"Candlelight is a tab of acid, given to you right before a job interview...I was not prepared for a fantasy-filled fever dream about a 10-year-old girl who discovers that she is the target of a supernatural murder plot, the object of her father’s lust, and an incarnation of the Virgin Mary. I continued to not be prepared through the show’s entire running time of 90 minutes, as the plot took wild hairpin turns, doubling back on itself, plunging into awful chasms that always seemed to include some kind of sexual assault."
Read more

Set in a nightmare world of children, the play covers child abuse, sexual assault, drug addiction, violence, all presented as a fairy tale for children. One wonders who the target audience for this is: it is too mature for children but too whimsical for adults.
Read more

"John Patrick Shanley's new play Candlelight is sort of like West Side Story--but with 10-year-olds, Jim Henson-esque demons, and a scantily clad fairy...Sadly, I found that to be the case for most of the play. An imaginative cast of characters and a delightful disregard for theatrical conventions seem like a recipe for success, but the absence of a strong plot and cohesive tone cause Candlelight to quickly fly off the rails. Still, I'll give Shanley and the team credit for trying."
Read more

John Patrick Shanley imagines what it would be like if Romeo and Juliet were both Nuyoricans, and ten years old. In place of feuding families or gangs, Esperanza and Tito live in a make-believe world of talking mirrors and magical robes… Shanley messes with reality – and clarity — in ways that only Off Off Broadway allows. The results are mixed…the main draw is the terrifically appealing cast.
Read more