Customer Reviews

Stoop on Orchard Street

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This show is brilliant mostly because it touches the real lives of the real people, our ancestors, many of whom moved through this neighborhood or those like them. The quality of the music and singing may lack in technical detail until you actually listen to the meaning and the substance of the experiences it sings about ! No flowery fluff here, this music reaches right into our grandparents lives and reflects their real lives in a way that captures the hardships and the triumphs which might soon be lost without this performance. And yet so much of it resonates even today as the Melting Pot that is the source of American strength, even as the faces change the process remains the same.

If your ancestors came through Ellis Island or even if not, your friends and neighber probably did. If is a timeless tale that makes us all better for the telling. Get the music, see the show, and see the show again !!

I'm one of those people who has to really like a show to go to see it a second time. Well, I have seen it twice: First at the Mazer Theater in NYC and then on the national tour out here in Los Angeles at the Madrid Theater. And all I can say is that I was not disappointed either time.

No, "A Stoop on Orchard street" is not a Broadway musical spectacular. If you are expecting that, you will be disappointed. Rather, this show is quality Off-Broadway "time travel." It takes you back in time to an era when many of out European ancestors were looking for a better life and came to America in search of that dream. Many of them settled in New York's "Lower East Side" which is where this show is set in locality and time frame. And in this scribes view, it reaches its goal through storyline and music. And for many, it gives them a chance to vicariously get to know members of their own families who -- like the central characters in "A Stoop on Orchard Street" -- face adversity -- and eventually overcome it.

If you have anscetors who came to this country early in the last century as mine did, then you will fully empathize with the story, the music and the lyrics. Thats because it is a part of you -- whether you know it or not.

As I said earlier on: I have seen this show on both coasts and was among the first to procure the CD. If it is ever revived, Ill likely be first in line to buy tickets to see it once again.

I have never been so disappopinted and appalled by a recording in my life. I have played numerous shows on and off-Broadway, and I have no words to explain the sounds this recording captured. First of all the music is trite. The composer doesn't have an original idea in him. The singers were ok, except for a few that weren't even in time with the orchestra. The conductor is also billed as a mixer, and I must say that I hope he hasn't quit his day job. Everything about this recording is sloppy. How can someone market such a disaster?
Do yourself and my collegues a favor: use your money to promote good theatre.