Soul Doctor — Page 6

I saw this over the weekend and let me tell you that I LOVED it! Just kidding! I didn't think it was the train wreck everyone was hoping/expecting. More of something that I saw that exists.

I'll start with the positives of which there are two: Eric Anderson and Amber Iman. The show didn't really get interesting for me until their first scene together. It seemed like the dialogue for their scenes were written by a totally different person. You actually cared about someone in the show because they acted like real people.

I'm sure Shlomo had a childhood but we all get it. Jews killed Nazis and that's horrible. It seemed as though that caused a lot of unearned emotion like when the guy in the amazing Technicolor dream coat was killed. No one cared about him enough but since he was gunned down by a Nazi we were all saddened.

Now onto the real negatives and they're two big ones: the choreography and set. I honestly hope that the choreographer never works again and that he was only paid a portion of the profits for the show (aka nothing) because that was dreadful. It seemed like for the lack of anything interesting going on with the set they could just fill it with wild motions that looked idiotic. Actually the worst choreography I've ever seen on Broadway or otherwise.

Now on to the set, if you could call it that. I really didn't understand the purpose of the static gate that was looming the whole time. There was never really an expressed purpose or use for it. It also didn't really seem time/place appropriate. Maybe if this were a play about Heaven or something but it wasn't. Everything about this thing looked cheap. They couldn't even afford anything besides the shell of a chair, couch or piano. There were several times when I was distracted by one of the stage hands coming out to gather up the bags or guitars that were discarded by the cast.

I almost forgot one other negative and that was the Jimi Hendrix guy (yes, I know he wasn't supposed to be him but that's how he was styled). It was very off-putting how he overacted every scene he was given. Everything he did was too comical when no one else is the show is really playing it like that. I'm not sure why this wasn't addressed earlier on but I really hated everything he did.

After all is said and done, I didn't hate it. Would I recommend it? Probably not unless someone has a real hankering to see a musical about a rock-n-roll rabbi.

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I gotta second this. I got dragged to this and surprisingly, this show is definitely worth seeing. And no I'm not a shill.

Ambar Iman is worth the price of admission and she is a soulful
Nina Simone with a gorgeous voice. What an auspicious Broadway debut. Also giving a wonderful (but underappreciated performance) was Jaqueline Ataramian as Shlomo's Mother. Her acted was superb and right on target. Eric Anderson is fine as Shlomo and gets the job done.

The story is quite an interesting one starting in Hitler's Vienna with a trip to America where Shlomo has to question and let go of some his rigid Orthodox upbringing and become the "rock star rabbi." This is a great story.

The soul of the evening is his relationship with Nina Simone which is quite fascinating. I wish they stayed on that relationship and made it even more of the crux of the evening than it already is. That is the story that should be the forefront.

We here on Broadway World for some reason love to jump on the bad.. and yes there is some misguided stuff. It has a relentlessly happy opening which made me roll my eyes. It has relentless "please clap along with the music" which always makes me cringe. The show is still 20 minutes too long. There's too many "di di di di" Jewish music for my taste. If you can get past those quibbles and misfires, there is much to like.

There are too many parental disapproval scenes. We get it the first two times. A tad too much hippy stuff when Shlomo starts a congreation in Haight Ashbury. We lose interest after Shlomo's father dies. Again, the story needs to center on the effect Nina and Shlomo have on each other.

There is nothing wrong with this show that a strict editor couldn't fix. I have to admit I liked it better than some of the current critic sanctioned musicals like Once and Rent.

More of something that I saw that exists.

I hated this musical, but this perfectly describes my indifference to so many other shows.