Review Roundup: WONDERFUL TOWN Opens At New York City Center Encores!

New York City Center Encores! production of Wonderful Town is now playing through May 11. The critics stopped by the production and the reviews are in! Is Wonderful Town wonderful? Find out below!

Directed by Zhailon Levingston, Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell takes audiences inside Leonard Bernstein’s score that captures the sounds and heart of New York City. Featuring memorable tunes like “Ohio” and “One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man,” Wonderful Town is a celebration of what makes New York the greatest city in the world—welcoming people from all over who come to fulfill their dreams.

The cast is led by Aisha Jackson and Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose as sisters Eileen and Ruth. The production also features Jimmy Ray Bennett as Officer Lonigan, Etai Benson as Frank Lippencott, Allison Blackwell as Mrs. Wade, DeWitt Fleming Jr. as Speedy Valenti, Jessie Hooker-Bailey as Helen, Javier Muñoz as Robert Baker, Fergie Phillippe as Wreck, John Rapson as Chick Clark, and Daniel Torres as Mr. Appopolous.

Wonderful Town will also include Jonathan Duvelson, David Foley Jr., Lindsay Roberts Greene, Marc Heitzman, Sarah Michele Lindsey, Kate Louissaint, Alicia Lundgren, Morgan Marcell, Robin Masella, Dario Natarelli, Michael Olaribigbe, Patricia Phillips, Renée Reid, Samantha Siegel, Phumzile Sojola, Nicholas Ward, Jacob Keith Watson, Annaliese Wilbur, and Richard Riaz Yoder.

In 1935, sisters Ruth, an aspiring writer, and Eileen, an aspiring actress, move from Ohio to Greenwich Village to pursue their artistic ambitions, overcome heartbreak, encounter an assortment of colorful characters, and ultimately find love.

Roma Torre, New York Stage Review: That raucous “Conga” number never fails to disappoint as Ruth frantically tries to interview a group of Brazilian sailors who just want to dance the Conga. It’s the Act One closer and yet I couldn’t help but notice several people seated around me didn’t return for Act Two. The last Broadway revival of Wonderful Town stemmed from a highly lauded Encores! production in 2000. How, I wonder, could the same show yield such different results? Hard to say but I bet if only the creatives had decided to stage it as a concert version this time around, we’d all be singing its praises.

Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: The show gains some momentum in the zippier second act, which features a buoyant Irish-dance number (as Eileen is hilariously mistaken by the Irish American cops as one of their own) and the show’s signature ballad, “It’s Love,” which is well sung by Jackson and Javier Munoz (who catches the fancy of both sisters despite a lack of any discernible onstage chemistry with either). But by then, it’s too late to salvage a revival that seems like a dull and dated throwback best kept in the vault. ★★☆☆☆

Jesse Green, New York Times: The Encores! encore that opened on Wednesday at City Center — just the third time in 31 seasons that this invaluable series has returned to a former title — does not reach any of the highs of that earlier production. Anika Noni Rose as Ruth, the older sister, and Aisha Jackson as Eileen, the younger, are well cast, and each has endearing moments. The magazine editor both women fall for is beautifully sung by Javier Muñoz. The choral work is up to the high house standards. But except when it dances, the staging, by Zhailon Levingston, is shaggy and leaden and fatally lacking in laughs.

Average Rating: 53.3%