The New York Times - Recommended
"Superbly realized production...Thanks in no small measure to Ms. Taichman's sensitive direction and the forceful performances of its cast 'Indecent' sheds an eye-opening light on a little-known time...The fluent choreography also contributes to the almost cinematic flow...Ms. Vogel's script is not entirely free of necessary but still blunt expositional passages, or the occasional polemical touch...'Indecent' becomes diffuse as Ms. Vogel's plot grows more complicated."
Associated Press - Highly Recommended
"Vogel's powerful new play 'Indecent' is truly a celebration of the power of theater. A seasoned cast presents the story of a controversial early 20th century play simply and intimately, through seamlessly entwined music, dance and narrative...Nelis, Lieber, Moore and Rattazzi provide humor and gravitas in equal measure...The sawdust pouring from the sleeves of the cast is also a compelling visual metaphor for the enduring, enriching power of storytelling."
Hollywood Reporter - Somewhat Recommended
"A gripping if more than a little pretentious theatrical history lesson...It's a fascinating theatrical tale, but 'Indecent' doesn't have the impact it should due to the diffuse manner in which the story is presented. The co-creators attempt to cover so much ground that the focus inevitably gets lost...But for all its stylistic excesses, 'Indecent' exerts an undeniable power, certainly more so than the scenes from Asch's work, which today seem hopelessly melodramatic."
Vulture - Recommended
"Everett could hardly be better in a role he seems to have grown himself toward...In the process the play, too, grows toward the brilliance of its subject...The play's flaw is too essential to be repaired so Armfield has had the good sense to highlight it instead. As Bosie, Charlie Rowe does nothing (except look good) to mitigate the character's awfulness...Importantly, this production is also much more beautiful than the earlier one."
NY1 - Highly Recommended
"A marvelous new play…This inspired production is interested in far more than theatre history, delving ever so artfully into matters of culture, religion, truth and the transcendent force of art itself…It's all brought into vivid focus thanks to Vogel and Taichman's wonderfully stylized staging...The entire cast is sublime...They have crafted indelible characters in stark shades of darkness and light...The kind of insight and emotional depth that comes from theatre at its most poetic."
Variety - Recommended
"A riveting backstage drama...Thanks to Taichman's impressionistic direction and David Dorfman's stylized choreography, a troupe of long-slumbering Yiddish actors rise from the ashes and stiffly come to life to play their parts in this drama...This is not a linear production...But from time to time the audience can't help but apply its own knowledge to scenes...We already know the outcome of their professional arguments. But such is the tension of the production."
New York Post - Not Recommended
"Rupert Everett, barely recognizable in a padded suit and prosthetic makeup, plays Oscar Wilde in the late 1890s, when the writer was tried for 'gross indecency' for his affair with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas...There's delicious indecency from actor Tom Colley, who spends 20 minutes reclining in the nude. That, unfortunately, is the only rise David Hare's gabby drama provokes."
Entertainment Weekly - Recommended
"Some audience members might bristle at the let's-put-on-a-show trope. But stage manager Lemml is so mesmerizing...It's clear what's so captivating about his play...It's also clear why Asch is headed for trouble...Of course, Asch does not set his work aflame. He takes it to Berlin, St. Petersburg, Bratislava, then New York City — where, once it's translated into English, the trouble begins...In English, the scene is powerful and potent. In Yiddish, it's simply breathtaking."
Newsday - Highly Recommended
"'Indecent' is also a singular achievement on its own. It is an intimate, 100-minute chamber-sized show, not a Broadway extravaganza. But it is infused with original onstage klezmer music by Gutkin and Halva, and tradition-flavored choreography by Dorfman...Taichman takes us all over the world on a plain, raised stage powerfully transformed. For all the darkness of the subject, the staging is witty. The historical perspective is vast and knowing. And the lost story of gay love is profound."
amNY - Recommended
"'Indecent' may be too sprawling for its own good, with six of the seven actors playing multiple roles, quick shifts in time and place and a heavy reliance on captions for expository information...Even so, the play is quite moving and visually striking. Director Rebecca Taichman stages it in an openly theatrical manner, with the ensemble always in full view and three traveling Klezmer musicians. She also imbues it with a ghostly, tragic tone."
