Wild Abandon NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (28)
See it if You want to know what a woman's life in the theater and music industry is really like. Also, see it with your mother or daughter.
Don't see it if You don't like one-woman shows. The actress is very good, but it's hard for any 1 person to sustain an audience's interest for 90 minutes.
See it if You love to watch an extremely talented woman charm us with her wit, humanity and incredible talent.
Don't see it if If don't like one woman shows.
See it if You want to hear great singing and music weaved into a great story line
Don't see it if You’re not into a one-woman show
See it if Rideout's musical, autobiographical paean to her mother (a frustrated artist) is touching w/o being very moving but her musicianship shines
Don't see it if Tone of the drama veers wildly from poignant to maudlin; Rideout's personal life often clouds the picture Comes vibrantly alive at the end
See it if To be up close to a talented multi-instrumentalist in a one woman show with some catchy tunes and a complicated mother-daughter relationship
Don't see it if You want a narrative. Read more
See it if / to see a virtuosic musician/singer; for some mother-daughter bonding; if you like solo shows.
Don't see it if solo shows or singer-songwriters are not your bag; you don't want something cabaret-ish.
See it if You enjoy Irish, folk, or singer-songwriter, music. You want to go see a show with your mom that will bring the two of you closer together.
Don't see it if You dislike shows that are more about familial conflict than anything else. Dislike any of the above genres. Read more
See it if you like autobiographical one-person shows. Clearly the performer here is talented, but she doesn't seem to have much to say that's new.
Don't see it if you hate navel-gazing one-person shows that are unfocused and frankly, not that interesting.
Critic Reviews (6)
“The concept of ‘Wild Abandon’ is clear: work through the tension of the past to better understand the present...The problem is that it's not until these final moments that the audience sees Lynn for who she really is...Slick tricks and musical virtuosity aren't enough for a show built around the baring of souls, though. You get glimpses of Lynn and and Leenya's inner selves but nothing more. Far from a state of wild abandon, you're left feeling, at most, mild interest."
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“This is yet another play about breaking into, and surviving in, show business as combined with the story of a checkered daughter-mother relationship. Anyone’s reaction to it will rely on tolerance for hearing about someone else gab on about show-biz perils and how they have or haven’t been incorporated into an overall rewarding life...Under Rothe’s direction, Rideout does sufficiently well at the challenge. There are, though, one or two instances...where she risks dipping into the vulgar.”
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“A unique lens into a complex mother-daughter relationship...A rich tapestry of narrative, over a dozen songs...’Wild Abandon’ is at its best when it skirts and states the thorny issues that arose between Lynn and Leenya as they struggled to understand each other's separate lives and goals...'Wild Abandon' ultimately reveals that this mother-and-daughter duo, however different in temperament, share a passion for art and have lived, and continue to live, outside the lines."
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"What our mothers owe us - and what we owe them - is at the heart of Leenya Rideout's one-woman autobiographical show, 'Wild Abandon.' In it, the prodigiously accomplished singer, songwriter, playwright, actor...comes to terms with both her mother's life and her own. Perhaps these twin goals converge a bit too neatly, especially given the harrowingly true complications Leenya introduces along the way, but there are so many hard-earned and poignant insights."
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"Leenya, a consummate actress, was born with talent far beyond the usual, excelling at everything – singing, playing piano and morphing into string instruments – violin, guitar, bass – all of which she showcases in this 90 minute presentation...She frequently takes on the role of her mother switching gears instantaneously, a tribute to her dramatic skills, as her complicated life emerges producing a release for a better, closer understanding between mother and daughter."
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"Diverting, gently comic, but dramatically slender…For all its underlying seriousness, 'Wild Abandon' takes a lighthearted view of its heroine's familial and romantic travails. It generates occasional laughter, but not enough to make comedy its strong suit. The universality of its fact and fiction mixture of Leenya and Lynn's mother-daughter story will resonate with some, but there's little in the writing that's anywhere near as noteworthy as the multitasking talents of Leenya Rideout."
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