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Review Roundup: Joe Iconis' BROADWAY BOUNTY HUNTER Opens Off-Broadway- See What The Critics Said!

The Tony-nominated composer of Be More Chill is back with this campy new musical comedy, starring Annie Golden!

By: Jul. 23, 2019
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Review Roundup: Joe Iconis' BROADWAY BOUNTY HUNTER Opens Off-Broadway- See What The Critics Said!  Image

The new musical comedy Broadway Bounty Hunter, celebrated opening night of its New York Premiere engagement Off-Broadway at Greenwich House Theater tonight! See what the critics are saying!

Featuring music and lyrics by Tony Award Nominee Joe Iconis ("Smash", Be More Chill), who also co-wrote the book with Lance Rubin (Denton Little's Deathdate), and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Be More Chill), Broadway Bounty Hunter is directed and choreographed by Jennifer Werner (The Book of Mormon Supervising Associate Director) and stars Screen Actors Guild Award winner Annie Golden (Hair, Assassins Original Cast, "Orange is the New Black") in the title role.

An electric musical comedy with an irresistible, soulful new score, Broadway Bounty Hunter follows down-on-her-luck actress Annie (Annie Golden) who has just about had it with showbiz, when along comes a gig no one could have predicted: the opportunity to become a real-life, Kung Fu-fighting bounty hunter. The musical chronicles the journey of this woman of a certain age -from bad auditions on the streets of New York to beating up bad guys in the jungles of South America, and discovering her true badass identity along the way.


Jesse Green, The New York Times: But "Broadway Bounty Hunter," which opened at the Greenwich House Theater on Tuesday evening, lands uncomfortably in the gap between tribute and spoof. Like the disco-era takeoff "Disaster!" - which unaccountably made it to Broadway in 2016 - it is neither very loving nor very funny, unless it is loving and funny to make all the same mistakes that made the B movies B in the first place.

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: Here's a checklist to see if you're likely to enjoy Broadway Bounty Hunter: 1. You're a major fan of theater veteran Annie Golden, currently seen on Netflix's Orange Is the New Black. 2. You think that there just haven't been enough spoofs of '70s-era blaxploitation and kung-fu movies. 3. You have a love of campy musicals demanding little or no emotional engagement. 4. You're willing to check your brain at the door, or better still, leave it at home.

A.D. Amorosi, Variety: All the overt silliness and daffy plot twists become a bit much at times. But with a talented cast of singing actors and dancers, Iconis' campy, catchy soundtrack, and Golden as the show's caramel center - bringing winning poignance and bristling stillness to its maelstrom - this manic musical comedy finds just the right balance of hard knocks, soft shoes and soul.

Matt Windman, amNY: The show's far-out premise is not so different from other wacky and scrappy Off-Broadway musical comedies such as "Little Shop of Horrors," "Urinetown" and "Bat Boy" - even if it is not as accomplished or compelling as those former works.

Melissa Rose Bernardo, New York Stage Review: Surely the fight scenes with the hookers-sorry, "climax coaches"-and with Roundtree's hopped-up chorus line are supposed to have a B-movie slapdash quality, but they just look confusing and sloppy. And while including an intermission allows the creators to work in a major, though obvious, cliffhanger, nixing the interval-plus a few judicious nips and tucks-couldn't hurt.

Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review: Crafted as a musical comedy homage to stereotypical exploitation films, with the improbable hero-in-the-making figure being an aging artiste, Broadway Bounty Hunter may be a fairly frivolous affair but it sure is fun to see and nice to hear.

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