NorthJersey - Recommended
"Unfortunately for Vogel's dramatic purposes, Asch had nothing to do with taming the love story for Broadway, and apparently didn't much care...What transforms the evening from a fast-moving gloss on a long-ago theater incident into a vibrant, seamless experience is the sweep and flavor of the production, which, performed on a bare stage, blends dramatization, song and dance with impeccable theatricality."
Time Out New York - Highly Recommended
"'Indecent' has the scope of an epic but the intimacy of a chamber piece. The excellent actors play dozens of characters, changing locations and accents but always sharing the same darkling world. As it celebrates and illustrates the power of theater, 'Indecent' sits shiva for its Yiddish branch. It is an elegant and open-hearted tribute to a murdered world of culture: Asch to ashes, audiences to dust."
The Wrap - Recommended
"Under Rebecca Taichman's dazzling direction, much humor is exposed, especially with the repeated hurling of that Torah. Also, Vogel nicely details the personalities within the Yiddish troupe. They're a seasoned, worldly bunch, and their various reactions to the charges of indecency and anti-Semitism run the gamut. Vogel and Raichman weave a very eclectic score into the fabric of 'Indecent'."
The Guardian - Highly Recommended
"A tender, unconventional tribute...Those supertitles and self-conscious theatricality suggest Brecht, the figure of the stage manager conjures Thornton Wilder. That Vogel and Taichman have managed to mingle the styles of both of these writers, with the comedy and searching moral questioning testifies to the originality and vibrancy of their approach....There's an unassuming gentleness throughout and immense poignancy."
Deadline - Highly Recommended
"Hudes has a fine grasp of the friction created by the social tectonic plates that shift according to the waves of gentrification and governance. Each of these characters is good company — there's a distant echo here of 'Rent,' and not just because of Rubin-Vega's welcome presence. It's all beautifully calibrated under the direction of Thomas Kail...The performances are all of a piece but Wiley is outstanding...She's an actress you cannot take your eyes off of; she shines."
CurtainUp - Highly Recommended
"It's an interesting story that's been ingeniously crafted by playwright Vogel and director Taichman from historic events...Though it's tempting to single out Verson and Lenk and Topol as the cast's standouts, there isn't a weak link in the rest of this cast. The same is true of the characters, all of whom are consistently interesting...This production completes 'Indecent's' triple producing collaboration. Hopefully, the already sold-out run will extend and then see the play continue its life."
Cititour.com - Highly Recommended
"View the searing intelligence of Vogel's writing, the stunning visual imagination of Taichman's direction, and the exemplary work of seven remarkable actors...The unwavering commitment and facility of this acting troupe is a key part of the equation for the production's success as they fully immerse themselves into each of their multiple roles. Indeed, the human elements of every kind are primarily what turns 'Indecent' into an indelible theatrical experience."
TheaterMania - Recommended
"Moore, Mimi Lieber, Tom Nelis, and Rattazzi contribute to 'Indecent's' large roster of characters, each taking on six or seven roles...but as scenes shift quickly through time and place it's often difficult to tell who is who. That hurdle, combined with the directorial choices around those moments, mitigate 'Indecent's' raw power...Nevertheless, 'Indecent' ranks as a must-see for anyone who cares about the important legacy of Yiddish theater, or of theater in general."
TheaterScene.net - Highly Recommended
"May just be Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paula Vogel's best play...To say that the play, performed without intermission, is riveting is beside the point. Not only is the play an epitaph for the Yiddish stage it also reinvents the art of theater...It is ultimately an extremely moving document of human achievement, betrayal, and destruction. Cheers to Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman and their superb ensemble cast for this memorable theatrical evening."
Theatre Is Easy - Highly Recommended
"Transportive and deeply moving...The play is a testimony to great theatre not only in its use of universal language to express different shades of human emotions, but also the many repetitions of space, silence, and scenes within the play. This lets us savor and reflect on its intricate details...There are multiple moments that still make us laugh, despite being engulfed within a backdrop of an immensely sad story."
