Cornelia Street NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (64)
See it if you enjoy top shelve performances and NYC before gentrification. This is a small theater and it was great to be close to such talent.
Don't see it if you expect a profound plot or a happy story
See it if you’re a fan of any of these actors—particularly Norbert Leo Butz or Mary Beth Peil—and want to see them up close. It’s an intimate space.
Don't see it if the idea of some songs ending abruptly—and the entire show ending abruptly—bothers you. Read more
See it if You liked “Once.” You like intimate musicals.
Don't see it if You liked 42nd St. Read more
See it if like small musicals performed well.
Don't see it if want a fresh story - nothing is new here. music is nice but not memorable.
See it if you don't mind sitting through over 2 hours of middling so you can watch the sheer dynamism of Norbert Leo Butz & Mary Beth Peil.
Don't see it if youre looking for a cohesive story combined with memorable tunes. And speaking of tunes, the band is just excellent, loved the harpist.
See it if You’re a fan of any of the performers, you enjoy tiny intimate musicals, you like to see West Village represented, curious about new musical
Don't see it if You are expecting a splashy, singin’ & dancin’ musicsl, don’t like shows where it is at first hard to tell how characters are related
See it if You're a Norbert fan. This is a tiny, tiny theater and he will be singing right in your face.
Don't see it if You want hummable tunes or a fully coherent story. This show needs lots of work to move forward.
See it if You like the cast. You like intimate musicals. You like a “taste of life” musical.
Don't see it if If you think you can smell the plot a mile off. If you don’t like musicals or the small cast. If you don’t like to be RIGHT THERE.
Critic Reviews (13)
“Whatever its contrivances, ‘Cornelia Street’ is ultimately a work of naturalism, whereas the dreamy, gloomy musical interludes suggest something more abstract and symbolic. Instead of swelling during the musical numbers, the show seems to shrink, embarrassed.”
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“The overall result is a show that simply happens, with songs that do nothing to deepen or further any of its plot points. ‘Cornelia Street’ needs some work — starting with becoming a straight play — if it has hopes of moving further uptown.”
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“The various difficulties of making a musical—joining songs to action, exploring character and motivation, knocking our socks off musically—those things they haven’t managed.”
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“ ‘Cornelia Street’ is the sort of sappy fable the charitable describe as a love letter to New York but feels as depressing as a breakup text.”
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“ ‘Cornelia Street’ is trying (I think) to make some grand statements about New York City, but doesn't have much to say at all...It feels deeply out of touch, bitter, and unaware of the current cultural landscape of New York City – a massive issue for a musical that is supposed to be about that very thing.”
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“The plot itself is rather negligible, and the whole thing seems to be set up to serve as a way for us to spend time with the café's quirky clientele...the best suggestion I can come up with is that you find another place to hang out on ‘Cornelia Street.’ There are several nice restaurants there, and maybe Taylor Swift's song of the same name as the show's title will be playing in the background.”
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“There isn’t a plot, really, merely a succession of scenes, some dramatic, some comic, with the occasional melodramatic flourish thrown in...it might be advisable to wait until the creators of ‘Cornelia Street’ have had time to further develop their deeply flawed but nevertheless promising musical.”
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“It’s also full of grim, virtually indistinguishable songs, predictable lyrics, and off-putting, vaguely drawn characters.”
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