Orange Julius NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (28)
See it if you like small intimate stories about family in war time and loud noises.
Don't see it if you are sensitive to fog. Or have a hard time following non linear stories.
See it if you enjoy memory places that go back and forth in time and location at a confusing pace & has characters undeveloped & uninteresting.
Don't see it if you don't like 90 minute memory plays about the effects of the Viet-Nam war and its effects on the veteran's future and family.
See it if you can tolerate a bad script to see some solid acting. Garage door is well used. Some impressive special effects.
Don't see it if you have no patience for an unintelligible mess. What was this play about? Hot topics w/o insight. Vietnam portions were especially cryptic
See it if I love most shows at the RS. This was a rare miss. When I read what it was about I was very excited. This is my kind of show but it just
Don't see it if never moved me. The acting however was great. Everyone was perfectly cast.
See it if You like to see up-and-coming playwrights before they hit the mainstream.
Don't see it if You have a low tolerance for non-narrative theater and are a big fan of plot.
See it if you must see a show about subject of being transgender.
Don't see it if you do not want to be confused because there are too many topics and characters just running on and off stage. Just a big mess.
See it if You want to support emerging writers, a few good actors and a great venue/program (page73 is great)
Don't see it if You want to be entertained or inspired. The time shifts(?) and transgender themes were not cleverly or clearly presented. Read more
See it if you have any connection with a veteran and or a difficult relationship with a male figure in your life
Don't see it if you want a perfect happy ending where everything is pretty and neat
Critic Reviews (14)
"The play defies space and time to tell the complex story of the narrator’s relationship with their estranged father...Jess Barbagallo delivers a deeply moving performance...Barbagallo moves between ages, spaces, and the realms of fantasy with the skills of a shape-shifting doppelgänger. Payne is equally adept at shifting from the young soldier to the aging father...'Orange Julius' is a rich cathartic look at the journey of one searching not only for identity, but authentic acceptance and love."
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"Earnest, well-meaning, and politically correct but none of these ingredients is sufficient—at least in Dustin Wills's decently acted and well-staged but often lethargic, hour-and-a-half production...—to strongly recommend it...The play's loose, sometimes dreamlike structure only serves to intensify its dramatic monotony. There are numerous incidents but...there's little enough tension or conflict to hold one's attention or to make one wonder about what's coming next."
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"A quietly powerful piece that gets under your skin...The entire cast gives solid support to Mr. Barbagallo, who takes over the stage and makes us pay attention to detail. It is a powerful performance. Director Dustin Wills keeps our attention and Kreimendahl’s writing is strong with a much needed hint of wit. I do wish we knew more about Nut's substance-abuse issue...I also wanted to know more about a brother, who is spoken of in passing as if he is a footnote."
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“Through the fine acting and energy of the cast (particularly Barbagallo) and the intensely personal dialogue, ‘Orange Julius’ really makes an impact with is evocation of nostalgia, fear, longing, and other youth-specific emotions. It seems so personal, in fact, that we wonder just how much of the play is auto-biographical…The heart of ‘Orange Julius’ is the universal human desire to connect. It’s that same heart that will have its strings tugged at the play’s emotional conclusion."
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"Kreimendahl's drama is a sympathetic, eloquent (and, at times, repetitive) effort…There's a lot to like about ‘Orange Julius:’ its articulate, forthright personal narrative; its attention to veterans' experience…Still, Kreimendahl's play would benefit from a ruthless edit: As Nut's story continues, scenes and themes begin to echo, then repeat—making the viewer long, by the end, for some shift in the drama's structure—and fewer flashback scenes would make each journey to Vietnam more striking."
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“Moving and often heartbreaking…As Nut, Jess Barbagallo is extremely winning…It’s the Vietnam scenes where the show and the script get a bit unfocused...These scenes, while artfully executed, eventually felt a bit repetitive and lacked the emotional weight of the family drama…While elements of this production don’t always fully cohere, Kreimendahl has created a vital, important work that finds quietly revolutionary ways to smash expectations to explore gender in the theatre."
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