Written by Jill Santoriello
Directed by Warren Carlyle
Synopsis:
Jill Santoriello's musical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities is set against the epic backdrop of the French Revolution. Based on the classic Dickens novel, the musical is about injustice, vengeance and the redemptive power of love.
NEW YORK TIMES:
"This stolid poperetta, which features book, music and lyrics by Jill Santoriello and is directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, is one of those unfortunate shows that are neither witty in themselves nor able to inspire wit in others. To say it could have been worse — i.e., gloriously, hilariously bad — is not a cause for rejoicing. "
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK POST:
"Jill Santoriello's book clings closely to Dickens' own, with some nips and tucks, but her lyrics are unimaginative and her music sounds like "Les Miz" and dishwater "
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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:
"The gears, however, are stuck in reverse. "Tale," which was seen last fall at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Fla., is so formulaic it feels recycled and reused, but not refreshed. To pinch from one of the songs, that is not "The Way It Ought to Be." "
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THEATERMANIA:
"What does it mean that I left A Tale of Two Cities humming the songs from Les Miserables? Nothing positive, I can assure you. "
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VARIETY:
"The latest of them, "A Tale of Two Cities," is by no means the least, but it's a lumbering artifact -- overwrought, under-nuanced and hopelessly old-fashioned. "
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NEWSDAY:
"'A Tale of Two Cities" is a middling Masterpiece Musical, a paint-by-numbers throwback to the late - and, in this corner, unlamented - heyday of novelized epics on turntables. It has lots of nice period costumes and good actors singing their lungs inside out on material that all sounds the same. "
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NEW YORK MAGAZINE:
"The show is as plucky as it is inept, but it’s also a million times less cynical than, say, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Frank Wildhorn’s low-cal gloss on Les Misérables. Then again, Wildhorn also wrote actual songs; Tale composer-lyricist-librettist Jill Santoriello, on the other hand, writes what sound like lavishly orchestrated vamps on Stephen Foster ditties: sweetly insubstantial underscoring, incidental in every sense, with workmanlike rhymes sprinkled on top. "
Read the whole review HERE.
NY1:
"It's not that “A Tale of Two Cities” is bad. There's much talent and charm to recommend it. And perhaps if “Les Miz” hadn't come first, we might have found “Tale” original at least. But there's clearly an effort to clone the success of the acclaimed decades-old blockbuster musical. And that does a disservice to everyone involved in the current show because they mostly pale by comparison. "
Read the whole review HERE.
NEW YORK SUN:
"A subsequent look at my Playbill, alas, confirmed that the songs in my head were all from "Les Miserables." The memories of "Two Cities," Jill Santoriello's pell-mell pageant of bad wigs, worse lyrics, and a handful of decent melodies, were a bit dimmer despite being some two decades fresher. "
Read the whole review HERE.
TIME OUT NY:
"But there’s no revolution going on here, simply a feeble recurrence of the ancien régime. "
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amNY:
"To be frank, clicking your heels and wishing to emulate the success of "Les Miz" and "Oliver" is not acceptable. Ms. Santoriello's songwriting lacks even the empty sizzle of a Frank Wildhorn show like "Jekyll and Hyde. Maybe she needs to work on the show for another two or three decades! "
Read the whole review HERE.
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