THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON reviews (Off-Broadway) — Page 2

Fordham2015 said: "Sara Holdren compares it to Bake Off and Ms Rachel

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-benjamin-button-musical-compton-public.html"

Holdren rarely misses and she’s dead-on here.

ColorTheHours048 said: "Fordham2015 said: "Sara Holdren compares it to Bake Off and Ms Rachel

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-benjamin-button-musical-compton-public.html"

Holdren rarely misses and she’s dead-on here."

This from her reviewresonated with me as I felt similarly:
"But wrap a play in too much homespun folksiness and the thing starts to feel both suffocating and, despite all the driving tunes and stomping choreography in the world, suffocated. At every turn, Benjamin Button passionately implores us to make sure we’re really living, yet the stage world Compton has built is too formulaic, too mechanically twee, to give us the sense of something truly alive."

But there's no denying its warm reception and emotional impact on many.

I’m fascinated that so many decent reviews have come out of this - both from critics and word of mouth. I saw this in London and thought it was an absolute slog that tried playing cutesy with Cornish flavor. None of the music stood out and the story felt contrived - the critic isn’t wrong that he basically falls in love with the first woman he ever meets and becomes obsessed. Also, I think the mom has a screaming/screlting number about an octopus in the show?


Then again, I was thrilled by Real Woman Have Curves and saw it four times so clearly my artistic integrity isn’t on par with the rest of the theatre crowd lol

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