"The uplifting, star-making, overwrought new musical...turns history on its head. Racism becomes an individual character flaw instead of a systemic evil; resistance, the solitary moral genius of a hero...Most of the characters — and there are 10 major roles — seem less like people than ideas with human masks...'Paradise Square' feels almost authorless despite its many contributors, and the direction of Moisés Kaufman, known for a strong hand and conceptual coherence, does little to erase the impression of anonymity...The other source of coherence in 'Paradise Square' is Kalukango, who somehow alchemizes the remarkable difficulties of the role into her characterization, making it incredible in the good way instead of the bad."
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"3/5 stars...On one hand, this ambitious but amorphous show is a wide-ranging historical period piece...On another hand, it is a melodrama about couples and families torn apart by slavery, war and mustache-twirling villains...It’s a handsome production, with a talented and notably large cast; the exciting dance sequences, choreographed by Bill T. Jones, are among the show’s highlights, though one senses a missed opportunity in depicting the cross-pollination of Irish step dancing and Black tap traditions...The problem is that the writing doesn’t support the spectacle, yielding a ponderous hash of good intentions that often feels like a training-wheels version of 'Ragtime.'"
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"Dance and history and race and loss tempered with hope — what a subject for a musical this would be, if only 'Paradise Square' had managed to theatricalize it. There’s room for it in its two hours and 45 minutes, but the gluey (and clearly glued-together) book by Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwan uses the real setting and events without, somehow, actually telling their story...Now, Kalukango herself is amazing...The plot, though, wouldn’t miss her. Cut the part, and the story wouldn’t change."
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"Although it features a uniformly terrific cast, and delves into a potentially resonant historical incident—the New York Draft Riots of 1863, which pitted lower-class whites against blacks and resulted in more than 100 deaths—this earnest and hardworking musical gets tangled up in too many storylines to render any of them in emotional depth for more than a minute or two. "
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"Some bluntly stated distancing from Foster’s music infuses 'Paradise Square' with no small amount of anachronistic debate over cultural appropriation – arguments that would have been so much more enticing if the musical was self-reflective enough to consider its own many artistic liftings...'Paradise Square'...has an unfortunate, even disastrous, tendency to lay blame on its cartoon villains rather than the murky depths of its good-natured common folk...'Paradise Square' comes very close to saving itself from its own impulses...by giving star Kalukango the evening’s single greatest moment of glory: a powerhouse anthem of anger and defiance."
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"Clarified, intensified and inestimably improved since its less-cohesive Chicago tryout...All of the writerly comings and goings can be felt at times as Allen Moyer’s turntable set spins, although far less than in Chicago, thanks to the unifying efforts of Howland’s growing suite of music, which is rich, earnest and emotionally potent...The show genuinely wants to be entertaining, of course, and much of the time it succeeds. It movingly celebrates the power of love and of families we make for ourselves. But it does not want to offer the traditional cathartic comfort of musicals; rather, it seeks to reflect all the pain these struggling characters feel."
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"Purports to be a fable of American race relations. But while conflicts between the neighborhood’s Black and Irish residents at times come thrillingly to life through dance, 'Paradise Square' is wrong-footed from the jump...Puts a host of stock characters in a broadly sketched historical setting, piles on the plot, and hopes for contemporary resonance. The result is a tiresome mess. Supported by a formidable dance ensemble, the ongoing face-off between the two men is at least a vibrant showcase for propulsive choreography from Bill T. Jones."
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“Paradise Square,” directed by Moisés Kaufman and choreographed by Bill T. Jones, substitutes energy for enlightenment. It’s a dizzying thicket of dance breaks and choral numbers, patterned not particularly elegantly after other Broadway epics including “Ragtime” and “Les Miserables” and “Miss Saigon.” A more apt title might have been “Overkill: The Musical.”
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