73%
(32 Ratings)
Positive
69%
Mixed
22%
Negative
9%
Members say
Ambitious, Great singing, Confusing, Quirky, Thought-provoking

About the Show

Soho Rep presents Daniel Alexander Jones' new play with music, which marks the return of his stage alter ego: the vivacious Jomama Jones.

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Critic Reviews (12)

The New York Times
October 25th, 2016

"Jones’s hearts-and-flowers-themed exploration of life and what lies beyond. This buoyantly didactic show takes gentle pains to remind us that our next breath could well be our last...This sui generis performance piece has been given a sumptuously homemade production under the direction of Will Davis...The sequence is defiantly unlike either of the other two parts in 'Duat,' yet it is also thoroughly of a piece with them...For Mr. Jones, there’s comfort in eclecticism."
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Time Out New York
October 25th, 2016

"A luxury of theatrical overabundance. Writer-performer Daniel Alexander Jones and his ’80s soul superstar alter ego Jomama Jones are serving up a kind of gourmet tasting menu—a flight of Joneses, or Jones three ways. Each section in the evening's triptych is in a genre by itself...After many pleasures, we finally move into the piece's most musical sequence and we are stunned by the talents before us...Jones is fully capable of measuring our hearts, but he doesn't. He lightens them instead."
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New Yorker
November 7th, 2016

"'Duat' is a complicated piece whose ideas are too big to work onstage. One gets the sense that Jones and his director didn’t want to leave anything out of this overstuffed production...Jones has a scholar’s love of black art, but everything gets further confused in the second part of the show...In 'Duat,' Jones is dramaturgically at war with his most inspired creation, one that benefits from the freedom of his imagination, not from the limitations of his 'truth.'"
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Theatermania
October 25th, 2016

"'Duat' is a show unlike any other playing in New York...'Duat' brims with ideas, not all of them fully developed. Under the laissez-faire direction of Davis, the piece jumps between Jones' personal narrative to sections about Egyptology and pop divas...A lack of narrative clarity regularly leaves us feeling lost in Jones' expansive spiritual and intellectual kingdom...Still, the enchantment of discovering a world so big and unexplained is a feeling one rarely encounters outside of childhood."
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Lighting & Sound America
October 26th, 2016

"Having worked hard, and effectively, to establish a certain mood in Act I, Jones executes a sharp left turn, dragging the show into someplace altogether different...Where did the poetry go? If the director, Will Davis, can't reconcile the show's opposing halves, he has cast the production well and maintains a warm, affable feeling throughout...There are many, many fine things in 'Duat' but, as it stands, they are in need of sorting out."
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TheaterScene.net
October 28th, 2016

"Directed by Will Davis, 'Duat' is a powerful example of the dynamism of collaboration and personal inspiration. Distinctly unique and featuring a young and effervescent ensemble of actors, in 'Duat' Daniel Alexander Jones has created a wonderful homage to his alter-ego and life in the form of a memorable and rousing piece of theater."
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Theatre is Easy
October 25th, 2016

"'Duat' is a most sincere and ardent confession, delivered with a kaleidoscope of a theatrical magnum opus. Daniel/Jomama Jones does not spend a single moment on stage without being thoroughly captivating. The writing is simply breathtaking...'Duat' certainly promises an experience to be remembered, and moreover, to be pondered upon, as the audience exits with seeds of hope planted in their hearts."
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Theater Pizzazz
October 25th, 2016

"Its high concept is American avant-garde art...The goal of these themes to connect, however, was a fail, resulting in the opposite: a play that couldn’t make up its mind about what it wanted to be, with no apparent arc, no journey, and nothing new to say...To his credit, the cast of talented performers gave Jones and director Will Davis, who helped develop the piece, 100 percent...'Duat' ends up feeling like a self-indulgent piece that needs to go back to the drawing board."
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