The reviews for Bandstand are in, and while the critics universally respect the ambition of the original musical, they also universally feel it fell just short. Director and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, the Tony Award-winning choreographer of Hamilton, is creative in tackling the principle challenge of the piece – establishing both the peppy and somber sides of 1945 post-war America – but may be hampered by the underdeveloped material. Still, though, Bandstand features a terrific live swing band of actor/musicians and some strong performances, notably from Corey Cott, Laura Osnes, and Beth Leavel, making it enjoyable and thought-provoking at once even if not belly-laugh-inducing and heartbreaking.
Read the critics’ reviews of Bandstand below.
NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF BANDSTAND
“Bandstand,” an openhearted, indecisive new musical, wants you clapping your hands and clenching your fists, tapping your toes and blinking back tears. It is both a peppy celebration of can-do spirit and a more somber exploration of what American servicemen experienced when they marched home from World War II…
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AM NEW YORK REVIEW OF BANDSTAND
At a time when the future of federal arts funding is in serious jeopardy, the high-powered new Broadway musical “Bandstand” serves as an urgent testimonial to the healing and restorative power that the arts (in this case, an informal neighborhood jazz band) can have for those who have endured economic or emotional hardships…
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TIME OUT NEW YORK REVIEW OF BANDSTAND
The resonant original musical Bandstand dances a delicate line between nostalgia and disillusion. What it seems to promise, and often delivers, is Broadway escapism: a tale of soldiers returning from World War II into a lively world of big-band music, boogie-woogie dancing and a booming American economy. Donny (the very engaging…
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HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW OF BANDSTAND
From its title and marketing campaign, you’d think the new musical Bandstand would simply be an exuberant paean to the joys of big-band swing. But there’s a gloominess hanging over this thematically ambitious show, written by Broadway newcomers Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor. And why shouldn’t there be, since its troubled main…
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VARIETY REVIEW OF BANDSTAND
The band in question is the one that Donny Novitski (Corey Cott of Broadway’s “Gigi”) puts together when he returns home to Cleveland, following his combat service in World War II. Once a young hotshot on the music scene, Donny finds, contrary to the title of the opening song, that it’s not “just like it was before.” There are…
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