The reviews are in for The Heart, which opened Thursday at Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre. It is the first production Christopher Ashley has directed for Roundabout since becoming its artistic director, and he has brought it from La Jolla Playhouse, where it premiered in 2025. Kait Kerrigan's book squeezes Maylis de Kerangal's novel Réparer les vivants into 90 minutes and 24 hours: a surfer's death, a family's decision, and a heart on its way to a stranger, all set to an electronic dance score by Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath. Most critics think the gamble pays off. The New York Times calls the show something of a miracle, and only Culture Sauce finds it hollow. The score is where they part company, while Heidi Blickenstaff and Bre Jackson are praised almost everywhere.
The verdict: six reviews in so far: three raves, two warm notices with reservations, and one skeptic. Only two outlets publish a rating, New York Stage Review at four stars and Culture Sauce at three. The New York Times, New York Stage Review and Theater Pizzazz are the most enthusiastic, and all three think the electronic score suits a story built around a heartbeat. TheaterMania and New York Theatre Guide like the show but find the music forgettable or overpowering in places, while Culture Sauce admires the polish and finds the characters skin-deep. Nearly every notice singles out Heidi Blickenstaff as the woman waiting for a new heart, and three of them name Bre Jackson's solo, "Right Now," as a highlight.
What are critics saying about The Heart?
The New York Times
"A Bracing New Musical Pulses With Life"
Reviewer: Elisabeth Vincentelli
Vincentelli points out how easily a story that opens with a teenager left brain-dead could have turned schmaltzy, and says it never does. She argues that dance music, a style measured in beats per minute, is exactly the right sound for a show about a heart, and credits Kerrigan with keeping the urgency of a famously dense novel.
"…something of a miracle: a full-steam-ahead, funny, gut-wrenching show about death and life…"
She calls Blickenstaff amusingly tart and says Jackson makes the most of her big solo. Her one note goes to Jason Tam, whose surfer-dad cadence she thinks could be sharper.
Read Elisabeth Vincentelli’s full review in The New York Times
TheaterMania
"An Electronic Musical About an Organ Transplant"
Reviewer: Zachary Stewart
Stewart has no doubt that a transplant can carry a musical, and he admires the way Kerrigan turns overlooked jobs into drama. The scene in which Lincoln Clauss's coordinator persuades the parents to donate is, for him, the most fascinating in the script.
"…the subject matter should be no obstacle to your enjoyment of this neatly produced and dramatically rich new offering."
The score is another matter. He could not hum a single number afterward, and he calls the Eisendraths' attempt to stretch what a musical can sound like valiant but only partly successful.
New York Stage Review
"A Bold New Musical Chronicles a Life-or-Death Story"
Reviewer: Michael Sommers · 4 out of 5
Sommers calls the show a must-see for anyone who loves contemporary musicals or hospital dramas. He finds Ashley at his inventive best, praises the video and lighting design, and marvels that a nine-member company can seem like thirty.
"Performed and staged with Broadway-level excellence, The Heart is a remarkable musical drama well worth seeing."
He picks out Jackson's "Right Now" as a standout and would not be surprised to see the production move to a bigger house.
Culture Sauce
"‘The Heart’ sets a transplant to an EDM-lite beat but never gets under the skin"
Reviewer: Thom Geier · 3 out of 5
Geier is the coolest of the critics. He enjoys the energy, Clauss's commanding voice and Robert Brill's sleek set, and he likes that everyone in the company gets a solo. But he thinks the characters never go deep enough for the audience to connect, Blickenstaff's Claire included.
"For all the propulsive energy and antiseptic precision, what’s lacking, sad to say, is heart."
He is also unconvinced by Mandy Moore's choreography, which he describes as mostly coordinated walking.
New York Theatre Guide
"If ‘The Pitt’ went electropop"
Reviewer: Caroline Cao
Cao likens the show to an emergency room run like a nightclub and thinks the pairing works. She names Jackson the evening's MVP, finds the medical staff more vivid than the family, and calls the video design one of the most adventurous of the season.
"And yet, so much of the musical thunders with intoxicating rhythms that can’t be missed."
She does list side effects: uneven work from the parents, an underwritten girlfriend, moments of public-service sentiment, and sound that sometimes drowns the singers.
Theater Pizzazz
"Pumping Life Into a Medical Musical"
Reviewer: Ron Fassler
Fassler, a self-confessed fan of TV hospital dramas, thinks the show succeeds on its direction, its cast and a score with a driving beat. He says Joaquina Kalukango raises every scene she is in, that the score seems written for Blickenstaff's voice, and that Moore has the actors moving like dancers.
"Over the course of a swift ninety minutes, it might just make your heart skip a beat."
His one reservation is predictability, which he thinks could have sunk the show and does not.
Production photographs by Joan Marcus.
We have followed the show since The Heart began previews at the Laura Pels, and published the first production photos in mid-October. For more of what the New York critics have been saying this week, read our roundup for A Few Good Men at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
The Heart runs at Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46th Street, through Sunday, December 6, 2026.
