Runaways

"A superb remounting…As relevant and gut-grabbing as when first performed nearly 40 years ago…A pulsating testimony to Swados's genius as both a musician and a documentarian of the human condition...The range of the show’s music is equally astounding…All of it is excitingly rendered with gusto and emotional depth…The show is also surprisingly exhilarating...While 'Runaways' was slated for only five performances, it exudes enough energy to fuel a run that could stretch into years." Full Review

"Part social commentary, part devastating drama, part comedy, part musical entertainment, and a riveting platform to showcase a group of extremely talented young performers...Each story builds to tell a harrowing description of abuse, neglect or violence that explained why the teen chose to run away from home...It is non-linear, with no defining plot, but it was an involving, emotionally charged, heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting, cathartic experience." Full Review

“Presenting a work that is so much a product of its time more than 30 years later isn't an easy task...But under the exciting direction of Pinkleton and with head-banging choreography by Ani Taj, those fears are banished in the first 30 seconds…As for the material itself, it is still startlingly relevant, with an exciting score and fascinating script that are still unparalleled in their truthfulness.” Full Review

“Somehow, ‘Runaways’ is not depressing, which it could have been in lesser hands. In fact, it’s enthralling - a fast and furious, poignant and disturbing 80 minutes. The pop-oriented songs are also pretty memorable...The production is directed by Sam Pinkleton with the utmost simplicity...Choreographer Ani Taj lends wild, seemingly spontaneous movement that reflects the characters’ heightened emotional states.” Full Review

“Salsa, reggae, pop-rock tunes, chanting, and accompanied monologues fill the theater without hurting one’s ears…Next to nothing about this piece feels dated. Director Sam Pinkleton manages a stage swarming with actors who sit, stand, lie, dance, sing, fight and sign in small groups as well as company numbers without, miraculously, ever getting messy...The wonderful cast is almost all without stage-kid consciousness. Dramatization is dynamic and credible.” Full Review

“This blast of undiluted teen spirit is guaranteed to leave you feeling windblown, hyped up and ready to race through the most torpid summer night...While Mr. Pinkleton allows each cast member to emerge as an individual, he also knows that his performing team’s strength is in its union...The show could benefit from a little more variety in tone. As it is, every other number feels like a rousing finale. But how are you going to keep a lid on a cast with this much natural talent and vigor?” Full Review

“That one doesn’t walk out of the theater despondent is thanks not just to Swados’ canny use of rock, folk, and anthemic music, but even more so to the highly energetic direction of Sam Pinkleton, the freewheeling yet disciplined choreography of Ani Taj, and above all, the spirit of 25 young performers who deliver 80 minutes of passion and commitment...Even more now than then, it feels like the slightly misshapen love child of the Public’s biggest hits, 'Hair' and 'A Chorus Line'." Full Review

"Some of the segments are weak, and too many of them follow a predictable arc...There is relief in the boisterous, full-cast uptempo numbers...Though the events related in the stories have the ring of sad authenticity about them, the casting of young actors to tell them sometimes does not...This doesn’t seem to matter; the cast is so talented and, under the compelling direction of Pinkleton, so focused that it mostly blows the presentational questions out of the water.” Full Review

"Even though 'Runaways' only takes up 80 minutes, Swados herself appears to run out of fresh comments to make...What Swados had going for her then, though, and what director Sam Pinkleton and choreographer Ani Taj have now are young performers bringing 'Runaways' to exuberant life...There is no way to overestimate the contribution these on-stage runaways are offering the audience...While depicting runaways, they do an admirable job of running away with Swados’s show." Full Review

"The musical holds up surprisingly well even in this gentrified presentation...The stirring score is still the best thing about 'Runaways'...For all the energy harnessed in the lively staging, the show never feels as profound as it was intended to be. It mainly comes across as a period piece...Then again, all you have to do is hang around at the Port Authority Bus Terminal for a few hours to recognize that the musical's themes have sadly not been rendered irrelevant.” Full Review

"I think most of the people carrying on about how amazing 'Runaways' is are really saying that the original production was groundbreaking, and that they like being able to revisit it. Without taking anything away from the work the young actors are doing, this didn't strike me as revelatory...To be sure, there are plenty of moving, poignant moments in it...But when the curtain came down and I left the theatre, 'Runaways' didn't stay with me." Full Review

“The writing is neither captivating nor distinguished; Fenwick's nine-piece band sizzles, but Pinkleton's direction and Ani Taj's reluctant-feeling choreography fall short of its electric ideal; and this particular cast, though energetic, is only intermittently up to the material's largely modest demands...‘Runaways’, unlike its subjects but like its audiences then and now, doesn't live on the streets - it just wants to visit.” Full Review