The Lucky Ones NYC Reviews and Tickets

84%
(71 Ratings)
Positive
96%
Mixed
4%
Negative
0%
Members say
Great singing, Absorbing, Intense, Ambitious, Edgy

About the Show

Ars Nova presents indie-music duo The Bengsons ('Hundred Days') spinning a memory-tale of teenaged passion, ideals lived to the limits, family shattered and faith lost — all in hope of finding a way home again.

Read more Show less

Show-Score Member Reviews (71)

Sort by:
  • Default
  • Standing in our community
  • Highest first
  • Lowest first
  • Newest first
  • Oldest first
  • Only positive
  • Only negative
  • Only mixed
408 Reviews | 86 Followers
85
Absorbing, Great singing, Refreshing, Ambitious

See it if you enjoy a different type of musical with indie rock music and a deeply personal story. There are a lot of great songs and creative staging

Don't see it if you don't like indie rock music or don't like shows that deal with real life family tragedies.

52 Reviews | 5 Followers
85
Enchanting, Great singing, Resonant, Ambitious

See it if you're interested in a touching autobio concert-musical that combines elements of folk, rock & electronic music by two exciting talents.

Don't see it if you prefer a more classic structure or sound to your musical theater.

781 Reviews | 249 Followers
85
Tragic, Heartbreaking, Sad, Moving, Great music

See it if Autobiographical musical about an extended family that suffers a tragedy. Beautifully performed songs with intense feeling. Sad but real.

Don't see it if You want a more uplifting experience. This is a 2 1/2 hour show that drags in the second half. It's at its best during the songs.

72 Reviews | 17 Followers
85
Absorbing, Great singing, Intense

See it if You like downtown theater focusing on autobiographical storylines and great live music in a cool space.

Don't see it if You want something like a classic musical or don’t want to feel passionate intimate performances by great artists

112 Reviews | 28 Followers
84
Great singing, Intense, Refreshing

See it if you enjoy non-traditional theatre, multi-genre scores, and raw, honest storytelling performed by a terrific ensemble

Don't see it if you are only a fan of traditional theatre or prefer standard showtunes to folk-rock Read more

329 Reviews | 53 Followers
83
Engaging, Heartfelt, Great singing

See it if Wonderful singing, moving story of the disintegration of a loving oddball family. Humorous and sad, sometimes love is not enough.

Don't see it if No sets to speak of, fourth wall comes and goes, definitely indie, off-off broadway fare. Read more

195 Reviews | 86 Followers
83
Bengsons hone the theatre-concert form, Still unfocused & overlong, Great music, Wonderful ensemble--all 18!

See it if you're a Bengsons fan (this is more successful than Hundred Days at NYTW); you're interested in new music theatre forms or electro-folk

Don't see it if you expect all rough edges smoothed out (still has workshop feel to it, & some elements are more successful than others; some need pruning) Read more

144 Reviews | 29 Followers
80
Moving

See it if I love abagail

Don't see it if I didn't love the whole bonfire sequence

Critic Reviews (15)

Front Mezz Junkies
April 13th, 2018

"It is thrillingly awesome, assembling a large diverse cast of talented creatures to create a tale on a much bigger canvas...The cast is uniformly excellent, chanting us into the history of this story from all sides like a primal pack of ancients...Feels like a rocking athletic roller coaster ride, through pain and trauma, hoping to come out at the end shaken and wind-blown, but feeling the gasp and the grabbing hold of survival."
Read more

Exeunt Magazine
April 13th, 2018

"By scripting former anguish and forcing themselves to relive the past for the length of an off-Broadway run, it turns the truth into something manufactured. Theatre is, by nature, false. Actors, playwrights, and directors are encouraged to be honest in their creations, but that’s not the same thing as being truthful...Abigail returns nightly to a brutal event from her youth...It’s either a brilliant performance or the memory is still so alive in her that the musical is functioning as therapy."
Read more

Theatre's Leiter Side
April 1st, 2018

"Very little action moves the narrative forward, creating a sense of stasis. What we witness is mainly offered in the form of memories and comments on the memories…Just because the memories are expressed in articulate language doesn't make them as fascinating to an audience of strangers as they must be to The Bengsons…An unnecessarily long two hours…Kauffman…has failed to shape…the material in a compelling way, allowing its incipient sense of self-indulgence to eventually overshadow everything."
Read more

Broadway & Me
April 7th, 2018

"Weaned more on indie rock...The Bengsons create hard-charging shows hewn from their own life stories...Playwright Sarah Gancher helps shape the memories into the musical's book...But the narrative remains loose-limbed. It's more tell than actual show...'The Lucky Ones' has a lot of things going for it, particularly for adventurous theatergoers. And while its parts may not add up to a convincing whole, I still feel lucky to have seen it."
Read more

Stage Left
April 2nd, 2018

"Abundantly surprising, deeply intimate, and simply gorgeous...It is raw, honest, and human. While scripted and certainly fictionalized at times, it feels anything but, due to the intensity of Abigail’s performance and the strength of Kauffman’s guiding hand...The show is expertly calibrated, energetically and passionately performed, and very moving. I must admit, I am smitten by The Bengsons and am eager to hear and see more of their unique voice and vision."
Read more

F
April 10th, 2018

"A heartrending deep-dive into the vessels of childhood, the roots of adolescence that grow deep within us and those intensely human experiences of family from which we may never unbind ourselves...This show is rapture. It is a daring examination of the limits of memory and trauma. It is chaos spoken in poetry, and it is the type of well-made, deeply personal theater that could be delivered only by a company with as much commitment to story and radical form."
Read more

The Theatre Times
April 4th, 2018

"Unbound and unapologetic...Presented with confidence and thoughtfulness...The music is utterly electrifying...Kauffman's direction brings a 'just right' aesthetic giving it all the craftsmanship and polish of a Broadway smash with the grit and candor of downtown theater...An easily world-class ensemble...'The Lucky Ones' is unusual and necessary. It doesn’t announce itself, and won’t justify itself for anyone. It IS; and as such invites you to experience its truest and most authentic self."
Read more