I went to the Sunday matinee. I thought 80% of it was brilliant, and the other 20% needed work.
If you can't tell from the description, it's a very avant garde, artsy piece..There's a short prologue, and then we see Hildegard locked in the cell with Jutta (Grace MacLean). We are told from the beginning that Hildegard is "broken" for unknown reasons. Hildegard is played by three young women speaking in unison. One holds a puppet representing her eyes, one her hands, and one her mouth. I know the "central figure is portrayed by three actresses" trope has been done a lot recently, but it works well for a character who considers herself broken.
The score is gorgeous, the five actresses are really talented (always a joy to see Grace MacLean), and I really liked what it had to say about how women deal with trauma, or how they don't deal with it.
What lost me was the last 20 minutes. Hildegard has a breakthrough that's gorgeous to watch. Then the same themes and points get hammered over and over. (It's a shame this part is so overdone, because I loved what the show had to say about acknowledging the bad).
After that, the show goes in a completely different direction for the last 10-15 minutes, then ends rather abruptly. I think it's fine that In the Green tries to show that Hildegard is a problematic figure. But these final scenes felt like they were part of a different show. The show is still in previews, so things may change some more.
Even with the above complaints, I felt In the Green was well worth my time (especially for the $25 price point). I'd recommend it to people who like artsy, weird shows like Ghost Quartet.
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