Rhinoceros (New Yiddish Rep) NYC Reviews and Tickets

"Even though Moshe Yassur’s production has a hazy, haphazard feel, in times like ours, a story about ordinary people seduced by fascist overtures seems too, well, on the nose...The production still felt provisional, with...a general uncertainty as to how broadly to play the roles. There did not seem to be enough rhinoceros masks to go around and the supertitles flipped back and forth as actors fumbled for lines...Still, it’s worth seeing 'Rhinoceros' for a few of its actors."
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"Yassur's direction is bold and intelligent. Rosen's translation is clear...Unfortunately most of the performances are delivered in one mode: whiny, angsty, and loud...As the play's prime character, Twersky spent the bulk of his time mugging at maximum volume regardless of what was happening...The musicality of language and nuances found in measuring a breakdown between insanity and reality were missing. Despite that, the illustration of the play's themes...was clear."
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"There's something ironic about New Yiddish Rep's production of 'Rhinoceros,' an allegory on the rise of fascism. After all, the Yiddish speakers were the victims, not the perpetrators of the Nazi atrocities...One has the feeling Berenger's passion and Daisy's faintheartedness are much more ridiculous in French...While it's not evident that this Yiddish translation adds anything to Ionesco's original work, it certainly is a faithful translation of his tragic message."
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"Ionesco in Yiddish is a brilliant idea, but the execution leaves something to be desired...Twersky works furiously to carry the weight of this talky, cerebral comedy on his slight shoulders. It’s too bad that the direction, provided by Yassur, is so insufficient. The actors are all exceedingly game, but their blocking frequently feels awkward...Even a just-okay staging of 'Rhinoceros' is entertaining, but...it’s disappointing that the text and the cast aren’t better served."
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"Mamma mia! Wotta production! Wotta performance! Profound. Touching. And even more contemporary now than when it was written...I found the New Yiddish Rep’s production remarkable...I am totally thrilled with the New Yiddish Rep’s ability to find actors who grew up speaking Yiddish and act as well as this cast...Bravo for your emotional clarity. Rosen and Twersky are especially commendable...Yassur’s superb direction was elegant, spare and direct, even-handed...An exquisite production."
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"I wish I could report that this 'Rhinoceros' provides valuable insight on America’s current, tempest-tossed political life...The play’s premise doesn’t seem so outlandish to generations that have grown used to savage and surreal social and political satire. Also, Ionesco stretches his analogy out in scenes that can seem repetitive and, frankly, tedious...Yassur’s direction seems slack...A farce calls for speed and energy, but here the effect is often slow and enervating."
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“It's easy enough to agree that the play's focus…is and will remain apposite…However, the production…, lacking anything even approaching first-class direction and acting…rapidly descends into a lengthy talkfest…The New Yiddish Rep production…is simply unworthy of the play…The blocking is about as clumsy and unorchestrated as can be imagined; the actors, unsure of themselves, stand around or move aimlessly; there's no sense of place, and the pacing is erratic: the result is artistically dismal.”
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"A surprisingly lackluster production...The play falls well short of its admirable goals...The translation is too obvious in making connections to contemporary America, and the staging is static and uninvolving. What could have been intimate instead separates the two parts of the crowd and creates a distance from the actors...Never finds the right balance between absurdity and reality, getting caught in the middle, as if blinded by the dust of the stampeding animals."
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