“You warm to the impetus behind a musical about the prevalence of ballads over time as a communal lifeline while at the same time hoping for further rewrites that would let a sometimes clotted evening flow as freely as its adventuresome score.”
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“Sporadically transcendent, mostly absurd, this folk musical sees a modern lesbian in New York find her true self by communing with her ballad-singing, proto-feminist female ancestors.”
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"Collectively, Ballad Lines boasts one of the most impressive scores from any new musical in a number of years, and is undoubtedly the strongest element of a show that is pretty much in good shape throughout."
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“The pacing is well judged, supported by a simple but effective set design that lets the performances and music remain central.”
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"For all the heart and soul and technical achievement on stage, that yawning empathy gap was never bridged – at least not for me. I appreciated the show because it’s a really fine musical, but I didn’t really feel it. Many will."
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“Ballad Lines has been nearly ten years in the making and shows a solidity and confidence in itself that is wonderful to witness.”
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“It’s a worthy tribute to the music it loves – here’s hoping the show can share it more widely.”
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"There is undeniably rich material here, but Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo (co-bookwriters) need to do as their protagonist does and look at the piece’s component parts and decide what story they want to tell to future audiences. "
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