Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet
Closed 2h 30m
Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet
60

Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet NYC Reviews and Tickets

60%
(88 Reviews)
Positive
36%
Mixed
41%
Negative
23%
Members say
Confusing, Disappointing, Great acting, Indulgent, Ambitious

About the Show

The celebrated minimalists of Bedlam present a new mash-up of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" and Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet."

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Member Reviews (88)

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1085 Reviews | 265 Followers
60
Ambitious, Slow, Confusing, Disappointing, Indulgent

See it if A good concept but this is slow confuse add ing. If you like both writers or stories.

Don't see it if You want something that is more consistent flowing. If you want a faster paced show.

982 Reviews | 343 Followers
60
Interesting idea; unsuccessful execution

See it if you love everything Bedlam does...but URVJ is not time well-spent. Neither play is brought to life w/the interweaving. Jarring transitions.

Don't see it if you want entertainment or enlightenment. Acting doesn't shine. I know both plays well, but what's the point of the juxtaposition? Annoying.

688 Reviews | 116 Followers
60
Ambitious, Disappointing, Indulgent, Slow, Quirky

See it if Bedlam's quirky often irritating fusion of Shakespeare & Chekhov is episodic & heavy handed despite solid work from ensemble but well staged

Don't see it if Problem isn't the mash-up (it's more Vanya than R&J) It's the unrelenting, overwrought pace of the piece Lacks any subtly of originals

567 Reviews | 147 Followers
73
Ambitious, Clever, Great staging, Slow

See it if Imagine 2 classics in repertory, but at the same time. Forget Why?, incongruous themes force complete attention. Sonya utters Juliet lines.

Don't see it if Familiarity with both plays is essential or 2.5 hrs. will drag. Bland performances and wardrobe. Like the zombification of the classics.

479 Reviews | 262 Followers
10
Misfire from bedlam, Confusing, Excruciating, Indulgent

See it if you want to see a failed experiment by the Bedlam theatre company. It is hard to see what Tucker was trying to do in mashing up these plays.

Don't see it if you want to see Uncle Vanya played very broadly with snippets of Romeo and Juliet thrown in without making much sense. Read more

484 Reviews | 130 Followers
69
What?, Indulgent, Soporific, Ill considered, Despite the text

See it if you're fan of experimentation, always needed 2 C a Vanya /R&J mash-up, like rest of Bedlams work, recognize actors trying 2 overcome script

Don't see it if don't want 2 give 2 1/2 hours to experimentation, want actors 2 succeed in presenting abstracts, need a reason, want some sort of continuum

391 Reviews | 133 Followers
77
Slow, Great acting, Choppy, Not easy, Compelling/confusing ideas

See it if you like intellectually rigorous experiments w/ Chekhov. Tests your patience but the cast does great work—esp Millonzi as Sonya.

Don't see it if you want R&J to function as little more than an occasional symbol of poetic idealism used to magnify UV’s prosaic cynicism. Read more

414 Reviews | 72 Followers
69
Interesting smash up, Five players cover casts of two plays, Quirky but clever

See it if Mostly Uncle Vanya interspersed by a scattering of scenes from Romeo and Juliet. Confusing even if you know both plays.

Don't see it if You want a coherent theatre experience. You don’t like experimental theatre.

Critic Reviews (13)

The New York Times
September 27th, 2018

"Chekhov takes up much of 'Uncle Romeo,' which is a blessing because as staged here, the parts from his play flow better than the ones from Shakespeare’s tragedy...Some of the juxtapositions have a humorous impact...Larger, structural changes are not entirely convincing...It’s relatively easy to follow the intertwined narrative strands — though it helps considerably to be familiar with both plays — but it’s hard not to wonder what the point is."
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Time Out New York
September 25th, 2018

"A crash-up of Chekhov and Shakespeare with an emphasis on the former: It's a vodka martini with the Bard as the vermouth. Unfortunately, this dramatic cocktail does little to bring out the shows' shared themes of passion, obsession and betrayal...Bedlam's M.O. is to crack open classic texts and discover something unexpected and resonant inside them. But beneath a few nifty performances, there's nothing at the center this time."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
September 26th, 2018

“’Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet’ begins casually and ends by breaking your heart...A riff on two plays at once, Shakespeare’s youthful romantic tragedy and Chekhov’s mature and moody comedy...The brilliance of Tucker and his company is to hold up a Shakespearean mirror to Chekhov in order to unleash his oft-hidden weirdness, wildness, and yearning. In these actors’ hands...certain scenes from ‘Uncle Vanya’ played more powerfully than I’ve seen in a long time.”
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The Wall Street Journal
October 8th, 2018

"Mr. Tucker’s 'Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet,' like even the most avant-garde of his shows, is both unpretentious and enormous fun...What Szadkowski does here is flat-out astonishing...Anyone who still questions the expressive potential of nontraditional casting should rush to see her. Everything about this show is a delight, but I bet it’s Ms. Szadkowski whom you’ll remember longest."
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Theatermania
September 25th, 2018

"Whatever similarities Tucker saw in both these dramas, though, he has failed to communicate them in the mess of a production that has resulted...Even when the transitions from one play to another are smoothly done, Tucker's production never makes a convincing case for why these two works should be presented this way at all...God bless Bedlam for continuing to take risks with the theatrical canon, but this latest provocation is a misbegotten misstep."
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New York Stage Review
September 25th, 2018

“Melding ‘Uncle Vanya’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ together requires taking the essence of the two pieces and superimposing them upon each other like interlocking puzzles. The ‘Vanya’ component, more or less, works within this structure. But ‘Romeo’ is almost absent in the process...Some ideas inevitably do not quite work out. There is no doubt, though, that Bedlam and Mr. Tucker will quickly rebound.”
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TheaterScene.net
September 30th, 2018

"In 'Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet,' Tucker has tried something new: a mashup of both Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' and Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' with scenes from the two alternating. The result is not confusing, but irritating and irrelevant, with neither play gaining from the combination. The advertisement for this show reads '5 actors, 2 plays, 1 performance,' but to what point?"
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Theatre is Easy
September 28th, 2018

"It's really more of 'Uncle Vanya' with a few scenes of 'Romeo and Juliet' thrown in, so the whole experiment feels almost like an afterthought, and the transitions between the two are sometimes awkward and confusing...It doesn't help matters that this production opens so soon after Richard Nelson's 'Uncle Vanya,' in which Jay O. Saunders gave the definitive performance of the title character...Maybe they are enjoying themselves, but they should ask themselves why the audience should care."
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