The reviews are in for The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue, Debbie Goodstein’s new play, now running at Theatre Row in a Prism Stage Company production directed by Jonathan Silverstein. Loosely modeled on the Tevye stories behind Fiddler on the Roof, it follows an Upper West Side Jewish family whose Shabbat dinner turns into a fight over Israel when the youngest son brings home a girlfriend who is an anti-Zionist campus organizer. The critics are divided: the admirers find it funny and humane, the skeptics a series of debates that crowd out the drama, though the cast is praised on both sides.
The verdict: five reviews in, none with a score, and a genuine split. Pages on Stages, Talkin’ Broadway and Off Off Online are warm, finding the play funny, humane and well acted. TheaterMania and Stage and Cinema are not persuaded: both think the family arguments run long and rehearse familiar positions instead of deepening the characters, and both find the tone uneven. Where they meet is on the company, with Barbara Walsh, Adam Heller and Mike Labbadia praised on both sides, and on the Fiddler on the Roof framing, which delights some critics and distracts others.
What are critics saying about The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue?
TheaterMania
"Shouting About Israel on the Upper West Side"
Reviewer: Dan Rubins
Dan Rubins reads it as a debate play whose result is never in doubt. In his view, Goodstein means to be even-handed, but the anti-Zionist Jenna is so outnumbered at the Shabbat table that her arguments end up standing in for an entire movement.
"As directed by Jonathan Silverstein, The Blue Violinist’s greatest asset is its cast, credibly cozy in oft-amusing familial banter…"
He thinks the Fiddler on the Roof framing is a clever idea that muddies the tone, and he praises Barbara Walsh’s warmth as Dina and Etai Benson’s anxious Yitzhak, while wishing the family’s relationships existed outside the argument.
Talkin’ Broadway
Reviewer: Moshe A. Bloxenheim
Moshe A. Bloxenheim traces the play back to Sholom Aleichem’s Tevye stories, and finds Goodstein more interested in what the family’s arguments do to the people having them than in the arguments themselves.
"Believe it or not, this is a very funny show. But it is also a very serious one…"
He credits Silverstein with keeping the evening light on its feet, enjoys a campy riff on Fiddler, and praises the whole company, singling out Walsh, Adam Heller’s haunted Abe, Mike Labbadia and Lauriel Friedman.
Stage and Cinema
"A politically divided family finds plenty to argue about, but too little dramatic ground to stand on"
Reviewer: Alex Simmons
Alex Simmons gives the play credit for being among the first in New York to take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after October 7, and enjoys its authentic Jewish texture and the laughs from Harrison Bryan and Labbadia.
"…unlike your bubbe’s brisket, needs a little more time in the oven before being served."
His objections are the length and familiarity of the debates, which he finds rehearse well-known positions instead of developing the characters, and the wide swings in tone, the second-act dream sequence above all.
Off Off Online
Reviewer: Rachel S. Kovacs
Rachel S. Kovacs enjoys the play’s comedy, from Vinny’s mangled Yiddish to the banter between Joseph and his fiancé Sami, and describes how the family’s welcome for every kind of match stops short at Jake’s activist girlfriend.
"…provide a perfect storm—not in a teacup, but still tight enough to be uncomfortable."
She is taken with the ancestral dream sequence, made eerie by Jennifer Paar’s costumes and David Lander’s lighting, and with the closing reconciliation through the family’s violin, which she connects to the Chagall painting of the title.
Pages on Stages
"Tradition"
Reviewer: Mason Pilevsky
Mason Pilevsky is the play’s warmest admirer. He finds the family universally familiar and highly entertaining, and praises the projections, Lauren Helpern’s set and the costumes, lighting and sound.
"I felt very seen and held by The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue."
Above all he values its decision to set the present conflict in a longer history, carried by Heller’s Abe, and he hopes it finds a younger audience.
Production photographs by Jeremy Daniel.
For more on the production, see our story on The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue beginning previews at Theatre Row, and for what the critics made of another of this month’s Off-Broadway openings, see our roundup for The Visitors at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
The Blue Violinist Over West End Avenue is playing at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, through December 5.
