Piece of My Heart Reviews

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 8:43pm

Almost half a century after his death, Bronx-born songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, the subject of the new Off-Broadway musical “Piece of My Heart,” is getting the kind of buzz he never got during his lifetime:
“Bert deserves to be elevated to his rightful place in the music industry,” Paul McCartney is shown saying in a trailer to a forthcoming documentary about Berns, who co-wrote the song “Twist and Shout,” which the Beatles recorded....
"The best songwriter you never heard of," Time Magazine recently declared.
Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story Review. Will You Twist and Shout?

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 10:15pm

Jesse Green in Vulture:
Nothing good has yet come of this formula — certainly not Beautiful or Motown or Soul Doctor. But until Piece of My Heart, nothing irredeemably horrid had come of it either. So: Cause to celebrate! We have hit rock bottom.
Theater Review: Piece of My Heart Really Needed Some Brains

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 10:40pm

Zachary Stewart in TheaterMania: 'Director Denis Jones has crafted it all into a sleek package. ... Unlike 'Beautiful,' 'Piece of My Heart' does not commit the sin of 'American Idol'-ing the songs to death. ... It helps that this cast can really sing. Zak Resnick, in particular, has a lot of soul for a white boy. Leslie Kritzer packs a punch in each of her songs. ... A fun evening of song and dance.'
TheaterMania: 'Toe-tapping good time of a musical ..'

[Kad]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 11:06pm

Adam Feldman from Time Out is negative.





"Despite the compelling talent onstage, I want my two hours and 20 minutes back."

Updated On: 7/21/14 at 11:06 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/22/14 at 2:02am

The Times seemed to like it. And despite people hating Resnick, he's getting favorable reviews.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 7/22/14 at 12:39pm

The NY Times mostly positive - "The show’s shortcomings would matter more without Garry Sherman’s rich orchestrations and the ensemble of musicians..."
NY Times review

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/2/14 at 2:34pm

Amazing how 2 people see the same show & one hates it and one loves it. This is why I never listened to critics when theater mattered to me

My wife wanted to see it so we got discounted tickets for tonight. We shall see. I am going because she is going .

Updated On: 8/2/14 at 02:34 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/3/14 at 1:13pm

We saw it last night. My wife loved it and gave it 9 out of 10

We sat, on discounted tickets front row orchestra(last 2 on the right side). If you have a problem with bright lights & flashing lights get something more toward the center or a few rows back & you will be fine.

[sorano916]

Posted: 8/3/14 at 3:51pm

Any chance that they would extend this?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/3/14 at 3:52pm

No idea

[jnb9872]

Posted: 8/3/14 at 9:00pm

When I saw it, it felt like a promising tryout. There's a real interesting story here, great music, and not enough distance between the Producers (children of Bert Berns, the fictionalized basis of the main character of this show) and the material.

The structure is fascinating: the idea of telling a jukebox bio-mystery is clever, and I want to see it developed with more experienced hands (who also have more editorial distance from the Berns family; they gave their inner experience, that's great, now it needs a polish.) For a show that is so audacious in its structural concept, it's oddly by-the-book scene to scene.