Midsummer: A Banquet NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (79)
See it if You like Shakespeare, laughing, eating, wine, theater that happens all around you
Don't see it if You prefer your Shakespeare conventionally staged, you don't like food
See it if You love the bard and immersive theater with culinary compliments.
Don't see it if Don’t enjoy “dinner theater”. Can’t think of anything else. Read more
See it if Immersive, non traditionally staged, double cast, heavily integrated with song and dance production of a Shakespeare classic appeals to you.
Don't see it if You expect a traditional production of Shakespeare, and don’t want to have your view blocked, or have to turn to see the actors around you.
See it if You’re a Shakespeare fan and looking for a great new take with a great experience.
Don't see it if ...um... maybe just go see it
See it if If you want to experience Shakespeare in a new fun way with food and drink and inventive stagings.
Don't see it if You like the same old same old
See it if You are hungry for “food for love” and a good acting by a young cast - but actual food is excellent too, and served with good timing, whimsy
Don't see it if An absolute purist and don’t want to miss a word, or never seen Midsummer before
See it if you want a charming evening in a unique environment. The performers sing dance act and serve food in Willem de Kooning"s former studio.
Don't see it if you dislike performances with multiple points of focus. While something's happening wherever you look, the plot doesn't get lost.
See it if Shakespeare appeals when not treated as TOO precious. Big cuts are replaced by pleasant song and dance. Terrific foods included. Unique!
Don't see it if you can't appreciate many small non meat foods rather than big entrees. You seek somber recitation or veteran actors. (Youth is king here.)
Critic Reviews (11)
"Dinner theater is underrated…In a triumph of versatility, the eight performers in this inventive and delightfully madcap adaptation of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' not only play its royals, lovers, faeries and rude mechanicals, but also serve a light and delicious five-course tasting menu throughout."
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"Shakespeare’s 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream,'...is already a sweet, toothsome morsel of theatre. This makes Food of Love Productions and Third Rail Projects’ immersive production of the play, accompanied by a multicourse tasting menu, delectable in more ways than one."
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"'Midsummer: A Banquet' — Though It Be But Little, It Is Fierce. Food of Love and Third Rail Projects coproduce a modest Midsummer Night's Dream at Café Fae."
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"If, like me, you grew up thinking of dinner theatre as rattletrap revivals of 'Any Wednesday' paired with steamship round of beef, you may be pleasantly surprised by the activities at Café Fae…There, a troupe of charming and talented young people are presenting a lively production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' paired with a distinctive tasting menu."
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"'Midsummer: A Banquet' is an auditory and oral treat, a light entertainment for this time of year. Using Zach Morris and Victoria Rae Sook's skillfully adapted abridgment of Shakespeare's comedy, the evening of dinner theater is a delightful way to experience the Bard."
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"This may be a 'Midsummer Night's Dream' that prizes atmosphere above all else…Staging that's rambunctiously physical and borderline balletic…the food itself can threaten to upstage the play…but it shows the forest's generosity as a space to try on new attractions and new appearances."
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90% "An immersive staging of the Shakespeare comedy with a five-course tasting menu. Storytelling for and with at least five of the senses. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in every sense of the expression."
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"A wise theatre junkie once said to me that 'A Midsummers Night's Dream' is a play that either 'sings when it's good' or 'sinks easily when it's not.' And this co-production of Food of Love and Third Rail Projects...most magically and sweetly sings."
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