SLAVA'S SNOWSHOW reviews...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 6:36pm

Post 'em here! Best of luck to the cast and crew!

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 6:43pm

AM New York gives the show 3 Stars out of 4:

'Upon entering the Helen Hayes Theatre, you’ll notice the rectangular pieces of white paper that cover the floor. It’s snow. Or at least it’s supposed to be. You can pick up and crush it in your hand. Or maybe throw a little at your neighbor.

Such is the otherworldly, sensory whirlwind setting of “Slava’s Snowshow,” a dreamlike spectacle that mixes sadness and absurdity with lighthearted playfulness. Slava Polunin, a world-recognized Russian clown (think Bill Irwin or Marcel Marceau), staged and stars in the surreal, tragicomic show. Occasionally, you feel as though you’re not watching a circus, but a Tim Burton film or Samuel Beckett play.'

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/stage/blog/2008/12/theater_review_of_slavas_snows.html

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 6:59pm

Word of Mouth is mixed:

Mark: "I think it's so much more appealing to a young family...I would recommend it to my friends with young children. My wife and I enjoyed it but we wouldn't go out of our way to see it on our own."

Whitney: "I really did like it. It's just silly and it's fun and it's a really good time."

Joe: "I'm still scratching my head...If you're looking for a circus, walk through South Street Seaport or Central Park there's always mimes down there, or see The Big Apple Circus."

http://www.broadway.com/Slava-s-Snowshow/broadway_reviews/5016938

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 8:11pm

Variety is Mixed-to-Positive:

'It's amazing how an infusion of cash can transform a show. "Slava's Snowshow," an offbeat, otherworldly clown show created by master Russian clown Slava Polunin, has cleaned up its endearingly scruffy face since its 2004 Off Broadway engagement. Comfortably installed (until Jan. 4) in that most accommodating of intimate Broadway houses, the Helen Hayes, the refurbished show boasts fresher set pieces, sharper lighting, cleaner costumes, better beach balls, more "snow" -- even more clowns. And if one should whisper that some of the magic has evaporated, who would hear that voice above the screams of laughter of a delighted audience?'

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939173.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

[Kad]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 8:19pm

Word of Mouth is like having a nail slowly driven into your brain.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 8:52pm

I agree....WOM kills me. I get that they are suppose to be Joe Average....but couldn't they find SOME people with s little bit of sophistication?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 10:52pm

TheaterMania is very positive:

"The hilarious yet haunting winter spectacular Slava's Snowshow, created by and starring master clown Slava Polunin and now playing a limited engagement at the Helen Hayes Theatre, is literally taking Broadway by snowstorm. Previously seen in New York a few years ago at the Union Square Theatre, the show is filled with magical images -- including a truly impressive blizzard that blows through the entire theater in the show's finale.

....

And despite a few attempts at inclusion, those in the mezzanine may not get the full audience interactive experience of the show, particularly in the joyous ball-bouncing that follows the curtain call. However, everyone should still be able to appreciate the marvelous skill of the performers and revel in the most astounding holiday show I've yet to see on Broadway. "

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/16439

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 10:55pm

Talkin' Broadway is... positive?!?!:

"... More than any of this year’s other seasonal offerings, this show is suffused with enough wonder to make you feel like you’re seven years old all over again.

Connoisseurs of Off-Broadway, take note: Things have not changed much since this show’s original New York engagement at the Union Square Theatre four years ago. It still runs just 90 minutes - including a 20-minute intermission - and even at that length seems somewhat stretched; and in its sumptuous art direction (by Gary Cherniakhovskii) and super-loud sound design (Rastyam Dubinnikov) it’s just as eye-popping and ear-poking.

....

But if you did like them then, or if you’ve never seen them before, Slava’s Snowshow is a tasty ice cream cone of an outing, and the most cerebrally silly holiday present being unwrapped on a major New York stage this winter. Just make sure you come well-wrapped yourself: Especially if you’re sitting in the orchestra, wear clothing you won’t mind getting wet; and tight-fitting clothing is the surest way to ensure that after the blizzard hits, you won’t have to cope with trails of snowflakes following you home. Otherwise, hanging loose and enjoying the indoor inclement weather is definitely the order of the day."

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Snowshow.html

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 10:57pm

The Times preview is up...and I'm not too sure what to make of it.

“Slava’s Snowshow” was created in 1993 in Moscow by the Russian-born clown-artist Slava Polunin and has been seen in 25 countries since. It had an Off Broadway run of more than two years at the Union Square Theater, beginning in September 2004. Despite its worldwide success the show has retained the feel of a handmade diversion, modest in its means but powerful in its ability to induce waves of giggles and sighs of pleasure. Mr. Polunin, done up in a baggy yellow suit, with a bulbous red nose and traditional black-and-white clown makeup, alternates with a couple of others in the central role. This yellow fellow is flanked by a cadre of green-coated goofs in similar makeup, with mile-wide floppy black shoes and hats with wingspans to match. They bumble and stumble about, acting sad-clown-like, employing props like straw brooms, balloons and bubble machines. Let’s just say if I were charged with the entertainment of children under 10 and had a Broadway budget at my disposal, this would be the show I’d favor. — Charles Isherwood"
Updated On: 12/7/08 at 10:57 PM

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 11:31pm

I saw the show this morning, and it was extremely weird, yet extremely delightful.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 11:41pm

The New York Times is positive:

"...Saturday night’s flurries were lovely but really just an amuse-bouche in meteorological terms. So my heart leapt as I entered the Helen Hayes Theater, where the delightful kiddie curio “Slava’s Snowshow” opened on Sunday night for a brief holiday run. A fine dusting of snow — well, fluffy white confetti, anyway — was already piled up in the aisles, and if the show lived up to the promise of its title, more was on the way.

