Saturday Church at NYTW — Page 4

‘Saturday Church’ Review: Saving Fabulous Souls to Sia’s Music

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/theater/saturday-church-review.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nk8.X6yA.-wUjn_mQD27z&smid=nytcore-android-share

That Times review by the new Brittani Samuels is a joke. Let’s hope that was a trial review. I’m not sure she saw the same show. Yikes for the Times

CoffeeBreak said: "That Times review by the new Brittani Samuels is a joke. Let’s hope that was a trial review. I’m not sure she saw the same show. Yikes for the Times"

Huh? It’s a mixed-positive, without a critic’s pick, and is hardly a radical outlier opinion. She liked it more than you did, that’s all.

quizking101 said: "BJR said: "Any info on if another extension is in the cards?"

To my understanding, the LATEST they can extend to is October 26th, but that remains to be determined"

Thanks! Was hoping for early Nov but alas

I enjoyed the show but even I'm suprised at how positive the Times review is. I thought Sauja put it best when they said "Listen. If they scrap the book and the score, they might have something…" I actually didn't think the score was as bad as the book, which is saying a lot because it's pretty generic and repetitive. I think the show has potential, but it needs a lot of work.

RUkiddingme said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I was kinda hoping this would get a rapturous response and get fast-tracked to Broadway to wake up a sleepy season for musicals. But maybe it needs more time to get fine-tuned…"

Are you saying it was Broadway ready? But the reviews make it not Broadway ready?

I say this is the last thing Broadway needs right now. Hell, Off Broadway doesn't need this show! LOL"



No way and heck would this last on Broadway. Let it have it's run off broadway as the audience is very limited for this show.

Caught this tonight, I honestly almost skipped it due to reviews on this board, but I'm glad I went. Maybe I just had lowered expectations, but I liked this a considerable amount more than others here. I had no exposure to the movie beforehand, and I while the story follows pretty predictable beats, I thought some of the internal shading of the characters and specific situations lent it more nuance than I would've expected. There are some songs that play like "music videos" rather than feeling fully integrated into the story but for some reason in this show I didn't mind it as much as I have in others, and all the emotion in them seemed genuinely felt. There are some songs, like the 5 Minutes Ago song that were used quite well to tie together different characters, and in others it was probably just that the performances/staging/choreography were compelling enough to make it entertaining so I didn't think too much of it.

Christina Sajous as Ulysses's mother gave a very lived in performance, despite her lack of screentime/character development, and of course Joaquina Kalukanga is absolutely portraying every emotion her character goes through--while she's the main antagonist in the story, I never felt that she was painted in broad strokes. Bryson Battle's acting was also better than I was expecting, though I also think there's only so much he can do with a script that doesn't actually seem interested in letting us see his actual character development once he discovers Saturday Church. And I think the crux of it is that I liked the shape of the story a lot, but many of the particulars could be massaged out a little more. The pacing seems a bit off and it drove me a little crazy to not know how much time passed during intermission (it could literally be the same day or weeks later and I had no clue). I'd love to see it again in a future iteration but I hope that they will really sit down to work on this, because I think there's a lot to like and the bones are quite good.