White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Closed 1h 15m
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
74

White Rabbit Red Rabbit NYC Reviews and Tickets

74%
(115 Ratings)
Positive
70%
Mixed
25%
Negative
5%
Members say
Thought-provoking, Clever, Original, Ambitious, Entertaining

About the Show

Every show, a new star (including Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, and others) takes on a unique challenge: the actor is handed a script onstage to perform without the help of a director, rehearsals, or a set.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (115)

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69 Reviews | 16 Followers
100
Clever, Entertaining, Refreshing, Original, Must see

See it if This was incredible. The actor is given the script on stage + told to do the best they can. This was amazing and I want to see it again!

Don't see it if If you're not interested in a great time, If you're not interested in seeing magic happen well then stay home and watch Netflix!

91 Reviews | 14 Followers
90
Absorbing, Original, Thought-provoking, Resonant, Relevant

See it if you want a once in a lifetime theatrical experience since each actor only performs the show once. It is truly unique.

Don't see it if you don't have an open mind. The show has an improv element (especially with a different actor each time) & a bare bones staging.

197 Reviews | 224 Followers
88
Clever, Hilarious, Original, Thought-provoking, Relevant

See it if experimental, improv, audience involved theatre excites you! This is a very unique experience. Part existential part stand up.

Don't see it if you don't like free wheeling, seat of your pants evening leave you cold. The performer you see makes ALL the difference in the experience

53 Reviews | 18 Followers
87
Clever, Intelligent, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if I saw it twice, with F. Murray Abraham and James Roday. It's a thought-provoking experience. I really enjoyed it both times.

Don't see it if It's not staged or directed. A very non-traditional, experimental theater experience. Definitely not for everyone.

EAS
52 Reviews | 18 Followers
85
Original, Resonant, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Actor dependent

See it if you're willing to have you expectations challenged by material that hints at surprising depth and profoundness amidst the absurd.

Don't see it if you're looking for a straightforward play. This isn't it. It's darker than you expect and it creeps up on you. See it w/ an actor you love.

63 Reviews | 14 Followers
85
Ambitious, Entertaining, Intelligent, Unusual, Clever

See it if you want to see a particular actor go out on an unpredictable limb

Don't see it if you are looking for big, flashy productions

121 Reviews | 31 Followers
85
Ambitious, Fascinating, Philisophical, Powerful, Unique

See it if You like theatre that's experimental in content & form. If you want to see a particular actor.

Don't see it if If you want a plot-based play, rather than a vehicle for philosophical ideas and theatrical experimentation.

52 Reviews | 22 Followers
85
Clever, Entertaining, Funny, Quirky

See it if Nathan Lane was a treat to see...not so sure how it will fly with others.

Don't see it if You like predictable outcomes.

Critic Reviews (11)

The New York Times
March 9th, 2016

"A playful, enigmatic and haunting solo show...The play is a conversation among playwright, performer and audience, a conversation that, for all its diverting humor, takes on a gravity that prickles your skin...Some other passages slide perilously close to pretentiousness, and much is shrouded in obscurity and frisky quirkiness. But Mr. Soleimanpour’s elliptical play keeps taking odd, unexpected turns that often lead us back to the relief of laughter."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
March 8th, 2016

"That such a work—politically fraught but stylistically passé—has wound up at the Westside Theatre is almost absurd in itself...The play itself is terribly earnest, filled with phrases like 'it tastes of freedom'...But if the dated style and lingo occasionally led Lane to roll his eyes or otherwise undermine the text, he was sometimes pulled up short by its power."
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Deadline
March 8th, 2016

“The play requires just one actor, who has not seen the script before this performance…[Lane] is a master of the ad lib, and he was in top form, those drawbridge eyebrows and parenthetical smile lines animating his razor-sharp delivery...We are in allegory territory offering equivalent doses of comedy and moral observation…For reasons I can’t go into, the actor is denied that ultimate act of audience participation, a round of applause at the end. Lane deserved one, for sure."
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The Hollywood Reporter
March 15th, 2016

"“It's extremely meta-theatrical, with the playwright often directly addressing the audience through his onstage messenger…Suffused with animal allegories — rabbits are not the only creatures who figure in the scenario — and macabre elements, the piece is ultimately too obscure and diffuse to have the desired impact…Ultimately, the show's main interest will come from the inevitably very different experiences offered by the varied performers."
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New York Post
March 15th, 2016

"Nassim Soleimanpour’s text is designed to accommodate any gender, race or age, which is how Nathan Lane could do the inaugural performance last week and I could see Whoopi Goldberg...Soleimanpour is Iranian, and he was in Tehran when he wrote 'White Rabbit Red Rabbit.' The show is clearly influenced by living in an authoritarian regime. It’s playful and often funny, but there’s a serious undertone—the rabbits are part of a lengthy allegory about peer pressure, obedience and repression."
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Entertainment Weekly
March 9th, 2016

"'White Rabbit Red Rabbit' by Nassim Soleimanpour — a dazzling, transcendent piece of alive-and-kicking avant-garde theater — is performed by a different lead actor or actress every time it’s staged...Without discussing its many dazzling swings in tone, I’ll say that it is steeped in self-referencing and metaphorical tales about animals, and builds to several surprisingly emotional peaks about the shared experience of art."
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Lighting & Sound America
April 11th, 2016

"'White Rabbit Red Rabbit' has reportedly been staged all over the world, and yet I suspect its success has more to do with star power than anything in the script. Fans of any of the names mentioned above may be entertained by spending an hour with one of their favorites in a rather novel context. But I fear that the author's intention travels very badly indeed."
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Stage Buddy
April 13th, 2016

"Whether or not you’ll enjoy this play depends largely on your enthusiasm for allowing your mind to take a turn toward paranoia. Soleimanpour’s words lead viewers down some unlit alleys that are probably not particularly dangerous—until you consider that the playwright himself moves through such treacherous passages on a daily basis. It’s possible to laugh the whole thing off, but I found with surprise that my pulse quickened at certain moments."
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