Shoes and Baggage NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (6)
See it if you have ever wanted anything you probably shouldn't have. Cheryl Stern tells her life story but is all our stories only funnier with music
Don't see it if neither you nor anyone you have ever known have tried retail therapy. Pants peeing funny but only if you can relate to it.
See it if You are into fashion. Or if you enjoy shopping a little too much. Or if you know the difference between Pucci and Gucci.
Don't see it if You don't care about fashion. Or if you are a trust fund kid with an unlimited budget.
See it if you love shopping, fashion, women's friendships, understand how butterscotch and mink relate. Sophisticated, fun; my husband loved it too!
Don't see it if you don't have charge cards, only buy sturdy shoes, buy coats for warmth, and don't grab a blouse because it elongates you.
See it if you enjoy a personal story about one actresses not so famous life
Don't see it if you are looking for something thought provoking or resonant. This is "story lite"
See it if You like intimate shows and one woman pieces
Don't see it if If you are claustrophobic as it is in a small pasties room of a restaurant
See it if An honest & personal. FUNNY and touching. A talented actress tells stories about her work & compulsive shopping. Surprising & Entertaining
Don't see it if If you don’t want to see an intimate, 1 woman show.
Critic Reviews (5)
"A very slight, but often amusing, piece, it is at its best when Stern is dispensing dishy backstage stories that merge her obsessions with the oddball details of an actress' life…'Shoes and Baggage' could be made fifty percent better with the addition of better songs…Indeed, the songs add so little that the show might benefit from their being removed altogether…Pleasant company for 80 minutes or so; if you're looking for a few laughs, this one constitutes a bargain."
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"A cleverly insightful autobiographical musical...Beyond its sleek facade (for the show is expertly crafted and directed by Joe Barros) 'Shoes and Baggage' is excellent satire; entertaining, enlightening and challenging. It’s fascinating to see Ms. Stern try to decipher how exactly she became this person obsessed with shopping…'Shoes and Baggage' has such sincerity and lovable awkwardness that one can truly call it the theatrical equivalent of a 'wardrobe basic.'"
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"If you loved 'Love, Loss, and What I Wore' you’re likely to revel in Cheryl Stern’s 'Shoes and Baggage'...It’s a show, but it’s also a confession, and like many confessions, it’s a compulsive confession...But listening to her tell it, as she prances up and down the all-white set, she presents herself—in monologue with songs—as not only someone who delights in whatever costumers create for her when she’s behind the footlights but also what get-up she can sport to the opening night party."
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"You might think that this is a light, comedic romp about silly shopping but it is not. The buying is a metaphor for our need for validation, acceptance, and self-love...Cheryl Stern is an old pro, a working actress who knows how to enliven the boards with a mighty performance. She was a dynamo, dancing full-out, belting beautifully, and taking us to very real emotional places with her tender words and heartfelt performance."
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"A wildly entertaining one-woman show that explores shopping and life...Stern hits the nail on the head when she reveals her conflicted relationship to shopping. She manages a delicate balance between revealing the inner turmoil as well as the ameliorating effects of shopping during some of life’s more difficult moments...Weaving in past experiences that go all the way back to childhood with more contemporary experiences, Stern does a fantastic job."
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