Were Critics Seduced by the Return of Tango?
Here's a sampling of what they had to say:
Celia Wren in her Broadway.com Review: "You can't accuse the creators of Forever Tango, the music and dance extravaganza now slinking around the stage of the Shubert Theatre, of eschewing truth in advertising. This international hit--which has visited five continents and which ran for a year on Broadway in 1997-8--contains tango. A lot of tango. Clinched pairs of tango dancers executing sultry moves while an onstage orchestra plays variations on the tango. Crooning interludes by vocalist Miguel A. Velazquez, whose "true love" according to the program is "tango." But remember the first part of the title, too: if you're not a rabid fan of this art form, birthed in the saloons and brothels of Argentina, the two hours of Forever Tango can seem to last, well, forever."
Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "With 14 dancers, a singer and a 12-piece onstage orchestra, the show--which had a year-long Broadway run, plus multiple Tony nominations, during the 1997-98 season--seems as blithe, sensuous and steamily innocent as ever… This latest edition of Forever Tango apparently dates from 2000, but it is pretty much the same mixture of grace and snarl remembered fondly from its earlier incarnation. Although the performers--and indeed the show itself--never quite reach the artistic level of that 1985 granddaddy of tango spectaculars, Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezolli's Tango Argentino--this is a smooth, superbly entertaining introduction to a glittering dance form, where even the men's brilliantined hairstyles can almost shine in the dark. "
Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Forever Tango, which debuted on Broadway seven years ago and has made a triumphant return, raises an interesting question: Why, of all dances, is the tango so well-suited to the stage? As you watch the splendid troupe--assembled, directed and lit by Luis Bravo--go through their dazzling paces, you're aware of the many contradictions inherent in the tango. Its origins--in the bars and brothels of Buenos Aires--could not be more base. Yet, unlike contemporary dances, which make the body seem disjointed and broken, the tango demands a bearing that can only be called aristocratic."
Marilyn Stasio of Variety: "Tango has changed since Tango Argentino swiveled its hips on Broadway in 1985 and set off a mad craze for Argentina's national dance. For that matter, the form is not what it was when Luis Bravo picked up Tony noms for his own revue, Forever Tango, in 1997. This new edition of Bravo's original show reflects some of those modernizations by incorporating balletic, acrobatic and otherwise "artistic" variations into a revue that aims to present a mini-history of tango. But it's the basic, ritual routines danced by a core group of five partner-pairs that still thrill the most."