White Noise NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (171)
See it if you are moved by challenging shows with a lot to unpack. Gut wrenching and powerful. The actors go very deep and things get crazy and ugly.
Don't see it if you want a light-hearted romp. Don't go if you don't want to think about racial issues. Makes you angry, want to cry or be very reflective.
See it if You’re socially aware at all. It rocks your preconceived and safe notions, and walks you out the door shaken. I didn’t know how to feel.
Don't see it if You want a light show, have rigid belief systems, think social inequality has been fully examined, or want a light fun musical. Brilliant. Read more
See it if you want a thought provoking play that at times (many times), is painful to watch. The script is a master piece, brilliant cast & directions
Don't see it if you don't want to see a play about race, history, and equality.
See it if Everyone should see this play. Examines race & stereotypes in genuine ways. So many layers to think about. Great writing, directing, acting.
Don't see it if you are looking for light entertainment or feel like there isn't much left to explore about race.
See it if an amazing play and cast of actors with a deep and nuanced conversation about race and privilege
Don't see it if if you are unnerved by conversations about racism or are looking for a light piece
See it if you are interested in plays about race relations and enjoy thought provoking plays that are well written, acted, staged and directed.
Don't see it if you enjoy lighter fare. Read more
See it if you like theatre that is audacious, provocative and original.
Don't see it if you like plays with tiny ideas and tidy emotions. Read more
See it if You enjoy storylines that have you wondering..where are they going with this? AND you really want to find out
Don't see it if You cannot deal with the past being repeated.
Critic Reviews (28)
“Even the most skillful juggler sometimes drops a bowling pin by trying to keep too many in the air at the same time. And that is the case with ‘White Noise’...a wonderfully performed but problematically structured production...Monologues are brilliantly devised...But these speeches are more lecture than drama and join the too many elements that are vying for our attention, so that the play as a whole is diminished by the sheer amount of its moving parts."
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“It could be argued that ‘White Noise’ is Parks’ best work to date...’White Noise’ is eminently worth seeing for any number of the production’s pluses...They start with Eustis’ masterful direction and extend to the full-out acting...There will be those who maintain that ‘White Noise’ is far-fetched. It is. But not so far-fetched that it’s not painfully believable....Bowling is accomplished with much stagecraft ingenuity...For Parks, too, it’s an all-pins-flying strike.”
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“’White Noise’ might be Parks’ most wildly ambitious work yet...Parks dares to explore the practicalities of slavery in contemporary society, in a way you surely never, ever imagined...The genius of ‘White Noise’ isn’t simply in the idea; it’s in where Parks—and her tight-knit cast, guided by Public artistic director Oskar Eustis—takes it, and she takes it to some very, very disturbing places.”
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"'White Noise' is very much a play that should be seen now...Thanks to Oskar Eustis's crisp direction and the fully committed performances, 'White Noise' will indeed shake you up and make the three hours pretty much fly by...Unfortunately the previously mentioned plot contrivances and inconsistencies do mount up. Consequently what could be a great play is at this point something of a literary crazy quilt."
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"After she won the Pulitzer Prize for 'Topdog/Underdog,' one approached a new play by Suzan-Lori Parks with great expectations--expectations that are strongly rewarded by her latest work, 'White Noise'. While the title refers specifically to the hissing sound made by sleep machines, meant to lull and keep you asleep, it also hints at the many racist issues this new, smart work traffics in."
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“’White Noise'...is an emotional minefield that forces an insightful confrontation with all the racial subtexts we pretend to have in hand. There’s laughter and passion and some pretty serious eye-opening...A near perfect production...The play is paced with precision, the performances flawless and engaging. The staging is spectacular...That said, ultimately, it is the writing that captures the audience...Over and over, in the quick, spare dialogue, there are flashes of language redefined.”
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"The first explanation of his man’s place in the world is an important and powerful schema to understand, and one that elicits a tremendous amount of intense internalized questioning from The Public Theater audience where Suzan-Lori Parks’s new play, 'White Noise' is being presented with full force...It’s a powerful descent into complex ideology and racist thought...It’s a raw rare treat to be challenged at this high level of wise wit and clarity, and for that, I am truly grateful."
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"Parks’s gift (helped by Oskar Eustis’s patience and clarity as a director, which lets every line be heard, and excellent performances) is to fill her language with that duality; sentences and even monologues that should by all rights be be painful, didactic exposition instead slowly, seethingly click together. (Yeah, there’s the occasional spot where one layer too many tips the scale of a moment, but surprisingly few.)...Diggs and Sadoski are both revelatory."
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