Lysistrata Jones began preview performances Saturday, November 12th at the Walter Kerr Theatre and opened officially tonight, December 14, 2011. Written by Tony nominee Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn, Lysistrata Jones is directed and choreographed by Tony nominee Dan Knechtges.
In the musical, The Athens University basketball team hasn't won a game in 30 years. But when spunky transfer student Lysistrata Jones (Patti Murrin) dares the squad's fed-up girlfriends to stop ‘giving it up' to their boyfriends until they win a game, their legendary losing streak could be coming to an end. In this boisterous new musical comedy, Lyssie J. and her girl-power posse give Aristophanes' classic comedy a sexy, modern twist and take student activism to a whole new level.
Lysistrata Jones stars Patti Murin (Lysistrata Jones), Liz Mikel (Hetaira), Josh Segarra (Mick), Jason Tam (Xander), and Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Robin) with Alexander Aguilar (‘Uardo), Ato Blankson-Wood (Tyllus), Katie Boren (Lampito), Kat Nejat (Cleonice), LaQuet Sharnell (Myrrhine), Teddy Toye (Harold) and Alex Wyse (Cinesius), with understudies LaVon Fisher-Wilson, Libby Servias, Charlie Sutton, Barrett Wilbert Weed, and Jared Zirilli.
Did the show 'score' with the critics? Let's find out!
Ben Brantley, The New York Times: “Lysistrata Jones” has been dressed up (and scaled up) real pretty for Broadway, bringing a heightened touch of summer sun and silliness to what has been an exceptionally gray season for musicals...Lysistrata may at first seem deeply superficial. But it turns out there’s tasty substance beneath the froth, just enough to keep you hooked. The same may be said of the endearingly escapist show in which she appears.
Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg: When the show opened downtown over the summer, much of its charm derived from the setting, a real gym that turned the audience into spectators...Junk food at Broadway prices is a tough sell. Pumping up the volume to ear-splitting levels only heightens the show’s irritation quotient. Don’t blame the game young cast. Producers, on the other hand, ought to know better.
Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: You can’t combine so many cliches together and come up with something fresh. On the winning side, director-choreographer Dan Knechtges surrounds “Lyssie J” in good-looking production and his high-impact dance numbers that make your heart rate climb just watching them. The plot is about not giving it up, but the cast always delivers 100%.
Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post: A lot of people whine that Broadway doesn’t know how to make entertaining musicals anymore. Happily, it turns out that Broadway still knows how to make ’em. With its catchy pop score, charming cast, zippy staging and wickedly funny book, “Lysistrata Jones” is one of the season’s tastiest pieces of candy. Sadly, it’s also one of the most underbuzzed.
