The reviews for The Visit are in, and while the critics certainly admire legend Chita Rivera and the long journey this Kander and Ebb musical has taken to Broadway, there’s no denying it’s flawed. The musical tells of Claire Zachanassian’s return to her hometown, a dark and dingy European village, to inflict revenge on the man who shamed her decades before. 82-year-old Chita Rivera performs a nuanced and passionate Claire, singing with clarity and dancing with grace and emotion. The other strengths of the production lie in the creative design, particularly Scott Pask’s set design and Japhy Weideman’s lighting. The atmosphere of the production is rightly ominous and shadowy, complementing the dangerous themes. Where the musical struggles is with the blend of book and music – the story is predictable and the songs, at times, feel like pause buttons. Despite flaws, though, there’s something to be said for catching a Broadway legend in a musical she’s waited 14 years to bring to Broadway.
NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW
When Chita Rivera steps solemnly to the edge of the stage in the opening scene of “The Visit,” she sweeps the audience with a gaze that could freeze over hell. Yet a quickening warmth spreads through the Lyceum Theater, where this macabre, long-gestating Kander and Ebb musical opened on Thursday night. The woman …
TIME OUT NEW YORK REVIEW
Claire Zachanassian (Rivera) fled her dreary European town a disgraced, ruined girl, and she returns to Brachen a vengeful billionairess, planning to exact revenge on Anton Schell (Rees), the man who wooed and wronged her. When the old lovers reunite, Schell learns that Claire has a prosthetic leg and an ivory …
NBC NEW YORK REVIEW
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW
A second-tier Kander and Ebb score is better than a lot of musical craftsmen’s best, which makes “The Visit” a welcome curiosity, even it’s sure to be a commercial challenge. Finally reaching Broadway after almost 15 years of false starts, the show arrives in a bewitchingly designed production from director John …
ASSOCIATED PRESS REVIEW
Trust a John Kander-Fred Ebb musical to make the sunny color of vitality and youth positively menacing. In the dark, thrilling show, “The Visit,” shoes, money and even tennis rackets turn yellow — a bad sign for one character whose life hangs in the balance. In the works since 2001, “The Visit” opened Thursday at …
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