Were CA Critics Charmed by The Times They Are A-Changin'?

The new Twyla Tharp piece, The Times They Are A-Changin', featuring the music of Bob Dylan tuner, opened its world premiere engagement at the Old Globe Theatre on February 9 ahead of an expected fall Broadway bow. Starring Michael Arden, Jenn Colella and Thom Sesma, the show is set in a rundown carnival and runs an intermission-less 90 minutes. Did local critics think the show needs changin'?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Steven Oxman of Variety: "These three performers sing their hearts out, and there's no question that Dylan's canon is well served throughout, assisted more than ably by a five-piece band on a stand above the stage. Tharp helps her cast identify an extraordinary range of emotions that the songs, nearly without exception, deliver… The problem is that Tharp's carnival world just never convinces. Rather than humor, she ends up mostly with hokiness like the too-eager-to-please dog. And the ensemble--young and agile--seems comfortable expressing hopefulness but really doesn't manage the deeper wells of despair or rebellion."

Charles McNulty of The Los Angeles Times: "More often than not, the circus imagery feels like an encumbrance, a distraction from the radical subjectivity of Dylan's lyrics… The movement Tharp conjures with ropes, lassos, beach balls, hula-hoops and trampolines is mesmerizing in its acrobatic fluidity but somehow seems incidental to the songs. Often what emerges from the colorful swirl is a performer, standing stock-still, belting out one of Dylan's classics with about as much physical energy as your average karaoke superstar. The male leads, Sesma and Arden, offer strong cover versions of Dylan hits… Colella has a vibrant country voice, though she makes a bland impression as the woman Capt. Arab and Coyote are violently vying for. Yet it's Tharp who's responsible for this blandness. After all, it's her direction that has Colella sing 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right' to a dopily devoted dog hypnotically danced by Jason McDoyle. The staging turns a brutally unsentimental breakup song into a Hallmark moment."

Anne Marie Welsh of The San Diego Union-Tribune: "The big news about choreographer Twyla Tharp's startling, eye-filling new stage work: Dancing takes a back seat to the music of Bob Dylan. Whether that's a good thing for The Times They Are A-Changin', Tharp's much-anticipated show that opened Thursday at the Old Globe, remains an open question... [Tharp's] created a dreamlike, often funny and sometimes clunky story of generational conflict. Less persuasively, the tale ends in triumphant young romance…. Still in need of work: The narrative and the sole female character, Cleo."

Robert Hurwitt of The San Francisco Chronicle: "The Times looks like a success in San Diego, where its run was extended two weeks before previews even began, and its opening received a prolonged standing ovation. The song list deserves no less, let alone the dynamic performances and imaginatively acrobatic choreography… Tharp perfectly matches the unexpected twists, sarcastic puns and take-no-prisoners iconoclasm of Dylan's mid-'60s lyrics with raucous explosions of inventive energy. Her tumbling, somersaulting, skip-roping, hoop-diving, trampoline-bounding, stilt-dancing choreography is executed with astonishing skill and breathtaking energy by an exceptional seven-person ensemble. Something is happening in these passages that doesn't quite know what it is yet, or how it gets to the resolution that at this point seems imposed from the outside. Once Tharp irons out such problems, The Times should be ready to shake Broadway's windows and rattle its walls."

Paul Hodgins of The Orange County Register: "The Times They Are A-Changin' is an intermittently interesting but ultimately unsatisfying work of non-collaboration Dylan didn't contribute any new songs to the show... The trouble is, the songs aren't much help at establishing anything beyond the general mood. The Times They Are A-Changin', which opens the show, tips us off to the trouble ahead, as does the second song, 'Gotta Serve Somebody.' But other songs seem like diversions... If the story proves unsatisfying, at least you'll be consoled by some terrific performances."