My Name's Not Indian Joe

See it if Davis' beautiful songscape is affectionate, poignant & melancholy as well as expertly sung But more autobiographical than politically adroit

Don't see it if The chaotic book is both naive & misguided Indian Joe's adversity story is sacrificed for Davis' "growing pains" saga & often looses empathy

See it if Like music for alot of the show is music. As for the story it was good.

Don't see it if Hate music, small theater, but seat are comfortable and not alot of leg room.

See it if You'd appreciate a bluegrass score performed by able cast in well-staged production. The lead sings, acts, fiddles in a story she's written.

Don't see it if Can't look past some amateurish writing, a few actors who can't project, a story with shifting focus, or are hoping for an insightful work.

Also I enjoyed this, despite my criticism. It's an ambitious undertaking and the staging and musical performances hold up.

The play stretches on too long, however. It would benefit greatly by a trim to a 90-minute, intermission-less show. The story loses steam with its repetitive themes and several songs are superfluous.

Saw this on the mainstage theater at the Davenport in mid-July, 2018.... Read more Read less

See it if You don't mind seeing works in progress.

Don't see it if You want a finished play.

See it if You know someone in the cast or want to hear great musicians do a mix of good and so-so songs. Entertaining moments

Don't see it if The story lulls heavily at times and the voices don't always rise above the instruments. Awkward staging. Not bad by any means but not great

See it if The a/c isn’t necessary!!

Don't see it if You can find something else to see.

See it if You want to see a new off the beaten track musical. With decidedly not the usual broadway sound.

Don't see it if You dont want to explore the relationship of the university grad do gooder and elderly homeless alcoholic 'do badder'.

Also Another play I really dont know how I feel about. I was more moved by the 20-30 seconds of the real Narciso Allala (heard on telephone playback) than by the rest of the 2 hour play.
In a theater as small as the Davenport, why are the actors miked?
There was a lot of wonderful singing going on here and the musicians were all accomplished but the sum of its parts did not fly. Always on board for something unique. This is well worth the price of admission, there is a lot of uninventive, mindless pablum out there---but I just never really bought into the play---even tho its true.
One could write this off as simple naive white guilt, but our protagonist lived this and recognizes and acknowledges her potentially puerile attempt to "know" Joe
Slightly less resonant is the facile relationship with Jordan--but this is her truth.... Read more Read less

See it if Girl with some white guilt attempts to save homeless Native American man begins to see struggles of folks with less privilege. Great music.

Don't see it if Scratches on struggles of Native Americans and Blacks through a learning white female. “Color blind” white people annoy you.

Also Free ticket from Show Score.

See it if you're ok w/message-y shows. Fun original folk music played by great musicians helps to move the still thin work-in-progress script along.

Don't see it if you require perfected/finished shows w/elaborate moving sets & costumes. Still, can't beat the excellent on-stage band, & strong singing.

Also You had me @ "based on a true story".

Book's been work-shopped some; still feels unfinished, & is more biographical & about "Liz" than "Joe". Lead & playwright (Elizabeth Davis) plays "Liz" completely committed to her book, character, and cause, but leaves you wanting more.

"Indian Joe" (Robert Salas) was disappointingly weak. Except for his anger & shouting, portrayal felt partially phoned-in & seemed like he was stumbling through his lines more often than not. Josh Dawson ("Jordan", Liz's boyfriend) is an excellent singer & actor. Strong actress Donna Bullock ("Momma") had the unenviable job of sitting silently on-stage for much of the evening, reacting to others' performances, until her moments came to light. Hardest job in show-biz.

Felt somewhat like a much smaller & more personal (touching) version of "Red Roses, Green Gold": great set & lighting, excellent musicians, great music & singers, not so great book.

Nonetheless, recommended to all if just for a great night of music.... Read more Read less

See it if You like seeing works in development. The music was entertaining and good performances

Don't see it if You need a fully developed musical. This still feels like a work in progress that needs to be worked out.

Also There is a compelling story here somewhere, but I felt like it needs some more character development. I didn't understand why these two people came together and what they saw in each other. The program has Joe's obituary that describes him as this wonderful man, but for most of the show, all you saw was a grumpy bitter old man. The music was good and the show was entertaining enough, but I left wanting to have a better understanding of how these two people effected each other. Supporting cast and musicians, especially the actor who played Jordan, were great.... Read more Read less

See it if You like a good "life story" with good voices and good music

Don't see it if You want deep meaning

See it if You enjoy actor/musician shows. Want to see a show that portrays a Native American as a person and not an archetype.

Don't see it if You are looking for something light. Dislike Americana/folk/country music.

Also My Name's Not Indian Joe won't be winning any beauty pageants. It's not afraid to get dirty and do away with, well, pageantry.

