Friday, October 29, 2021
Review Roundup: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE Opens On Broadway - See What the Critics Are Saying!
www.broadwayworld.com: Caroline Thibodeaux is a Black woman working as a maid for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana, as the civil rights movement is transforming America. From Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner and Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori comes the show that pulses with the urgency and passion that's shaping the world today.
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Critics seem to have greatly enjoyed this revival of Caroline, or Change. Personally I don’t know anything about the musical, so it was interesting to read about it, especially in comparison with critics’ opinions on the recent revival of Jesus Christ Super Star. The reaction to the revival of the latter show was far more negative, despite it having originally opened more than twice as a long ago as Caroline, or Change did. Perhaps that’s because Webber’s show aged more poorly than Tesori and Kushner’s. It would be interesting to see how these two productions have changed across the years. I’d certainly like to see the revival of Caroline, or Change, and especially witness the number “Lot’s Wife”, which was mentioned in a majority of the reviews. I am personally a big fan of Tony Kushner’s work, but I didn’t know that he had worked on any musicals. Hopefully I can go see it!
I am always very against of white people writing black stories but Caroline, or Change is one of the only exceptions for a published work that embodies the struggles of a Black mother. For my year’s Design for the Stage class, we studied Caroline, or Change for a project. This musical sticks in my brain often because of the experience I had while studying that show. Talking about this show in a room full of white kids was underwhelming and almost pointless. Digging deeper into the story and realizing what is at stake for Caroline is the biggest piece. You have to work to raise your kids and teach them to believe in themselves and their causes. Taking this and also knowing they could die at any moment at the hands of police officers causes you to question your own resistance and where you should draw your own line. Understanding the why of this show is so important once you see it, I can’t wait to experience a live version myself.
This was a very through review of the new revival of Caroline, or Change. I had over heard mutterings on social media that mentioned that this was a good revival but I'm glad it's actually getting several good reviews from acclaimed sources. It's also just good to finally see something about a broadway show opening getting good media instead of what's been going on the past few weeks in the industry with the Jagged Little Pill incident and everything. This musical could have easily been another one of those musicals to handle the subject matter terribly with the topic of conversation and everything but I'm really glad to see some positive news coming out of broadway! Hopefully we are able to keep news like this on the green page more frequently.
This musical! We did this musical for my senior year in high school and it is one of my favorite musicals. I remember watching the actresses go through the motion of trying to understand the script and the acting and I remember being so fascinated by how deep the show is and how nuanced it is. There’s so many parts of the show where it is intense and funny and this is the kind of musical that will make you question and think after you have seen it. Additionally because I have a special interest in the set, I want to talk about how amazing the imagery is in this musical as well the idea that Caroline has personified almost these systems of oppression around her in order to visualize her own feelings is such an amazing concept, and so exciting as a set designer. I can’t imagine how fun it must have been for the set designer of Caroline or change to really dig in and make the show.
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