"Interweaving a fantastical medieval Persia with contemporary New York, the show is at its best when it flat-out mocks American ignorance and the stubbornness of ethnic clichés...Michelson’s music winds through it, by turns spare or richly choral...The actors’ voices are lovely, though an aural muddiness mars the ensemble numbers. As the plot elements bleed into one another, clarity is in too short supply...Moafi, forthright and funny, is the cast standout."
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"A haunting, soulful musical...Director Erin Ortman embraces simplicity in her staging—sheer black curtains open and close around playing areas—and brings together divergent elements with the style and substance this ambitious work deserves. As Grote plays with deconstructing stereotypes, Michaelson presents a vibrant sonic landscape that ranges from Middle Eastern music to modern EDM...The show sounds heavenly."
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"In execution, it is both overstuffed and unsatisfying: The show wants to say something about women's rights, Middle Eastern politics, religious traditions, and Orientalism...A score that is often quite beautiful but often deficient in illuminating the plot and characters...Grote is so interested in connecting the dots between his stories that he forgets to make them compelling...In musicalizing his play, Grote may have thinned out his original material to a distressing degree."
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"With book and lyrics by Jason Grote (based on '1001,' his 2007 play), 'One Thousand Nights and One Day' with music by Marisa Michelson wants to be several things at the same time. The eclectic music which begins and ends with New Age themes then resolves into Broadway, pop, solfege, and Middle Eastern melodies with a certain amount of operatic arias for the women singers thrown in. Like the story and the libretto, it can't seem to make up its mind what it wants to be."
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"The humorous, mocking 'One Eyed Arab' – with two eyes, (a lively Graham Stevens) sets the opening time and place in mythical Persia, as the narrative smoothly shifts as explained in the program...There are shattering musical vibrations that literally shake the theater...The cast members are a talented bunch of triple threats speedily directed by Erin Ortman."
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"Much [of] Michelson's music…sounds like bland dialogue sung in operatic tones when it's not displaying melismatic overkill…comes in the Arabian nights material…When the Dhana-Alan situations arrive, singing becomes minimal and dialogue dominates; given the songs' bland similarities this isn't such a bad thing…This is the kind of show in which anything can happen, even an appearance by…a djinn…Alan asks the djinn to get his lover back. I suggest he ask for a better show."
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"This clever deconstruction of the Arabian Nights tale intertwines the new age philosophy of the veils lifting and time becoming one...The entire cast works well together in bringing their characters to life, both in acting and movement...The show’s music by Marisa Michelson is beautifully sung with rhythms that lead the melody...Erin Ortman directs this piece with flourish, allowing these parallel universes to shine through."
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"Impressive if overloaded...Along with some serious storytelling, it also has accomplished music...and poetic and sometimes affecting lyrics. Its narrative, though, may be a little too complicated for its own good...The book loses impact as it shifts back and forth from old-time Persia to contemporary New York...Ortman, however, manages to get emotional value out of the shifting proceedings...The cast handles the heavy load with admirable skill and dedication."
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