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"Lampert is so conspicuously exotic, that it’s entertaining just to watch her wave her flag and model her sexy armor. The performer’s compelling stage presence and powerful alto help her survive ‘Joan of Arc’…All this stagecraft is ultimately undone by the limitations of the score. Every song seems to spring from the same martial air, and the lyrics wouldn’t tax the intelligence of an eight-year-old. Better to think of this as a fashion show of the prettiest armor you ever saw."
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"It isn’t a fully successful theatrical experience, and the reasons why 'Joan of Arc' doesn’t quite come off are almost more interesting than the show itself. The most surprising thing about 'Joan of Arc' is its straightforwardness...Every song in 'Joan of Arc' consists of an endless string of four-bar phrases in four-four time...You find yourself longing after a half-hour or so for something to break the sameness...It simply didn’t involve me in the way that I wanted and expected."
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“It’s spectacular, due chiefly to an electrifying performance in the title role by Jo Lampert, an actress of striking physical and vocal sinew…‘Joan of Arc: Into the Fire’ is serious in its contemplation of the mystical, the connection between belief and fate, and so it’s unsettling. It’s also very loud, very moody and as unsparingly bleak as its final, charred image."
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