"The shifts between time periods, and between realism and fairy tale, are not always fluid...'Once Upon a (korean) Time' doesn’t quite fulfill its promise, but it suggests that Isaac has more stories to tell."
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"The play works the same way, moving us swiftly across images that catch at us, and lodge, and recur, even after the play is over."
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"There is no 'happily ever after' in this presentation of Korean fairy tales, just 'and they lived.' Sometimes, survival is the best you can hope for when so many don't even get that much."
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[This] inventive chronicle play weaves historical traumas and folk tales into a seamless braid that, over the course of a century, extends halfway around the world. Just as the musical Into the Woods treats classic fairy tales as expressions of primal feelings about (among other things) family, romantic love, and the passage of time, Isaac's gritty, often violent, multigenerational drama shows how, for his characters, Korean myths are a form of spiritual sustenance, a thread of continuity that makes sense of their troubled, turbulent lives. To showcase these stories, he has created an intricate, compulsively gripping narrative of his own.
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"The play concludes on a distinctly upbeat note that leaves us with a great appreciation for those who survived and for those who were lost along the way."
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"'Once Upon a (korean) Time' is spectacular, and much of its mesmerizing spectacle is due to the production’s many contributors."
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Commissioned by the Ma-Yi Theater Company, Daniel K. Isaac’s brilliant ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME was born out of the actor-playwright’s realization that he knew way more about Shakespeare and the Western canon than his own rich Korean culture of folk tales and origin myths. He has fashioned, over the course of five scenes, beautifully layered storytelling in situations clouded by utter despair, without sacrificing great brushstrokes of humor.
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"To say it’s an ambitious piece is an understatement, yet, because of the mostly smooth execution is feels quite natural for the stage. ... But sometimes the play crumbles a bit under the ambition and it is a little murky as to exactly what is happening."
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