In a time like no other in American history, and with a sense of urgency like never-before, Michael Moore comes to Broadway for the first time in an exhilarating, subversive one-man show guaranteed to take audiences on a ride through the United States of Insanity, explaining once and for all how the f*** we got here, and where best to dine before crossing with the Von Trapp family over the Canadian border.
Performed live each night just blocks from Trump Tower, The Terms of My Surrender will, like Moore's films, feature the wry, satirical humor of one of America's iconic political observers and all-around-shit-disturbers, a fearless Midwesterner not interested in taking any prisoners. Audiences are in for one surprise after another.
First of all, because it's almost entirely unsurprising. In an interview with Time Out, Moore promises that 'for 87 minutes, you're going to experience something you're not expecting' (the show runs 110 minutes, by the way), but my feelings upon leaving the Belasco Theatre can best be summed up with a long sigh. If I had had to make a guess as to what a Michael Moore Broadway show would feel like, this would have been pretty much it. The Terms of My Surrender feels like a live version of my Facebook feed: a few good stories and a boatload of preaching to the choir (add requisite helpings of self-congratulation and liberal-on-liberal shaming for full effect).
If you're wondering what Moore considers the 'terms' of his surrender, he says so toward night's end: Dump President Trump. And dump Vice President Pence. By its conclusion, 'Surrender' becomes his plea to the audience to do something small, such as running for a local office, in an effort to change the country's direction. This is a man so comfortable with confrontation, it would be fascinating to see him take 'Surrender' on the road. I can think of a few places the audience wouldn't be nearly as friendly as New York, which would make for an even more electrifying event.
| 2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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