Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
1 hour and 30 minutes, with no intermission
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - 2010 Broadway History , Info & More
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (Broadway)
242 West 45th St. New York, NY
This spring's biggest downtown hit was undoubtedly Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The New York Times called it "the season's best musical” and audiences flocked to The Public Theater to see what the daring young creative team Alex Timbers (writer/director) and Michael Friedman (composer/lyricist) had cooked up. Now, by populist demand, their bloody brilliant show is packing up its tight, tight jeans and heading to Broadway!
In Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, rising star Benjamin Walker reprises his role as America's first political maverick. A.J. kicked British butt, shafted the Indians and smacked down the Spaniards all in the name of these United States -- who cares if he didn’t have permission? An exhilarating and white-knuckled look at one of our nation’s founding rock stars, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson recreates and reinvents the life of “Old Hickory,” from his humble beginnings on the Tennessee frontier to his days as our seventh Commander-in-Chief. It also asks the question, is wanting to have a beer with someone enough reason to elect him? What if he’s really hot?
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - 2010 - Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' 'La Bête,' 'A Life in the Theatre'
5 / 10
But it's a messy matter, the business of governing: Jackson's expansionist agenda, the musical tells us, mandated the brutal booting of Indian tribes from their ancestral lands. So, too, does 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson' feel at times sort of scattered. Though the magnetic Benjamin Walker is an exhilarating force in the title role, some ensemble members come across as a bit green on an imposing Broadway stage. And intermittently, Michael Friedman's score and Alex Timbers's book can seem better suited to a night of college skits. Slickness is not a desirable attribute on this occasion, but a consistent polish is.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
9 / 10
Songwriter Friedman has always had an uncanny knack for the catchy hook and the clever lyric that rises to philosophical wistfulness. And here, he works in the surly emo-rock mode, finding exhilaration in the pent-up rage and nihilism that both demands center stage and shrinks from scrutiny. Not since Stephen Sondheim played bitter variations on “Hail to the Chief” for Assassins (1991) has a Broadway musical so starkly and brutally examined the underside of the American Dream. Particularly in the subdued penultimate number “Second Nature,” Friedman moves past the Sontag and Foucault namechecking to offer a hushed, plangent elegy for this land of strip malls over killing fields.
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Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson History
Other Productions of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
| 2010 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater Production Off-Broadway |
| 2010 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - 2010 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Alex Timbers |
| 2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Michael Friedman |
| 2010 | The Hewes Awards | Scenic Design | Donyale Werle |
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