The reviews are in for Wanted, the new musical that opened on Sunday, November 8, at the James Earl Jones Theatre. Written by Angelica Chéri (book and lyrics) with music by Ross Baum and directed by Stevie Walker-Webb, it draws on Chéri’s own family lore to tell the story of Mary and Martha Clarke, Black twin sisters in 1893 Texas who pass for white and take up armed robbery to buy the land their mother has worked for decades. The critics agree on the voices: Solea Pfeiffer, Liisi LaFontaine and Ledisi are praised almost everywhere, and the comic maids of Aurelia Williams and Awa Sal Secka steal more than one notice. Where they part company is the book. Entertainment Weekly, PureWow and 1 Minute Critic find a crowd-pleaser worth the ticket, while The New York Times, Variety, Deadline, The Guardian and Slant hear a superb cast working against a crowded, unfocused story.
The verdict: fourteen reviews in, and only three outlets put a score on it: Entertainment Weekly grades it B+, while New York Stage Review (both of its critics) and Culture Sauce settle on 3 out of 5. Beyond that the field splits cleanly. The warm notices, from EW, PureWow, New York Theatre Guide and 1 Minute Critic, are willing to forgive the plotting for the singing and the rare original story. The cool ones, led by The New York Times, Variety, Deadline, The Guardian, TheWrap and Slant, say the cast is doing heroic work for a book that cannot decide what it is about. What nobody disputes is the singing: Solea Pfeiffer, Liisi LaFontaine and Ledisi come out of almost every review ahead of the show they are in.
What are critics saying about Wanted?
The New York Times
"Rollicking Music and Vocal Riches Sapped by a Runaway Plot"
Reviewer: Helen Shaw
Helen Shaw is happy to grant the show the latitude it asks for with its “mostly true” framing, but finds that the looseness spreads well beyond the history.
"the new (often frustrating, occasionally thrilling) Broadway musical “Wanted” does not always know that it’s set in 1893."
She finds the heists staged as weightless comedy, questions costumes that seem to belong to the 1930s, and is unkind about the giant projected sunsets and galloping horses, though the music and the voices are what the headline salutes.
The Guardian
"Generic crime musical lacks outlaw grit"
Reviewer: Richard Lawson
Richard Lawson saw the 2024 Paper Mill Playhouse version and thinks the Broadway rewrite is an improvement, just not enough of one. His chief complaint is that the crime spree, the most dangerous thing in the story, is rushed through as a montage.
"this is a western that’s not wild enough, a melodrama lacking heat, a song showcase that grows repetitive"
The performer he would have liked to see more of is Awa Sal Secka, whose housemaid Flo brings the energy and detail he finds missing elsewhere.
Entertainment Weekly
"Gunslinging sisters take Broadway by storm in powerhouse musical"
Reviewer: Shania Russell · Grade: B+
Shania Russell is the show’s most generous mainstream reviewer. She admits the romances are underbaked and the excitement comes and goes, but she is won over by the pride in the material and a company that clearly loves to belt.
"It’s not your typical Western, but it’s a slick romp all the same."
She puts Pfeiffer’s Mary at the emotional center of the evening and calls the Kinfolk ensemble a delight rather than a narrative chore.
Variety
"Broadway Musical Doesn't Know Its Story"
Reviewer: Aramide Tinubu
Aramide Tinubu calls the performances exceptional, Ledisi’s in particular, and credits the set and projections with giving the stage depth. Her problem is an overstuffed book that leans on a hurried love story and treats passing as though it were new territory.
"“Wanted” works best as a musical album. As a Broadway show, however, it simply doesn’t measure up."
Deadline
"Historical Musical Unconvincing As Gospel Truth"
Reviewer: Greg Evans
Greg Evans likes the show’s sense of humor about its own tall tale and finds Pfeiffer and LaFontaine likable, with impressive voices, though he thinks the characters are too thinly written for them to do more.
"spirited but uneven, a show wherein some very big singing nearly succeeds in drowning out needling plot contrivances…"
He admires Beowulf Boritt’s adaptable barn-frame set and lands on a modestly diverting entertainment that misses the chance its family story offered.
TheWrap
"These 2 Bandits Are No Bonnie and Clyde"
Reviewer: Robert Hofler
Robert Hofler’s favorite thing in the show is the maids’ comic number “Dangerous”, and he calls Walker-Webb’s handling of Aurelia Williams and Awa Sal Secka brilliant. The trouble, as he sees it, is everything that comes before it.
