The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald NYC Reviews and Tickets

45%

(6 Reviews)

Positive

50%

Mixed

Negative

50%

Members say

Clever, Great acting, Ambitious, Quirky, Confusing

About the Show

La MaMa and the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre present this puppet theater exploration of three 1963 national traumas: the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother, and Martin Luther King.

In 'The Life And Times Of Lee Harvey Oswald' the main protagonists inexorably approach the Grassy Knoll, guided by fate, like marionettes are led by their strings, as a Greek chorus of over a dozen ventriloquist dummies representing FBI, KGB, and TV agents warn them in vain to avoid the path of destruction. For Ages 12 and up.

Member Reviews (6)

Grating, Amateurish, Weak script, Hard to see, Long

See it if you love experimental theater, no matter how weird. Subject (LHO) is interesting but treatment is incoherent. The charming marionettes are..

Don't see it if too small to see, even fr close seats. Having m'ettes shag often isn't funny. Storytelling crawls..almost 2 hrs w/o intermission. A misfire. Read more

Absorbing, Clever, Funny, Great acting, Ambitious

See it if You want to see a variation on the JFK myth--- the stretching of time and depth of character analysis was fascinating.

Don't see it if You want to see more work with marionettes, the staging made it hard to really enjoy the puppets, although the actors were all great.

Awful, Horrible, Dreadful, Terrible, Abysmal

See it if you need to witness truly horrific theatre to convince yourself that God is dead

Don't see it if you value your quality of life Read more

Confusing, Excruciating, Slow, Overlong, Indulgent

See it if You enjoy sloppily executed puppetry.

Don't see it if You value your time. Read more

100

Clever, Great acting, Ambitious, Intelligent, Masterful

See it if marionettes are your thing... amazing use of all sizes

Don't see it if you will be disturbed by the content

Relevant, Quirky, Clever

See it if You like puppetry, wanna know more about the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, & dig great experimental La MaMa Theater!

Don't see it if You have bad eyesight & hate non-linear storylines.

Critic Reviews (2)

"This is an ambitious project...The first issue here is the difficulty in actually seeing the little guys...Mostly the intent is inscrutable...The real problem, however, is that the puppets never become characters, as they have in the troupe’s best work, and are reduced to cumbersome props. Unfortunately, this redirects our attention to the cast, whose acting is too uneven to bear the scrutiny."
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“A surprisingly fun, interactive environment for exploring one of our nation's darker chapters...The marriage of puppetry and treason is a wise choice on creator/director Vít Hořejš' part...The marionettes give the play a highly presentational feel, but this should not be mistaken for a family-friendly evening...'The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald' caters to true-crime fans, yet there's a whimsy about it that one might find in an improv show. All around, an evening worthy of a chuckle."
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