The score is wonderful, as are the actor/musicians who bring it to life. The orchestrations are solid,and the vocal arragenments are tight and effective.

What I appreciated the most about Indian Joe is that it does what so few pieces of art portraying native Americans mange to do. Simply tell the story of an actual person. Sounds simple, but think about every piece of television, film, and theatre you've ever seen with a Native American.

Joe is a complex and flawed character, and that's what makes him human.

The lighting and set design is very effective.

The vocals are a little buried in the mix, but the rest of the sound design is wonderful.

I can't wait to see the next iteration of this piece. I'm really excited to see how it develops.... Read more Read less

See it if You enjoy great music on stage and an interesting story. The cast is terrific.

Don't see it if You aren't interested in an autobiographical story or don't like country music.

Also This could use some revisions/editing from someone who is not the lead actor/writer/director - her story overwhelms Joe's, and she comes off rather too heroically. But still worth seeing.... Read more Read less

See it if If you want to see an emotional semi-biographical story about the American Indian experience and the people that surround them.

Don't see it if You have an aversion to country-bluegrass music and no interest in the struggle for acceptance and the diversity between different people.

Also The bluegrass band is onstage and play and acts small roles in the play and are all excellent performers.... Read more Read less

See it if you’re interested in a life story of two unlikely people forging a bond.

Don't see it if you don’t like folk music or stories w/ comments on racial discrimination, politics, homelessness accompanied w/ derogatory terms & cursing.

Also I felt the story needed to be tightened a bit and may be cut it to 100 mins instead of 2 hrs with intermission. Also needed to work on volume as I don’t think the voices carried to the back of the theatre. All the cast were great with their instruments especially the two violinists.... Read more Read less

See it if music was lovely and heartfelt. Gist:when we discard preconceived notions about others ,understanding,acceptance, and even love will follow

Don't see it if no reason to miss this show.

See it if If you like alt-country music (think Emmy Lou Harris to Shania Twain) you will love this show despite the clumbsy story.

Don't see it if You dislike country music.

See it if you enjoy Elizabeth Davis, bluegrass score; expressive music fills gaps in writing and acting

Don't see it if you expect a fully staged narrative musical; it's a concert w uncertainly acted scenes; tonally uneven ode to an unlikely friendship

Also Although well produced, with fully realized set and lighting design--the show feels like its longing for a larger stage--this small show has yet to find a convincing point of view on the material. Davis is a crack musician but she hasn't found an effective way to present herself as the protagonist of this story, and there's not enough onstage of her relationship with Joe to draw us into their prickly if affectionate connection. What the show lacks in the book writing is sometimes made up for by the full-throated playing and singing of the ensemble, all of whom do double duty as actor/musicians.... Read more Read less

See it if you enjoy evenings of acceptable, "fine," theatre.

Don't see it if you want a show full of live and drive with a truly dynamic score.

Also This isn't a bad show. But it's not necessarily a good show either. It promises a bluegrass/country/rock score and delivers in spades for the first fifteen minutes or so, but this quickly devolves into lazy generic musical theatre numbers that just happen to have alternative instrumentation. By the time Joe pulls out a piece of paper and convinces his new friend to become the executor of his estate and the two stars start to sing "where there's a will, there's a way" the audience can't help but groan as they're subjected to something so objectively bland. If the writing endeavored to be sharper and truly dig out its own personality, this piece would have potential to shine. But sadly it just sits there.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see a show in progress with some decent bluegrass music

Don't see it if you want a finished product with a good story. It's more about the author/songwriter/performer than about Indian Joe.

See it if you like country music and Broadway-quality singing, and have a layperson's interest in issues of social justice and race relations.

Don't see it if you're well-versed/active in social justice work & don't like narratives centering white activists. Also, if you prefer big-stage spectacle.

See it if you want to see a meaningful show with well-placed and well-written songs.

Don't see it if want to see pure drama.

See it if you like theatre based on real stories.

Don't see it if you want theatre as an escape from real-life issues.

Also This show has a lot of promise. Some of the moments are a bit heavy-handed, but to be fair I've seen many audience members miss things that I thought were obvious.

The current space is not great. Before the show began one of the musicians cautioned people sitting in the front row that they might want to move back because of how the speakers are set up. I was in the third row, so had enough distance that it wasn't blaring right on me, but the music is louder than the vocals meaning there were a lot of lyrics that I missed.... Read more Read less

See it if You love bluegrass music and beautiful harmonies. You enjoy musician-actors. You're looking for something small and intimate.

Don't see it if This is a work in progress, so don't expect to see a flawless piece. It's almost there, it just needs to fine-tune its POV.

See it if Great original music and singing. A true story/ memoir about Native American experience

Don't see it if You're not interested in music of the mid-west, and Indian affairs