“ 'The Butcher Boy' might have been finessed into a sharper, more forceful black comedy if the score from Muldoon, who is not yet a senior in college, had developed a more distinctive point of view. Its dutiful tour through Broadway-style pop, vaudeville and Irish influences is largely referential."
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"Barasch is a fine singer and an energetic presence, but the script and the songs are prosaic, the scene transitions are clunky, and the mix of lightheartedness and violence just doesn’t work."
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"Reconciling the humor, pathos and darkness of Francie’s story in the scope of a musical might be impossible, but credit Mr. Muldoon for giving it a fine college try—in this case perhaps a literal one."
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"Muldoon's book and lyrics for the most part lack the wit and satirical punch needed to garner laughs rather than uncomfortable groans."
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As the quick failure, a few seasons back, of American Psycho showed, it is no easy task to build a show around an unreliable narrator with a shaky hold on reality. To realize such difficult material onstage cries out for a daring, entirely original approach. Muldoon, however, has penned a conventional book musical that -- with its often pleasant, but emotionally limited, score -- never begins to grapple with the horrors on offer.
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"The 'Butcher Boy,' the darkly comic musical opening tonight at Irish Repertory Theatre,... is still a bit rough around the edges. But it has all the earmarks of a future cult favorite, and it certainly makes for an impressive debut by its creator."
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"The Butcher Boy – is so far out there that some observers will cheer its ominous chutzpah. Ultimately though, Muldoon’s musical is just ugly. And who wants a musical to be, in the final analysis, downright repellent?"
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"Most of Muldoon’s songs lack distinctive character, just as the characters themselves are boyishly imagined simplifications. Finally, while a sense of gallows humor sometimes lurks, I never did get the hang of it."
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