Open NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (20)
See it if You are OPEN to a testament to the power of love as told by a magician of words and ideas and images.
Don't see it if You’re not interested in seeing how Crystal Skillman elevates the one person show format to create a profoundly moving event.
See it if innovative solo performances interest you. Plot, theme and performance meld in a uniquely creative way. Originality and pathos nice combo.
Don't see it if you dislike magic, one women shows or plays that challenge your ability to think about the intersection of reality, theater and life.
See it if This one-woman show starts out like a rather silly magic act, but soon builds and builds in emotional power that leaves you very moved.
Don't see it if If you really dislike solo pieces regardless of worth; but I think you'd be making a mistake to miss this one.
See it if You like solo shows. You are interested in pieces about relationships, family, LGBTQ life, personal growth.
Don't see it if You demand high-end production values -- though the lighting and sound design, while simple, are quite effective. Read more
See it if On the surface, the magician is trying to save her lover; underneath she is trying to find herself. Her illusions represent her facade.
Don't see it if You don’t enjoy multi-level character development stories, where a lot of the action is a subconscious struggle. You don’t like solo plays.
See it if Megan Hill's bravado performance carries this solo drama /performance piece over its rough patches Drama's message moves stealthily over you
Don't see it if Magician/tricks up the sleeve motif can only carry drama so far; story line while very potent becomes one-note Certain detachment in writing
See it if You enjoy one-person shows that explore loss and Queer issues.
Don't see it if You don't like a lot of narration, if you want something lighthearted, or large-scale Read more
See it if you want to see Megan Hill's excellent and absorbing "magic" in Act I.
Don't see it if you don't want to show that devolves rather than grows as it goes on Read more
Critic Reviews (4)
“Kristen, the narrator and sole character of Skillman’s new play...executes magic tricks because she is the one who needs to believe. The miracle this lovely show pulls out is that by the end, she does — and so do we...’Open’ is not a postmodern deconstruction of David Copperfield, however, but a fragile love story that harbors tragedy under its seemingly goofy exterior...’Open’ reminds us that making an audience believe is a trick writers and actors can master.”
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"When the door to a theater closes, the rest of the world usually stays outside. But in Crystal Skillman’s sensitive solo show 'Open'...everything penetrates...The play feels long at 75 minutes, because the central metaphor wears out too soon. But the depth of Hill’s commitment keeps reawakening the pathos. The magic in 'Open' is all pretend, but the violence Skillman refers to is brutally real."
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"Skillman unfolds an achingly beautiful story, dropping bits and pieces of Kristen's thoughts and memories as she balances her tightrope of love, commitment, sacrifice, and transformation. Hill's performance as Kristen is funny, honest, compelling, and heartbreaking; one cannot take their eyes off her, and it's not because she is the sole occupant of the stage."
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“This play is music. It is that song you love. You know that song when every note of it is perfect, every instrument chosen is the correct choice, and the voice of the singer is the kind that lifts you to another realm. It is a poem, a love letter to us, crafted by an artist...Skillman mixes the world of magic, with the world of the living, all with precision and grace...Hill beguiles her actors to become dancers, magicians, clowns, mimes, musical instruments of storytelling.”
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