The Visitor NYC Reviews and Tickets

72%
(160 Ratings)
Positive
70%
Mixed
18%
Negative
12%
Members say
Relevant, Thought-provoking, Disappointing, Great acting, Great staging

A professor's life changes when he discovers two undocumented immigrants living in his apartment.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (160)

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247 Reviews | 61 Followers
100
Resonant, Thought-provoking, Entertaining, Relevant, Absorbing

See it if you want a moving, powerful story about the struggles undocumented Immigrants might face in the lands of their dreams (the US).

Don't see it if you don't want to see (more) stories about Immigrants' struggles. Read more

570 Reviews | 87 Followers
100
Thought-provoking, Relevant, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if you want a show that makes you think & isn't just fluff.You walk out thinking about the story & the people, the issues.Powerful stuff.

Don't see it if you prefer a lighthearted musical.This certainly has its light moments, but it has a point to make and it does that very well.GREAT staging.

84 Reviews | 10 Followers
94
Thought-provoking, Relevant, Profound, Great singing, Absorbing

See it if you like musicals that tackle current issues while delivering an original score/staging. While based on a film, it's still an original show

Don't see it if you are looking for a musical with a happy ending or do not want to see a show based on current issues.

334 Reviews | 37 Followers
93
Resonant, Relevant, Great staging, Great singing, Great acting

See it if You like musicals with meat , sad story relevant , intimate,honest Great staging , Choreography,lighting,and music, beautifully told

Don't see it if You want something frivolous and easy

399 Reviews | 205 Followers
91
Intelligent, Great singing, Great acting, Bittersweet, Touching

See it if A sad story about three people caught up in the mess of our unfair immigration laws. Heart-breaking. Beautifully done.

Don't see it if ...if you don't like musicals. If you don't care to be reminded of the personal cost of our immigration laws.

283 Reviews | 77 Followers
90
Intelligent, Great staging, Great acting, Entertaining, Enchanting

See it if looking for a great show, with amazing actors. Did not know anything about the movie going in so was a good surprise story for me.

Don't see it if not looking for a play about a serious situation.

372 Reviews | 84 Followers
90
Resonant, Relevant, Profound, Entertaining, Delightful

See it if You want to see a heart-wrenching human conflict compelling spun into a musical, with vibrant unforgettable characters.

Don't see it if This will leave you reflective and hopefully, open to thinking about the world and those in it and around you in a different context.

224 Reviews | 43 Followers
90
Great staging, Entertaining, Relevant, Absorbing

See it if You like plays/musicals that have a serious topic but are entertaining and endearing.

Don't see it if You like elaborate staging or don't like politically themed shows.

Critic Reviews (13)

The New York Times
November 4th, 2021

"Perhaps it is doable to respect the politics around these issues and the immigrants trying to build a life in the United States in this format, but it’s tough. Which is why the new musical “The Visitor” feels so obtuse and helplessly dated...The ensemble, however, often upstages the main cast members, etching small but remarkable performance moments, even in the background and during the fleeting transitional numbers."
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Time Out New York
November 4th, 2021

"Watching the production, one gets the sense of talented artists who have dragged themselves to the finish line with whatever they could salvage from a misbegotten project. In retrospect, perhaps those weren’t red flags after all, but white ones of surrender."
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New York Theatre Guide
November 5th, 2021

"The Visitor expects white rage and white awareness to be worth applauding. But we’ve gone past the time when awareness and rage is a milestone. The U.S. has kept migrant children in cages, Syrian refugees drowned at sea trying to escape war: The time has passed for raising awareness. It is time to take that rage and put it into action. That is not to say The Visitor needs to include a call-to-action for fixing America’s broken immigration system. But the musical’s narrow focus just shows how ill equipped it is for meeting the current moment."
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Variety
November 4th, 2021

"When the number is over, however, the audience is quickly thrust back into the world of white-savior Walter. The creators seem to have been generously aiming to create a sympathetic portrait of a privileged man’s performative activism. But by centering Walter rather than Tarek and Zainab, the show ends up highlighting the privileged folks who are already coddled more than enough."
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Theatermania
November 4th, 2021

"The musical is fuzzier in its storytelling. And even in its blurriness, that story feels mismatched with its form. Kitt and Yorkey seem to want to write the next The Band's Visit, translating the subtle seduction of independent cinema into musical theater. Unfortunately, they do nothing to retrofit their overwrought emotive style to this task. The result is a soaring and forgettable score that regularly finds the story paralyzed in the path of an oncoming glory note."
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Lighting & Sound America
November 5th, 2021

"The Visitor is a highly unusual case, a musical that seems to be constantly questioning its right to exist…When it sticks to examining its characters' broken hearts, it is compelling, less so in numbers that sounds like op-eds set to music. Indeed, it stumbles most when it loses confidence, turning to loudly trumpeting its good intentions."
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New York Stage Review
November 4th, 2021

"Emotional repression is in Pierce’s wheelhouse, so it’s no surprise that he delivers an affecting performance as the sad sack professor who finds his passion for justice reawakened. Maksoud (who replaced Ari’el Stachel in previews) makes Tarek appealingly charismatic, Deslorieux provides the evening’s most powerful vocals as Zainab, and stage veteran Antaramian proves so luminous as Mouna that you long for her character to rescue Walter from his loneliness. But their strong contributions are not enough to lift The Visitor from its doldrums."
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New York Stage Review
November 4th, 2021

"3 stars...It’s easy to write off The Visitor as a white savior story. (Though technically, no one is saved; considering that we’re talking about 14-year-old movie source material, it’s not a spoiler to say there are no happy endings for anyone.) Beyond that, considering the team involved—including director Daniel Sullivan—it’s simply a letdown."
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