u/PeacockInTime

extra special shout out to Mimi Lien (scenic design) and Bradley King (lighting design) as per social media sharing policy requests to credit theater and designers in photos

I heard about Lunchbox from somebody on this subreddit and I just wanted to express gratitude and appreciation for this show and also hope that somebody with a lot of money to invest in theater is reading this post and wants to bring this to New York. if this happens, I will gladly buy tickets again for me, friends, and family.

Before I say more, a hot take: I have now seen four Rachel Chavkin plays, and Hadestown is my least favorite of her work and a work that I think expresses her talents least well. (My other two, for those who want to fight me: Reconstructing at BAM and The Great Comet.) I find Chavkin’s style cozy and quirky, almost like she wants to create experiences that make you want to take off your shoes and curl up on the theater seat as if you were watching this at home or just for you. This musical felt that for me - it was an experience before anything else.

I won’t say too much about the story other than it is family friendly and hopeful with a mild trigger warning about a subplot that relates to suicide. Nothing is graphic and no developed characters die by suicide during the story, but I did want to mention it because it was the only part of the musical that felt off to me - I think they should cut one song and subplot that didn’t really lead anywhere.

I loved the South Asian setting, representation, and inspired music. This play felt engaged in the five senses. Choreography was clever and surprisingly modern and experimental without detracting from story.

Though the story is optimistic, I thought it covered some heavy moments (minus the suicide sub plot, which again I didn’t find necessary) with grace and presence.

fingers crossed there is more life in this production. it’s in berkeley thru mid July for anybody else making their way out here.

Dear Jim:

With a net worth of $160 million and residuals from network TV, you are set for life and never need to act again. And yet you decided to return and grace my stage. Not as a cameo or a cheap trick, but as a character who had a central role in a small show. You place a dead bird on your head and dance around stage 8 nights a week. there are many, many things you could be doing instead. you don’t need to do this.

and yet you embody the spirit of this musical - its generosity of sprit and its sense of profound stupidity. this show was so stupid that I was surprised I enjoyed the songs in their own right.

Best of all, people who have no idea who you are and didn’t get half of the references in your show still had a great time.

from, me

(Titanique wouldn’t make my one weekend in New York a year must-see list, but if you like your popcorn buttery and you like CBS reality shows this is worth seeing )

Attended 1pm Matinee on 5/24; tickets courtesy of TDF. Seats were row G in the Orchestra - great views and connetion with the stage.

At this performance Makai Hernandez played the role of Francois - he was great!

Reading over other reddit posts about this musical there's a whole laundry list of things people don't like about it - the story is very flimsy, characterization is inconsistent, the music all sounds the same, and I want to appreciate that the VERY OBVIOUS NONBINARY REPRESENTATION might come across as insulting - but if I listened to those reviews and stayed home I would have missed a delightful experience.

Yes, given that my childhood and adolescence was spent listening to the radio between the years 1997-2012, I am the prime demographic for this monstrous millenial mashup masterpiece, but what was meaningful to me about this play is that it gave me permission to like the songs I like, and appreciation for new interpretations and orchestrations of songs I hadn't thought about in a while. And the production was joyful, the cast was giving it out and the audience was (respectfully) dishing it up.

And I only felt a little guilty that the person who Kesha wrote the song "Praying" about was a producer and profiting off of my joy.

Favorites include:

"Show Me Love" (made popular by Robyn)

"Confident" (made popular by Demi Lovato)

So, Broadway aficionados... the next time your cousins from Ohio come to visit and they want to see something "entertaining" and they are almost afraid to ask you for recommendations because you know too many shows.... &Juliet might do the trick.