Good
75

Good NYC Reviews and Tickets

75%
(16 Ratings)
Positive
81%
Mixed
13%
Negative
6%
Members say
Relevant, Great acting, Absorbing, Intense, Intelligent

About the Show

The Potomac Theatre Project revives Cecil Philip Taylor's drama, which examines Nazi Germany and asks how did a nation go mad? How were normal people transformed into brutes, devoid of ordinary humanity?

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Show-Score Member Reviews (16)

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267 Reviews | 52 Followers
90
Absorbing, Great staging, Intelligent, Intense, Resonant

See it if You like timely intense drama.

Don't see it if You are looking for something fluffy.

214 Reviews | 28 Followers
83
Relevant, Thought-provoking, Intense

See it if You enjoy shows that have a historical and/or political lean. It is thought-provoking and a little disconcerting.

Don't see it if You go to the theatre for light, escapist comedies.

172 Reviews | 24 Followers
83
Absorbing, Great acting, Intelligent, Intense

See it if you like great acting and fictional stories based in history

Don't see it if can't deal with storylines about the holocaust

1166 Reviews | 464 Followers
81
Relevant, Thought-provoking, Quirky, Intelligent, Great acting

See it if you like historical drama. This one with an interesting twist. It scared me on a deep level to see how easily people rationalize their hate.

Don't see it if you're a Trump supporter. You will not like how your kind is portrayed. They get it spot on perfect.

151 Reviews | 49 Followers
78
Absorbing, Intelligent, Resonant, Profound

See it if you like strong drama about the holocaust. Creative staging and the lead actor is strong in the role. The play moves you.

Don't see it if stories about the holocaust trouble you. You have to stay focused to fully understand the through-line.

don
506 Reviews | 1005 Followers
75
Confusing, Great acting, Intelligent, Intense

See it if We expected more as we were thrilled with the No End Of Blame production at the matinee. Still some great acting.

Don't see it if your are not in the mood to see a sometimes confusing of a well acted moral problem for the protagonist in Nazi Germany.

224 Reviews | 42 Followers
71
Ambitious, Intense, Thought-provoking

See it if Interested in history dealing with pre war Germany with the rise of Hitler.

Don't see it if You have little interest in politics and how things effect people to make strange choices.

131 Reviews | 46 Followers
70
Great acting, Relevant, Slow, Sometimes confusing, Engaging

See it if / The play succeeds in putting you in the shoes of someone whose life choices seem unfathomable. It sneaks up on you in a good way.

Don't see it if you want something short and sweet, or escapist. This show purposely keeps you firmly in our current political climate and doesn't let go.

Critic Reviews (15)

The New York Times
July 17th, 2016

“The stronger of the two is 'Good'...A stealthily constructed drama whose experimental use of music - as something that lives in the mind of its main character - doesn’t quite come off here. What does is the insidious way that morally abhorrent ideas and systems can grow to seem quite normal, their harms rationalized away by ordinary citizens who would rather not look ugliness in the face.”
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Time Out New York
July 15th, 2016

"The production's touch isn't entirely sure—and Taylor certainly has no interest in being subtle—yet the play can still be distressingly effective...Petosa's production is deft in domestic scenes...The piece seems less certain when the text grows more stylized. Taylor wrote his work as a comic grotesque. Neither Petosa, nor set designer Evancho serves this element of Taylor's fantasy, which leaves some sections of the evening strangely sagging."
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Theatermania
July 13th, 2016

"Despite strenuous storytelling, it is easy to emerge from this production more confused than when it began…Director Jim Petosa occasionally achieves moments that are both beautiful and terrible in their theatricality...Mostly, the actors stand around aimlessly as one scene bleeds into the next. Moments of levity (like a high-kicking Hitler) land with a thud, leaving us to feel as though we're witnessing bargain-brand Brecht."
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Lighting & Sound America
July 14th, 2016

"Michael Kaye captures nearly everything about Halder...The actor shows how each of Halder's moral concessions is meant to be a one-off, a necessary accommodation to maintain his place in the world...And yet, 'Good' stops short of delivering a knockout punch...'Good' has always been a problematic piece. Yet, in its mordant depiction of truth's fungibility when dictators rule, it can still get under one's skin...It provided more than enough thoughts for a sleepless night."
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Talkin' Broadway
July 13th, 2016

"The greatest strength of the play is that almost none of Halder's choices appears to be unreasonable, except through the lens of hindsight available to the audience...What disturbs most about the play is its demonstration of how easily a 'good' person can become caught up in a movement that leads to horrendous consequences. Even as he dons the full uniform of a Nazi SS officer, Halder clings to the notion that he is serving a greater good."
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CurtainUp
July 13th, 2016

“In the early 1980s, Taylor's choice to chronicle an ostensibly good man's activities as a member of the Third Reich in a play with frisky songs and bits of comedy was unorthodox. Thirty-five years later, that choice fits comfortably with a popular aesthetic of irony and snark; and the Brechtian detours in Taylor's script seem more insightful than audacious now."
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Front Row Center
July 19th, 2016

"Kaye as Halder and Spears as Maurice draw us in immediately and we believe them and their choices...In the end, I walked out of the theater dissatisfied. I had the nagging feeling that I hadn’t gotten what I came in looking for. Until it struck me that I had come in looking for easy reassurances that it couldn’t happen to me and it couldn’t happen here...In the final analysis, that’s the subtle genius of this play...You will certainly be thinking about it long after you leave the theater."
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Stage Buddy
July 22nd, 2016

"Director Petosa places the seductive dreaminess of romance, desire and self-satisfied ambition under the grip of a nightmare that sheds none of its savagery with the passing of time…John’s career-rise and morality-fall via what Maurice calls his 'Nazi school of psychiatry' are convincing…The play is elevated by a group of actors who are evidently committed to the work and to collaboration…Out of the two plays, 'Good' is the dominant force, but both are persuasive and worryingly topical."
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