Temple of the Souls (NYMF) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Part of the New York Musical Festival: An award-winning contemporary pop musical of secrets, lies, and forbidden love.
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See it if You want to learn something about the culture and anthropology of Puerto Rico
Don't see it if You want a polished musical with no inconsistent moments (but the is a work in progress )
See it if you like folk tales, some charismatic leading actors, sometimes tuneful songs, and an engaging storyline, needing work and editing.
Don't see it if you like fresh stories and ideas.
See it if You like great singing in a romantic old fashioned love story.
Don't see it if You don't like musical dramas with romantic stories.
See it if You like a Romeo and Juliet musical - this time placed in Puerto Rico with the Spaniards and the native Tiano.
Don't see it if If you wanted something less predictable. Read more
See it if You like something escapist, romantic, epic with beautiful singing. It was engaging, magical and the leads sang/acted wonderfully.
Don't see it if You're a curmudgeon, are not romantic. Don't like romantic ballads. Don't like Hispanic people, are racist.
See it if You like to get a LOT of songs for your $ (23!) You're a fan of Lauren Velez. You want to see a large cast of v talented Latinx performers.
Don't see it if You think 2 hours w/o intermission is too much. You want a story focused on the Taino. You lack patience w cliched epic romances.
See it if You want to learn about the history of Puerto Rico and be taken on a soulful journey into the history of the Americas
Don't see it if I have nothing on this.
See it if It was spectacular, the staging the music the acting. From start to finish. We loved it.
Don't see it if you don't like a greatly stage musical. because it is.
Critic Reviews (6)
"Formula wars with ingenuity for the soul of this show. In one camp are the banal love plot and trite lyrics...Opposing such platitudes are the musical's choreography and percussive music, which couple thrillingly...The acting too is divided between melodrama and nuance...Perhaps there's ultimately an appropriateness to the struggle embodied by this production. As the Spaniards battled the Taínos, so, in the songs and staging of 'Temple of the Souls,' the conventional clashes with the unique."
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"The fictitious love story and entangled subplots lack unpredictable ingenuity...A laborious book with little credibility and mundane characters...Conventional lyrics that are lackluster and neither subtle nor cunning. Music is pedestrian but fairs much better when serving the Taino tribal dancing and musical numbers. Ms. Peress lacks the ability of a director to extract plausible characters from her cast who rely on overacting and broad stereotypes."
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"Everything about the opening number is promising...Little in the nearly two hours that follow the opening number quite matches it. The largely predictable story of Amada and Guario is dramatized without much nuance and performed mostly with the kind of exaggerated clarity normally reserved for children’s theater...Still, 'Temple of Souls'...is worth seeing–and worth developing further."
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"A not so engaging musical, though it has potential...Lorraine Velez has a sensuality to her and she lures you to watch her. Noellia Hernandez and Andres Quintero are perfectly Disney-esqe. Jacob Gutierrez steals the show every time he is allowed."
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"'Temple of The Souls' is absolutely smashing. I don’t want to even consider that this production may not not continue to garner a wide audience. It is superb. The stirring, enlightened book and entrancing, vibrant and hypnotic score warrants support beyond its New York City run...From moment to moment we are enthralled with the acting and voices of the fine ensemble, the gorgeous music, the theatrical spectacle and the intensity of the story."
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"The story flutters nervously along two parallel tracks, one of direct impact, reflecting the real butchery and horror of the conquest, the other of semi-cartoonish family fare...Underneath the show’s romantic-tragedy clichés courses a raw story of love, racism, and ethnic cleansing. If you can swallow the former, you’ll find it’s worth this plunge into the dark rain forest of colonial history. And you’ll likely leave with more than one of its catchy melodies in your head."
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