"What precedes it might be the dullest crime spree ever staged…"
He also finds the sisters too nice to be colorful outlaws, the louder songs close to deafening, and the plot logic shaky in the second act.
TheaterMania
"Wanted Isn’t a Perfect Shot, But Its Leading Ladies Are"
Reviewer: Hayley Levitt
Hayley Levitt hears a revenge fantasy built on rage that only lets the catharsis out in fits and starts. She calls Ledisi the production’s load-bearing pillar and singles out the end of Act One as the moment the show finally shows what it could be.
"Liisi LaFontaine and Solea Pfeiffer are giving star-making performances as Martha and Mary Clarke"
Her conclusion is that Wanted gives Broadway something genuinely new without ever becoming more than the sum of its parts.
Slant Magazine
"A Western Musical That Misfires"
Reviewer: Dan Rubins
Dan Rubins is taken with the opening, the Kinfolk and Melody A. Betts’s show-stopping belt at the top of Act Two, and with the staging, Emilio Sosa’s costumes and the two maids. He also notes how little the structure has changed since the show was Gun & Powder at Paper Mill.
"Wanted’s overdramatic, self-serious script and under-dramatic score prevent the show from living up to its refreshingly audacious ambitions."
That near-miss, he concludes, is what makes it such a frustrating evening.
New York Stage Review
"Wanted: Two Sisters Carry a Gun Across Texas"
Reviewer: Michael Sommers · 3 out of 5
New York Stage Review sent two critics, and both give it three stars. Michael Sommers enjoys it as a robust romantic adventure and is impressed by Boritt’s handsome, transforming set.
"A robust and romantic musical of 1890s Texas, Wanted tells the easily enjoyable, “mostly true” saga…"
His colleague Roma Torre, also at 3 out of 5, welcomes an original musical and its vocal firepower but finds the same set clunky and the staging low-budget; her review is here.
Culture Sauce
"‘Wanted’ raises the roof with vocal fireworks in an overly ambitious outlaw story"
Reviewer: Thom Geier · 3 out of 5
Thom Geier calls the show boldly original but narratively muddled, with a second act that decides life-changing questions in the blink of an eye. He has no complaints about the singing, though: not a weak voice in the cast.
"Pfeiffer and LaFontaine are the real deal, delivering two of the most memorable Broadway debuts in recent memory."
New York Theatre Guide
"Move over, Billy the Kid; make way for the Clarkes"
Reviewer: Caroline Cao
Caroline Cao calls the story uneven but the score riveting, a mix of gospel, country, soul and R&B, and names Pfeiffer and Ledisi as the standouts. She feels the show lose steam once it settles into the hotel, and finds Pfeiffer’s “The Way I Am” chilling.
"You’ll cheer for the Clarke sisters robbing oppressive white society in post-Reconstruction Marlin, Texas"
Cititour
"A Great Cast Will Make You Want to See Wanted"
Reviewer: Brian Scott Lipton
Brian Scott Lipton is there for the cast, and picks out Elijah’s “Invisible”, Mary’s “The Way I Am” and the duet “Sanctuary” as the numbers that land. He would use the Kinfolk far less, since they crowd a small stage, and wishes the story allowed more moral gray area.
"“Wanted” is very much a tale told in Black and White."
PureWow
"New Broadway Musical 'Wanted' Screams 'Tony Winner'"
Reviewer: Philip Mutz
Philip Mutz is the outright enthusiast of the field and is already predicting a strong Tony campaign. He calls Mary a possible career-defining role for Pfeiffer, and notes that the maids got the evening’s only exit applause.
"Wanted is fast-paced, fabulous and absolutely worth fawning over."
He would like more for Bradley Jaden to do, and is unbothered by the lack of a tune to hum on the way out.
1 Minute Critic
"A family legend rides onto Broadway"
Reviewer: Matthew Wexler
Matthew Wexler credits Walker-Webb, choreographer Chelsey Arce and the three leading women for carrying the evening past a sluggish romance. He finds the projections a blurry distraction and thinks the score needs more musicians, but admires Sosa’s period costumes.
"in an era of revivals and cash-cow adaptations, Wanted is still worth the bounty."
Production photographs by Julieta Cervantes.
For a first look at the production, see our production photos of Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine in Wanted, and for more of what the New York critics have been saying this fall, see our roundup for Parcel from America at Theatre Row.
Wanted is playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, with tickets currently on sale through March 31, 2027. For more information, visit the official website.