Broadway Blog - Recommended
"Taichman...is responsible for the beautifully evocative staging, which uses Brechtian tropes to capture the theatrical ambiance and Yiddishkeit surrounding Asch's European and American worlds...‘Indecent' can be deeply moving, especially at moments such as when the actors allow ashes to drop from their sleeves, reinforced at the end by an 'ashes to ashes' supertitle. Still, when ‘Indecent' reaches forward to include hot-button material like the six million, it spreads its net too wide."
Theater Pizzazz - Highly Recommended
"A powerful drama...'Indecent' is beautifully staged and performed. It's hard to find the words to describe the complexity of the story, the emotions it evokes and the personal, as well as professional, relationships depicted. Among the most outstanding performances are the love scenes between Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson…'Indecent' is a remarkable theater piece — a pleasure to watch and feel. A veritable tour de force!"
DC Theatre Scene - Highly Recommended
"A fascinating history lesson written by Vogel and a cleverly staged entertainment directed by Taichman...Vogel is unafraid to complicate the story of 'The God of Vengeance,' both by presenting Asch sometimes unsympathetically and by crowding the play with incident. It is not easy to keep track of all the characters who fly by...'Indecent' helps us see the power and beauty of art not just by its subject but by its example."
Front Row Center - Highly Recommended
"An immaculate production...Within the first few second of the play you find yourself relaxing and remembering, 'this is why I go to the theatre.'…In creating the story within the story Taichman and Vogel use technical touches that at first seem clumsy but turn out to be little gems…This is a compelling piece of theatre that does more than tell a story. It offers its heart on its sleeve and asks for a piece of yours...Brava."
The Clyde Fitch Report - Highly Recommended
"'Indecent' is utterly and endlessly moving…The result is a throbbing, beautiful pageant with quickly shifting scenes and the more-than-occasional musical interlude through which the entire ensemble moves adroitly into Dorfman's joyfully solemn and solemnly joyful dance patterns…With the actors and sometimes the musicians assuming several roles each, each section is equally and unflinchingly potent."
Reviewing The Drama - Recommended
"'Indecent' is a well-crafted and interesting play (with music). Though the structure and the very conceit of digging into and reflecting on our own history did bring thoughts of other recent artistic endeavors, there are more than enough specifics—culturally, historically, and otherwise—to distinguish it from the pack. What resonates the most is Asch's original question to his peers, 'Why does every Jew on stage have to be a paragon?'"
ZEALnyc - Recommended
"'Indecent' is a spectacular achievement...The production is a potent mix of history, imagination, and theatricality...The constant role-switching is admittedly hard to keep track of, and it is not always discernible which characters are being played by the various performers at any given time. However, the emotional undercurrents and thematic concerns of the tale being told are always clear."
On Stage Blog - Recommended
"A compelling story about the power of innovation and the equally powerful effect of detachment and disinheriting oneself from the innovative process...Rebecca Taichman directs ‘Indecent' with a sensitive precision. Dorfman's choreography is fluid with stunning lines and fresh contemporary movement...A compelling piece of theatre that raises deep, enduring questions about the future of a society that refuses to accept differences."
Entertainmant Hour Blog - Highly Recommended
"'Indecent' is nothing short of absolute brilliance. The audience communally sat in awe- laughing quickly at every nuance and sharing heartbreak as it came, which culminated to us leaping to our feet at the final blackout…The cast is exceptional…The direction by co-creator Rebecca Taichman perfectly embodied the piece's humor, history and vaudevillian homage to the times."
Cultural Weekly - Not Recommended
"'Signature Plays,' a triple bill of one-acts, offers bizarre examinations of death, loneliness, and race...Not for the easygoing theatergoer who just wants to sit back and be entertained...The uneven evening concludes with Kennedy's 'Funnyhouse of a Negro'...Too bad Neugebauer only gets the right tone for the witty 'Sandbox.' She lets 'Drowning' drown and 'Funnyhouse' is more like a haunted house."
