Review Roundup: David Bowie's LAZARUS Opens Off-Broadway

New York Theatre Workshop presents Lazarus by David Bowie and Enda Walsh (Once, Tony Award). Lazarus is inspired by the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis and directed by Ivo van Hove (Hedda Gabler, More Stately Mansions, Obie Awards). Lazarus began previews on November 18 and officially opens tonight, December 7, 2015 at New York Theatre Workshop.

The cast of Lazarus includes Golden Globe winner and six-time Emmy nominee Michael C. Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, "Dexter") as Thomas Newton, Tony Award nominee Cristin Milioti (Once) as Elly, and Michael Esper (The Last Ship) as Valentine, as well as Krystina Alabado (American Idiot), Sophia Anne Caruso (The Nether), Nicholas Christopher (Whorl Inside A Loop), Lynn Craig (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Bobby Moreno (Year of the Rooster), Krista Pioppi (Spring Awakening Nat'l Tour), Charlie Pollock (The Wild Party), and Brynn Williams (Bye Bye Birdie).

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Ice-cold bolts of ecstasy shoot like novas through the glamorous muddle and murk of "Lazarus," the great-sounding, great-looking and mind-numbing new musical built around songs by David Bowie...The script, by Mr. Bowie and Mr. Walsh...switches between passages of flat-footed, literal-minded exposition and cryptic collegiate dialogue in which it's suggested that what you're seeing is only a Newton-spun illusion...Mr. van Hove's signature style -- skeletal, shimmering and ominous -- is as distinctive as Mr. Bowie's, and in many ways, a perfect match for it...Although Mr. Hall, a fabulous alien in chief, has mastered a perfect semi-anesthetized style of speech, the rest of the cast members don't always sound convinced by what they are required to say.

Jennifer Farrar, Associated Press: You don't have to be a David Bowie fan or have seen his starring role as a Martian in the 1976 Nicolas Roeg film "The Man Who Fell To Earth" to appreciate the new musical "Lazarus." But it might help in following the plot of the darkly imaginative production...Bowie and Enda Walsh ("Once") co-wrote the new musical, which features familiar hits from Bowie's long, innovative career as a singer, songwriter and record producer. Direction is by Ivo van Hove, ("A View From The Bridge," ''Hedda Gabler") and the clean, minimal set is designed by van Hove's longtime collaborator, Jan Versweyveld. The plot may be murky, but van Hove's direction is precise, and it's crystal clear that the production is packed with talent.

David Cote, Time Out NY: There's plenty of static on the video saturating this eye-candy-stuffed staging by Ivo van Hove (A View From the Bridge). Beyond that, there's precious little cheer to be had at Lazarus, which is coolly depressive and chicly designed (by Jan Verweyveld), as it circles around a dramatic void...despite the attractive ensemble's sweaty, passionate effort and van Hove's cinematic staging...Walsh's elliptical, fragmentary scenes evoke a melancholy-menacing vibe (loss, loneliness, a cold and inhospitable universe), but fail to make us care much about Newton's existential crisis or Elly's self-destructive obsessions...In lieu of a text to create narrative tension, van Hove's stagecraft is in overdrive...Bowie's songs...come across beautifully, and when Lazarus works, it's as a trippy series of live music videos. Any marriage of Bowie's hits to a theatrical structure is bound to be unstable, especially if the end goal is not a jukebox musical, but Walsh's lack of originality and depth makes the enterprise seem more earthbound.

Robert Kahn, NBC New York: Music notwithstanding, the fanciful and hard to follow production from avant garde Belgian director Ivo van Hove ("A View From the Bridge") screams the techno glam rocker's name: digital effects are abundant, often serving as an extension to the bodies of actors on stage...Like its source material, the two-hour affair...raises issues of identity and alienation. We're never sure if a character is real or in Newton's mind. We just know he'd rather be anywhere than here. You're strongly advised to be familiar with the bare outlines of Tevis' story beforehand. "Lazarus" is eye-catching and mystifying -- I wish it explained itself more -- but certainly never boring.

Kory Grow, Rolling Stone: Lazarus, a beautifully nuanced production...continually emphasizes the surreal over the explicit at nearly every turn. People splash through milk. Others pop dozens of balloons. Strange women sniff others' lingerie (frequently). Impromptu kabuki actors invade the stage. And through it all, Newton -- played by golden-throated Michael C. Hall...mostly remains stoic, lonely, yearning. At its core, Lazarus is a two-hour meditation on grief and lost hope (with no intermission), but it takes so many wild, fantastical, eye-popping turns that it never drags.

Matt Windman, AM New York: The art rock score consists mainly of new versions of old Bowie hits (such as "Heroes," "Changes" and "Life on Mars?"). They are not clearly integrated into the script (by Bowie and Irish playwright Enda Walsh), so "Lazarus" is less a musical than an alien mystery drama combined with a psychedelic rock concert. Belgian director Ivo van Hove...creates an experimental production that depends heavily on wall-to-wall video projections of offstage locations and characters...It's baffling as hell and unapologetically avant-garde. But if you're up for something like this, its arresting visuals, dreamlike atmosphere and introspective Bowie songs have the potential to keep you entranced for two straight hours without intermission.

Robert Hofler, TheWrap: It's the best jukebox musical ever. That may not sound like much of a compliment, but when you put David Bowie's musical catalogue at the service of book writers Bowie and Enda Walsh and director Ivo van Hove, the result is more than unique. It's terrific must-see theater...It's a high-tech musical, except for the spaceship that Newton and the Girl put together with masking tape. It's cruder than anything in 1902's "A Trip to the Moon." The good news is that Newton uses it to escape not only the planet Earth but his nightmare. "Lazarus" ultimately is a trip not to outer space but to our common inner space. I haven't experienced something this equal parts baffling and mesmerizing since David Lynch's "Muholland Drive."

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune: Hall gets most of the new stuff -- the new opener has lyrics about looking up at heaven; another deals with falling. There are, I think, four new songs, all very Bowie-esque...Hall reveals himself to be a very fine interpreter of Bowie music (his vocal performances were the highlight of the show for me). Hall and young Caruso have a palpable emotional connection -- weird as it is, this actually is the one relationship in the show that feels rooted in reality, even though neither of the participants are human. Milioti is not so lucky -- her character, defined entirely through Newton in what is, no question, a very patriarchal show, is unhinged and lost. So, it feels, is the actress..."Lazarus" has the visual sophistication, the pan-sexual weirdness, the historicism, the eclectic musical rush of the gorgeous. But in the theater, the shadows of characters in song need flesh, bones and reasons to believe in them.

Alexis Soloski, The Guardian: This should be a terrible show. It seems unlikely that it is what its collaborators imagined, and what they have created makes perilously little sense. But those collaborators are so extravagantly talented and the performers undertake what's asked of them -- writhing lasciviously against a refrigerator, slipping and sliding in a pool of milk, popping dozens of black balloons -- with such dedication and verve that it's nearly impossible not to be persuaded and baffled and at least a little thrilled.

Killian Young, Consequence of Sound: True to Walsh's claim, the exposition was dense. Some subplots -- such as Valentine stalking an attractive couple -- felt less than essential to the story. Non-sequitur scenes, such as a bizarre moment when Newton is confronted by a geisha character, seemed to indicate that the protagonist exists outside of our perception of time and space. Director Ivo van Hove also further promoted this concept by sleek, layered scenes where Newton observed multiple plotlines occur simultaneously. Without spoiling what happens in Lazarus' climactic scene, all I'll say is that the ending uses Bowie's "Heroes" for a devastating, poignant finish.

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Photo Credit: Jan Versweyveld