The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (38)
See it if You want to see a different show about Old Hollywood, like period pieces and/or one-person shows.
Don't see it if You're deeply rooted in today or have no interest in hearing a wonderfully told story about someone trying to be star. Read more
See it if you are interested in the golden age of Hollywood, & how the studio system treated women of modest talent.
Don't see it if for you a play is only a play if it has more than 1 character. Most of the time this 1-woman show is in direct address to the audience. Read more
See it if like solo shows with great story telling. Interesting facts of the golden age hollywood. The drive of ambition & the lengths to get noticed
Don't see it if don't like solo shows or don't like to see despair of talented people with big dreams who can't get noticed.
See it if you like stories about Hollywood told by a would be starlet who is contemplating suicide by jumping from the Hollywood sign.
Don't see it if useless stage smoke annoys your bronchial tubes. You don't like well acted well written one woman shows with a story to tell.
See it if you enjoy stories referring to actors and singers from an era gone by perfomed in a one-woman show
Don't see it if you don't like stories about the early Hollywood age, you expect songs you'll recognize. Read more
See it if It is a great acting play about being an actress in the 40’s in a very minimal set-up. I don’t think it still easier today.
Don't see it if You don’t appreciate in an Off-Off Broadway setting.
See it if you like a one-woman show with heart. The actress puts 110% effort into her performance.
Don't see it if You need a flashy show with no rough edges. This show is the kind of out-of-the-way offering for which New York is known.
See it if If you adore Hollywood, but are especially romantic about the old studio days.
Don't see it if You need the story onstage to connect to some larger existential human drive (something more grounding than simply the desire to be famous).
Critic Reviews (16)
"Hartstone looks wonderful as Evie...She adopts not only a good midwest accent, but throws in different American accents for other characters. And she sings, song after song, in a classic 1940s style evocative of Billie Holiday. She creates another world in the little popup Fringe venue...It’s a remote and hard-to find venue...But it is worth the effort to be magically transported into Hartstone's faraway world of Hollywood at its ruthless fairy-story height."
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"Hartstone has created a marvellously evocative musical-drama...We observe Evie’s girlish glee, switching from hopeful naivety to heartfelt vulnerability as she tries desperately to be noticed....Joanne has a beautiful, soulful voice...This show has already won numerous, much deserved, awards...Joanne Hartstone is an all-round entertainer, oozing comedic, dramatic, and musical talent in this magical performance. A true super star is born."
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"'The Girl who Jumped' has the bones of a great show about hopes, dreams, and the dark side to our fascination with celebrity culture. Hartstone is a talented actor...but you can’t really connect with Edwards. She, like a female protagonist in a ‘40s musical, is too innocent and naïve before turning very quickly down a path that isn’t so innocent. This naiveté works in old musicals but just doesn’t quite connect in a contemporary play about an industry that can be heartlessly cruel."
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"Cleverly directed by Vince Fusco...It’s hard to say whether Hartstone achieves greater success as a writer or as a performer. Her story incorporates personal fiction alongside juicy Hollywood history. As an actress, she carries her show through seventy minutes of Old Hollywood bliss. Her character, Mid-Atlantic dialect, and singing are all on point...The production seduces with its elements of glamour and the macabre, with finishing touches of nostalgia and vulnerability."
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"Hartstone’s accent and delivery are perfectly evocative of the period–her straight-talkin’ speech recalls Katharine Hepburn or Rosalind Russell, while her singing voice is akin to Judy Garland’s...As she relates her compelling, all-too-believable tale, that gigantic half-H looms in the background, a constant reminder of (almost) certain tragedy to come."
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"This play critically examines the Hollywood dream and its power to simultaneously attract both the ambitious and the vulnerable...Hartstone gives a superb and sympathetic performance portraying the naivety, eccentricity and vulnerability of Evie. She uses humour to deal with a lot of difficult topics...This is a well-researched, poignant, and revealing piece of theatre that shows the extent of Hartstone’s abilities as a writer, singer, and actress."
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"'The Girl Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign' brings the glamour, dreams, and desperation of early twentieth century America to life in a one-woman show with song, showmanship, and sympathy...Hartstone exudes confidence in her character and material. Her magnetism and sharp embodiments sells Evie’s humanity...A surprisingly brilliant touch to the piece is that some anecdotes given are rumours that have been debunked now...They firmly root the show in its age and peoples."
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"Hartone is endearing as Evie, a sweet character who we immediately feel empathy for. She manoeuvres the stage well, nails the old Hollywood sound and transports us to MGM sets and producer meetings. There’s just the right amount of musical interludes, but the story needs sharpening. Time is wasted with 'he said, she saids' that aren’t needed when she’s already shifted character. Hartstone has clearly done her research and poured herself into this show."
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