The Woodsman
Closed 1h 15m
The Woodsman
86

The Woodsman NYC Reviews and Tickets

86%
(280 Ratings)
Positive
92%
Mixed
7%
Negative
1%
Members say
Enchanting, Clever, Original, Great staging, Absorbing

About the Show

New World Stages presents a return engagement of Strangemen & Company's highly theatrical retelling of the story of the Tin Man from 'The Wizard of Oz.'

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Show-Score Member Reviews (280)

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55 Reviews | 16 Followers
100
Refreshing, Great staging, Clever, Thought-provoking

See it if You enjoy small beautiful theaters.

Don't see it if you need to have your hand held during a show.

209 Reviews | 40 Followers
100
Exquisite, Enchanting, Great staging, Refreshing, Intelligent

See it if A beautiful piece of theater in which you use your imagination and let your mind do all the work. Stunning piece of work!

Don't see it if you get bored easily.

121 Reviews | 31 Followers
100
Absorbing, Enchanting, Great staging, Romantic, Riveting

See it if You love theatre in its purest and most beautiful form

Don't see it if You like plays with complex plots, big productions. If you get bored by theatre with very few words.

95 Reviews | 31 Followers
100
Great acting, Romantic, Profound, Exquisite, Enchanting

See it if You like to be transported, you are a dreamer, you are not afraid of the connections you have with people in your own life.

Don't see it if You are looking for an upbeat and fluffy time.

54 Reviews | 21 Followers
100
Clever, Enchanting, Intelligent, Refreshing, Great staging

See it if You like the Wizard of Oz or you like puppets or you like theater at all! It is so well done, you will regret missing it.

Don't see it if honestly can not think of a reason you shouldn't see this show. It's short, smart, well done, interesting, entertaining, it's just that good

59 Reviews | 12 Followers
100
Enchanting, Romantic, Intelligent, Entertaining, Great staging

See it if you love The Wizard of Oz or simply love intelligently staged theatre. A beautiful show!

Don't see it if nope. No reason not to see it.

230 Reviews | 46 Followers
100
Absorbing, Great staging, Great acting, Masterful, Original

See it if you like original, masterful productions, where there is some puppetry, but so incredibly well done that you forget about the puppets

Don't see it if you dislike the world of the wizard of oz

67 Reviews | 21 Followers
100
Exquisite, Enchanting, Great staging, Masterful, Riveting

See it if you want a majestic, beautifully composed performance.

Don't see it if you want a lot of dialogue

Critic Reviews (29)

The New York Times
February 21st, 2016

"This is a more assured production than the one I saw a year ago, and the encompassing visual lushness of its environment is new. But a fundamental stumble still keeps it from fully blossoming to life...Mechanics get in the way of fantasy, though, at a crucial point...Just when we want the play to move us, there’s a frantic muddle instead. That long sequence contains the key to the story’s heart, and this abundantly beautiful show still needs to find it."
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Time Out New York
January 20th, 2015

"Strangemen & Co.’s immersive and practically wordless adaptation of the writings of L. Frank Baum uses low-tech stagecraft like evocative Bunraku puppets, haunting vocal sound effects and a lone violinist to tell the backstory. Emotions are communicated through simple gestures, grunts and glances, not one wasted. Touching on mortality, futility and fate, 'The Woodsman' is a grown-up fairy tale that proves happiness is a worthwhile goal, even if it doesn’t last ever after."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
February 10th, 2016

"There’s not an unconsidered moment: Every element contributes, echoes, foretells. Many a production could benefit from Strangemen’s level of attention to storytelling detail. And yet I couldn’t help feeling that all this attention had been lavished on a story that resists being opened...'The Woodsman' does not raise dramatic questions for us in the way 'Into the Woods' does with similarly archetypal characters."
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Variety
February 8th, 2016

"There’s a haunting beauty about this dark puppet show, created by James Ortiz, the writer, co-director, puppet master and star of the current production. This eerie prequel to “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' reveals how the Tin Woodman lost his heart — not to mention all his body parts — when the Wicked Witch of the East put a curse on his ax...The puppeteers are proficient and the effects are exquisite."
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The Hollywood Reporter
February 8th, 2016

"It tells the backstory of the Tin Man via movement, mime and puppetry, with only a short prologue verbally setting up the action. It achieves great impact with minimal means...The evocative mood is set even before the show begins and it's sustained beautifully throughout the virtually wordless piece...The narrative is diffusely conveyed at times, many of the individual sequences are vividly rendered."
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Talkin' Broadway
February 8th, 2016

"Silence, precisely enough articulated, can indeed speak volumes. And it does, in 'The Woodsman,' the haunting, lovely, and unforgettable puppet-fairy-tale extravaganza. So well rendered is this astonishingly short but impossibly full show...On the few occasions when an actor does use his or her actual voice, you'll be amazed at what you've been missing—and how, against the odds, you haven't missed it at all."
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TheaterScene.net
February 15th, 2016

"This engrossing and magical 75-minute stage show uses mime, puppetry and music to tell its story...The talented cast of nine alternating as actors and puppet handlers enact their brief but eerie tale in this unusual format...It is a bit confusing as to what is happening since after the opening prologue there is no dialogue...However, the show is always theatrical, always hypnotic."
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CurtainUp
February 8th, 2016

"You're in for an unusual, immersive experience...A hauntingly beautiful, spectacularly imaginative adult theater piece...For all the eeriness and Nick Chopper's destiny as the tin man without a heart, 'The Woodsman' has its lighter, more heart warming than heart breaking moments...A show that is fueled by imagination and talent rather than multi-million-dollars invested in technical wizardry."
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