Review Roundup: DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY - All the Reviews!

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of the new musical, Death Takes a Holiday began performances on Friday, June 10, 2011 and opened on July 21, 2011 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). Death Takes a Holiday will play a limited engagement through September 4, 2011. This production marks the second time a new musical has been presented in this theatrical space, following the recent production of The Tin Pan Alley Rag.

Death Takes a Holiday features a book by Peter Stone & Thomas Meehan, music & lyrics by Maury Yeston is directed by Doug Hughes. The cast includes Linda Balgord (Contessa Danielli), Matt Cavenaugh (Eric Fenton), Mara Davi (Alice), Joy Hermalyn (Cora), Jay Jaski (Lorenzo), Simon Jones (Dr. Dario Albione), Rebecca Luker (Duchess Lamberti), Patricia Noonan (Sophia), Julian Ovenden (Prince Sirki / Death), Jill Paice (Grazia), Michael Siberry (Duke Lamberti), Alexandra Socha (Daisy Fenton), Don Stephenson (Fidele), Max Von Essen (Corrado Montelli).

Find out what the critics had to say here!

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: Maury Yeston, the Tony-winning composer and lyricist of "Nine," has provided a melody-rich score that draws on a wide range of influences, from the Baroque to the British poperetta craze of the 1980s...But for the most part, this pleasant but bland new musical gives off the musty whiff of antique melodrama. Deathless it ain't.

Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg: This is one of the most beautifully written and sung scores I've heard in a long time, even if Yeston occasionally settles for the easy rhyme. I can't be as enthusiastic about Doug Hughes's deathly staging. Still, there are lovely contributions..."Death" is a fine, if weird, romance.

Steven Suskin, Variety: Compellingly introspective musicals are hard to come by...Maury Yeston, of "Nine" and "Titanic," is one of the few Broadway composers who has demonstrated the ability to weave the necessary spell, and his score for "Death Takes a Holiday" hits splendid heights. The show is worthy and far from deathlike, but it's often too lethargic by half.

Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press: The current musical adaptation is both elegant and comedic, serious in theme yet laced with witty jokes. It's the work of several multiple Tony Award-winners: the bookwriters are Peter Stone ("Titanic" and "1776," among others), who died in 2003, and Thomas Meehan ("The Producers", "Hairspray" and others.) The lush, emotional music and lyrics are provided by Maury Yeston, winner of Tony Awards for "Titanic" and "Nine."

Scott Brown, NY Magazine: Both of these characters are, in the end, entirely self-involved, and our empathy for their high-concept plight is, as a result, severely limited...there's a lot of standing around, standing in lines, delivering recitative directly to the audience. But then, that's more or less how the show's written.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: For his 1920s-set "Grand Hotel," Yeston wrote catchy numbers that sounded period but not mothballed. Here, tepid songs like "How Will I Know" and "Death Is in the House" make you appreciate the ease with which Andrew Lloyd Webber tosses off power ballads. Yeston being Yeston, there are bright spots: "Something's Happened" starts off Act II with dramatic flair, and "Finally To Know" is a lovely trio for the show's younger women. As many new musicals seek safety in pastiche and irony, "Death Takes a Holiday" is refreshingly earnest. Too bad its heart beats so erratically.

Robert Feldberg, NorthJersey.com:The musical's subject, the many aspects of love, has the capability of stirring emotions, but the evening's lack of vitality, or any sense of spontaneity, makes that tough to accomplish.

Matt Windman, amNY: This is an unabashedly old-fashioned and romantic show. It could have easily come across as tiresome were it not so thoroughly well crafted. Maury Yeston's ("Nine") warm, sweeping songs capture the lead character's joy and confusion upon discovering human emotions. Doug Hughes ("Doubt"), directing his first major musical, has put together an elegant, intimate production that emphasizes each and every character in the ensemble in great detail.

Richard Seff, DC Theatre Scene: Maury Yeston has put together a collection of tunes filled with humor, melody, varied rhythms and three or four soliloquies that reach for the stars. With a cast of Broadway stalwarts, and a firm hand from the director Doug Hughes, they have delivered a refreshing and rewarding evening, though it may have trouble finding its audience.

Erik Haagensen, Backstage: I have been greatly anticipating "Death Takes a Holiday," with its book by two giants of the genre-Peter Stone and Thomas Meehan-and a score by the classically trained Maury Yeston. The catch? The source material, an Italian stage fantasy by Alberto Casella rewritten for Broadway by Walter Ferris in 1929 and also the inspiration for the 1998 Brad Pitt film "Meet Joe Black," is a delicate mood piece with little action. How would this trio of smart writers address that problem? Sadly, they haven't.

Stay tuned for more reviews as they become available!

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