...

You come for the snow.

And on that front it does not disappoint. By the full-on blizzard finale, snow was generally all over the Helen Hayes Theater. It was falling on every part of the dark central section, on the balcony, falling softly upon the first rows. It lay thickly drifted on the aisles and on the floor, on the delighted faces of the littlest children, on the coat-covered laps of their parents. My soul swooned slowly as I heard the snow falling faintly through the universe of the Helen Hayes, and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and — well, the jaded theater critics too.

Please excuse that strange peroration. In my snow frenzy I seem to have purloined a few lines from James Joyce — the immortal culminating paragraph of “The Dead.” But something tells me Joyce wouldn’t mind. Judging from those gorgeous last lines, I suspect he was an inveterate snow lover himself."

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/theater/reviews/08slav.html

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 11:56pm

I really want to see this. It just seems so...strange.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 12/7/08 at 11:59pm

It is, but the effects are brilliant, the choice of music is great, and it's just really really cool. It's got this weird darker, sort of twisted tone to it.

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 12:16am

Word of advice. Don't wear a suit. Don't wear anything you like because it could get ruined after numerous times at the drycleaner.

Also, if the idea of getting fake snow thrown at you is a blast, enjoy. I saw it off broadway and hated everything except Slava's dance with a coat rack.


Barbara Hoffman, New York Post: 2 stars out of 4, "Do you like to cheer and laugh on cue? Get spritzed with water or blanketed in synthetic cobwebs? If so, go and enjoy. If not, a stiff drink (and an asthma inhaler, if you have one) may help prepare you for the wordless mayhem to come."

I'm with Hoffman.
Updated On: 12/8/08 at 12:16 AM

[myManCape]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 12:24am

Just got home from the opening and after show events. It was well... different. I dont know how to explain my feelings other than it was very unusual. To quote the word of mouth people, I wouldnt go out of my way to see it.

This is a show where I would recommend rear orchestra seating. You can see everything fine and you dont become "part" of the show.

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 1:03am

I am still mourning the loss of my best suit.
And I never got those hours back.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 1:20am

I kind of want to see this now.

[A Director]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 2:20am

I am still mourning the loss of my best suit.
And I never got those hours back.

You appear to be one of those people who become so jaded and arch, they loss the ability to see wonder. Pity.

[A Director]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 2:21am

That should be lose the ability to see wonder.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 6:22am

I saw this off b'way and was simply mesmerized and moved by it.

That being said, it certainly ISN'T for everyone. On a different day and in a different mind set...it might not have affected me as it did.

I will say this: it is unlike anything else on B'way (or off)

And I have no clue how your suit was ruined my wind blown PAPER.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 9:27am

I was just about to ask isn't it dry paper? How would ones clothes ger ruined by dry paper and wind...?

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 9:49am

Nowhere, ever, has this show been advertised as a circus.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 10:09am

The New York Post is mixed with two out of four stars:

"...You may have seen the show before. It played off-Broadway a few years back, filling the Union Square Theater with fake snow, real smoke and a barrage of balls and balloons the ragtag troupe of clowns lofted into the audience.

Back then, it seemed sort of charming.

Back then, it wasn't $69 to $111 a ticket - for less than 90 minutes, with an intermission. With apologies to Woody Allen - the show is irritating! And so short!

...

It's only proper to report that director Victor Kramer keeps the nonsense flowing at a steady pace, and that Victor Plotkinov has designed a number of props that might have migrated from a Teletubbies show, including a background of what seems like fleecy mattresses that nicely coalesce into a blizzard.

I'm just glad I don't have to sweep up afterward."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12082008/entertainment/theater/you_wont_snow_what_hit_you_143152.htm

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 11:05am

The day I went to the show it rained and my suit was damp. The paper stuck to it like glue and I looked like I was tarred and feathered with tons of paper. I took it to my drycleaner three times and it never was the same. One of the threads in the suit pulled and was ruined.

I got the suit at a designer benefit and it was very expensive and one of a kind. The jacket was ruined but the skirt is still ok. I did not think the show charming. I hated it. I thought one skit was charming but at the end it was torture for me being bombarded by snow. I HATED IT. Just my opinion.

The other thing, the day I saw it I got my hair done at Federico Salon and it was done as I was to be on camera the following day. My hair was full of tiny pieces of paper and I had to wash my hair and it was a waste as I was at the salon earlier that day. I was really pissed off as I had a video interview the next day and my hair was ruined and had no time to get it done the following day.

It ruined my suit and my hairdo. It must sound silly but I spent many hours getting it done and the show ruined it. Updated On: 12/8/08 at 11:05 AM

[jagfkb]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 11:09am

It sounds really interesting, really, but isn't a 5 week engagement not nearly enough time for it to make back even the slightest bit of money?