Did Critics Think Brooklyn Was Worth the Trip?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Eric Grode in his Broadway.com Review: "Someday audiences who saw Brooklyn will be able to boast of seeing Eden Espinosa and Ramona Keller in the show that launched their careers. Those who missed this sight will take comfort in the fact that they were spared the experience of seeing Brooklyn. This misbegotten hybrid of Brecht, story theater, Amelie and American Idol fails so dismally on so many levels that the prevailing impulse is to look away from the stage... Jeff Calhoun, whose unremarkable directing resume got a huge jump from last season's revival of Big River, has gone back to his old tricks. The story is framed as a 'fable' recounted by five homeless people, and the bulk of Calhoun's efforts involve turning the detritus of city life into the street performers' props and costumes. A suspended piece of rope becomes the Eiffel Tower, dingy tube socks turn into elbow-length gloves, and Cool Ranch Doritos bags morph into a headdress. He has created one clever visual after the next, thanks to Ray Klausen's sets and especially Tobin Ost's endlessly inventive costumes. But gimmicks only get you so far."
Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "While it repeats the phrase 'I believe in miracles,' the show has a healthy and realistic skepticism about the possibility of fairy tales coming true. And regrettably, Brooklyn feels less like the next Rent than a soot-and-sugar revue bound for Vegas, where it might fit comfortably amid the simulated big-city authenticity of the New York-New York Hotel... Let me just quote a few other lyrics and lines from Brooklyn, so theatergoers will know what awaits them: 'The truth is but a flame that engulfs the butterfly;' 'Sometimes with our tears we can water roses;' and 'Leave all your fears behind/ And float across the rainbow sky/ To once upon a time...' It can honestly be said that the tone of these words is matched exactly by the music that accompanies them. Celine Dion, are you listening? Brooklyn mercifully has a sassy component as well as a soggy one. And the show is most bearable when Ms. Keller's Paradice is strutting her stuff and being wicked... Ms. Keller also gets to wear the flashiest costumes Tobin Ost is the designer, including an evening gown made from garbage bags and a capelet of dirty teddy bears. These ensembles are an eyeful, for sure. But if it's madcap improvised fashion you're after, you can see much the same and save a lot of money if you wait for the Halloween parade in Greenwich Village."
Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "When you walk out of a musical humming the costumes, you know that show's in trouble. For though Brooklyn is a modest little show, it has, as Winston Churchill remarked about something else, an awful lot to be modest about. Admittedly, the show, which opened last night at the Plymouth Theatre, has its heart in the right place. The correct placement of its other organs is more disputable... The bad idea here was trying to combine the mood, look and feel of Rent with that of The Fantasticks to make a hit. But Rent and The Fantasticks had great stories, great music and great lyrics. Here, the book, music and lyrics by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson are not great--though the music, which uneasily straggles between soul and Andrew Lloyd Webberesque anthem--is better than the banal lyrics."
Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Four years have passed since Cats closed. For all those who yearn for another musical that takes place on a garbage-strewn set, there's now Brooklyn. In terms of book and score, both by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson, Brooklyn is entirely synthetic, its plot a series of showbiz clichés, its music similarly generic... Whatever sparks Brooklyn generates come from its talented performers. Eden Espinosa has a cool voice and a warm appeal in the blandly written title role. Ultimately, however, I found myself rooting for Ramona Keller, her ruthless, unabashedly materialistic rival. Villains are always more fun... Brooklyn is yet another attempt to woo younger people to Broadway. Perhaps its clichés will be more congenial to an audience accustomed to MTV. For those who think the theater should go a little deeper, its appeal is limited."
David Rooney of Variety: "Oh dear. The caterwauling vocal calisthenics that are de rigueur among American Idol contestants have planted their demon seed on Broadway in Brooklyn a series of overwrought white-bread gospel ballads strung together in search of a book. While on the surface the goal is apparently to be the next little-musical-that-could after Avenue Q, the real model here is Rent. But this terminally precious urban fairy tale is devoid of tangible characters or story and, despite some impressive lung power in its cast, seems a long shot to put down deep roots even with the dearth of new musicals this season... Unlike the eclectic musical idiom and emotional heart of Rent, Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson's ratty patchwork of a musical has a preprogrammed, one-note inspirational sound and a stock of cliches worthy of a Hallmark catalog."
Peter Santilli of The Associated Press: "Brooklyn, which opened Thursday at the Plymouth Theatre, should charm audiences with a strong collection of original songs and an outstanding cast... The superlative voices of Espinosa, Keller and Cleavant Derricks, who plays the likable narrator, power a diverse score packed with raw funk, hard rock and sizzling gospel numbers... Brooklyn plays out in a sort of urban wonderland created by designer Ray Klausen's dreamlike set and Tobin Ost's futuristic costumes woven from street-junk accessories much in the spirit of The Wiz and Cats. The book isn't quite developed to the point of eliciting much emotional attachment to its characters or reflection on its themes. But the quality of the music and the skillful, unobtrusive direction of Jeff Calhoun whose Broadway credits include The Will Rogers Follies and revivals of Annie Get Your Gun, Big River and Grease are more than enough to make the show entertaining."
Linda Winer of Newsday: "If good intentions guaranteed good theater, Brooklyn: The Musical would run forever. If bright, fresh talent and infectious pop-and-soul music could overcome a ludicrous story and cornball lyrics, the show that opened last night at the Plymouth Theatre might not make a mere 105 minutes feel like infinity times forever. Unlike the fairy tale that these characters are selling, however, the reality of Brooklyn defies a happy ending. As a concert, its succession of high- voltage performances might be appealing. As Broadway's only original musical until next year, this won't do. The costumes, created from garbage by Tobin Ost, are a hoot, especially the diva's gown made of crime-scene tape. It is a mistake, however, to have characters spray-paint the number of each scene, and a disaster to let us count the minutes on a real clock on the stage. Characters sing, 'When you are in America's lost and found, you have to believe that everything is possible.' Not on Broadway, it's not."