See it if You enjoy Rock Concert Shows with a new take on old story.
Don't see it if If you want something more classically told, sung and staged. Or step out of the box.
See it if You like history reimagined. The lead was great, could have listened to her for hours. Onstage musicians good too.
Don't see it if The story is a little relentless and isn't as imaginative as I would have liked.
See it if Ambitious, off-Bway (Bway source) material. Clever staging. David Byrne fan. Eye-candy,
Don't see it if Not fully realized...needs to get past the obvious. Prefer to stay away from edgy.
See it if You like great singing and interesting staging
Don't see it if You get impatient with inexpert writing Read more
See it if You like a sound and light spectacle with loud, repetitive music. Impressive staging and a very strong lead performance
Don't see it if You are thinking it will be as good as "Here Lies Love," the previous collaboration of Timbers & Byrne. The lyrics and music are not strong.
See it if Jo Lambert is superb in her role. She never falters in enthusiasm. The choreography is amazing, backed by a fantastic rock band who sing.
Don't see it if You expect memorable songs or the exuberance of Here Lies Love. The stage is too small to enhance the power of the musical numbers.
See it if You like good rock n roll theatre.
Don't see it if If you don't like David Byrne music.
See it if The music by david Byrne is great, staging is unique, lighting is great, Lead actors are very good. if you can get a discount
Don't see it if 90 dollars for 90 minutes of the retelling of the joan of arc story was a little much. leads are great, industrial setting and lighting.
“Lampert, as Joan, is a remarkable, full-throated singer with a gorgeous voice, belting out the banal numbers with gusto…The entire cast, in fact, is terrific…Director Alex Timbers, along with music director Kris Kukul do miraculous things with Byrne’s story (thanks, in no small part, to the strength of Byrne’s actual music). But they are working with thin material and no amount of excellence is enough to sustain the dry, one-dimensional and often trite dialogue Byrne has offered up.”
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"David Byrne’s 'Joan' is heavy on rock music and light on story...One event after another is delivered with volume and a myriad of special effects–strobe lights and smoke and did I see a disco ball? There is little differentiating between the moments. There is no story. There is no, you should pardon the expression, arc...The cast is a banquet of talents, all of whom are hemmed in like tigers in a cage. There is a story in here somewhere, but it never sees the light of day."
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“Despite handsome sets and a striking performance from Jo Lampert, this take on the tragic French warrior’s life isn’t quite as wild as it should be…There’s an absence of psychological acuity and Joan never entirely emerges as a definite human character…The pacing is brisk, the cast melodious, the orchestrations clever. It’s an agreeable evening, but shouldn’t it be braver, wilder, more mystical?”
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“Jo Lampert and the cast can sing...The music, book and especially the lyrics by David Byrne are so monotonous, you wonder how in the world was this show ever produced…I just don’t understand how you take a vibrant tale of the heroine of France who was canonized as a Roman Saint and make her boring…If it weren’t for Lampert’s powerful stage presence and her sexy shimmering armor this show would have fizzled.”
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“Byrne is very direct in his storytelling: English bad, French good and persecuted. Byrne has little to say about Joan of Arc other than that she’s into nationalism and war…Byrne has a nice talent for plaintive soft-rock ballads…When Byrne goes big with his music, he enters ‘Les Miz’ territory, and his lyrics turn jingoistic.”
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“A loud, exuberant pageant…The trouble is that the score becomes repetitive and frankly, boring, after a while. Lampert’s performance as Joan achieves stature in the context of Byrne’s rock-vision, and those playing multiple roles as soldiers and others pack the work with further energy. But the music and lyrics fail to achieve emotional involvement…An ambitious effort to present the saga of Joan in a different manner, but it achieves more visual than emotional impact.”
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“Almost shockingly deadly…This is a 90-minute hair shirt of a project with no discernible point of view. Despite a breakout androgynous star turn by Jo Lampert as Joan, it is hard not to think we are watching a Sunday school musical about religious history with hymns alternating with pop and rumba.”
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“Really disappointing…What would Byrne, who wrote book, music and lyrics, do with the life of Joan of Arc? The answer is shockingly little…Byrne presents this story, which happened over two years, without irony, psychology or curiosity. It’s essentially a fan’s you-go-girl account of Joan’s indomitable will and fervent belief in her destiny. While Byrne has written some seductive melodies, his lyrics can be flat and awkward…This story of 'Joan of Arc' couldn’t be more uninteresting."
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