CAROLINE, OR CHANGE OPENS ON BROADWAY

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE OPENS ON BROADWAY

CRITIC’S PICK!
“ELECTRIFYING! IT IS NEVER LESS THAN THRILLING” 

– Jesse Green, The New York Times
FOUR STARS! FOUR STARS! FOUR STARS! 

– Adam Feldman, Time Out New York – Elysa Gardner, New York Stage Review – Steven Suskin, New York Stage Review 

“SHATTERING! A REVELATION!” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
“WONDROUS!” – Greg Evans, Deadline
“THE TIME IS NOW, FINALLY, FOR CAROLINE, OR CHANGE”

 – New York Magazine 

“A COLOSSAL, CREATIVE, SMASH!” 

– Linda Armstrong, Amsterdam News 

The theater critics have weighed in on the Roundabout Theatre Company’s new Broadway production of the Tony Award-nominated and Olivier Award-winning musical Caroline, or Change which opened on October 27th. 

Caroline, or Change is about Caroline Thibodeaux who is an African-American woman working as a maid for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana, as the civil rights movement is transforming America. In her Olivier Award-winning performance, Sharon D Clarke brings this indelible heroine to “incandescent” life (Time Out London), in a production that launches to “the titanic dimensions of greatness” (The New York Times). From Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner and Tony Award winner Jeanine Tesori comes the show that pulses with the urgency and passion that's shaping the world today. 

The Caroline, or Change creative team includes Fly Davis (Sets & Costumes), Jack Knowles (Lights), Paul Arditti (Sound), Rick Bassett, Joseph Joubert & Buryl Red (Orchestrations), Amanda Miller (Hair & Wigs), and Sarah Cimino (Make-up). 

Here’s what the critics have to say: 

THE NEW YORK TIMES 

By Jesse Green 

“Now Clarke, who won an Olivier award for her performance in the British production, adds hers. She makes of the maid an almost Shakespearean figure; even at the depths of the character’s despair, in the scarifying 11 o’clock number ‘Lot’s Wife,’ she commands attention without begging for it, and does not allow herself, because Caroline wouldn’t, the luxury of collapse. The result of that restraint is more painful than cathartic, leaving the story’s emotional release to those who can afford it: Caroline’s children. The chance to believe in change is her hard-won bequest to them — and, in this devastating, uncomfortable, crucial musical, to us.” 

NEW YORK MAGAZINE 

By Helen Shaw 

“Caroline, or Change looks backward, both at Kushner’s childhood and our country’s adolescence. It weighs, carefully and respectfully, the heaviest moment of a life. And it stops us: It puts a restraining hand on our arm as we rush past. The pause is always sacred in Kushner’s work because a pause is a space for thought. Tellingly, much of his libretto happens in liminal hours, like at a moonlit bus stop or during the day’s one cigarette (its smoke curling up like a comma), smoked as Caroline waits for the laundry to dry. These are precisely the places a person can take the time to stop and reflect, just as this musical — as grand and thrilling and crammed with gorgeous music as it is — gives us the space to do the same. ... The sound in the room grows huge and unbearable as a woman gives up on her future, releasing energy like an atom ripping apart. The show can’t recover from this intensity; certainly, we cannot. Whatever comes after ‘Lot’s Wife,’ whatever little grace notes the production gives to Emmie and Noah, we stay frozen in that song’s nuclear blast.” 

NEW YORK MAGAZINE 

By David Rooney 

“Any work of art about the socioeconomic divide, particularly with regard to inequities rooted in race, class and power, is bound to land differently now than it did in, say, 2004. That seems entirely apposite for a musical with the word ‘change’ in its title and the tremors of personal, political and historical upheaval thematically embedded in its story. But it’s not just shifts in the prism of American life in the 17 years since Caroline, or Change transferred from the Public Theater to Broadway that breathe urgency into this shattering revival. Everything about Michael Longhurst’s production feels more emotionally charged, starting with Sharon D. Clarke’s mighty performance in the title role. ... The magnificence of Clarke’s wrenching performance is never more startling than in those moments in the aria, titled ‘Lot’s Wife,’ where she soars to a raging crescendo and then reins the torrent of feeling back in to hushed confessional intimacy. ... Anyone who has missed the overwhelming emotional power of a great Broadway musical in the past 19 months should look no further.” 

NEW YORK OBSERVER 

By David Cote 

“There’s so much to cherish in this miracle of a musical, its puzzle-box structure, thematic patterning, and — you’re not ready —its shocking release with the eleventh-hour number, ‘Lot’s Wife.’ In this a self-crucifixion of a solo, Caroline scours her bleeding soul with a poultice of anger, guilt, and Biblical despair. ‘Murder me God, down in that basement,’ Caroline begs, and you’re pierced to the core by the heroine’s sheer desperation. Clarke, expression hard, flat and cold as an unused iron, is a force of nature, as we critics lazily praise—but which force? Is she a hurricane of proletarian discontent, a sinkhole of battered wifedom, an earthquake of feminine rage, or a wildfire of Black righteousness? Take your pick.” 

DEADLINE 

By Greg Evans 

“In this still-young Broadway season already boasting a remarkable line-up of new productions that, regardless of box office sales or seats filled, is a small miracle, the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Caroline, Or Change places itself squarely at the forefront of the best in culture this city has to offer. Directed by Michael Longhurst with intensity and sensitivity, and performed by a cast that seems to have made a pact to sustain itself at the towering heights achieved early and unfailingly by its mighty star Sharon D Clarke, this Caroline, Or Change is a hurricane wind unleashed on decrepit legacies and newfound cautions.” 

Caroline, or Change features a Book & Lyrics by Tony Kushner, Music by Jeanine Tesori, Direction by Michael Longhurst, Choreography by Ann Yee, Musical Supervision by Nigel Lilley and Musical Direction by Joseph Joubert. 

Caroline, or Change stars Sharon D Clarke (Caroline Thibodeaux), with Gabriel Amoroso (Noah Gellman), Alexander Bello (Jackie Thibodeaux), John Cariani (Stuart Gellman), Joy Hermalyn (Grandma Gellman), Arica Jackson (The Washing Machine), Tamika Lawrence (Dotty Moffett), Caissie Levy (Rose Stopnick Gellman), Adam Makké (Noah Gellman), Kevin S. McAllister (The Dryer, The Bus), Harper Miles (Radio 3), N’Kenge (The Moon), Nya (Radio 2), Richard Alexander Phillips (Alternate for Jackie Thibodeaux and Joe Thibodeaux), Jayden Theophile (Joe Thibodeaux), Nasia Thomas (Radio 1), Jaden Myles Waldman (Noah Gellman), Samantha Williams (Emmie Thibodeaux), Stuart Zagnit (Grandpa Gellman) and Chip Zien (Mr. Stopnick). 

 

Caroline, or Change is playing a limited engagement through January 9, 2022 at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54th Street). 

TICKET INFORMATION: 

Tickets for Caroline, or Change are available by calling 212.719.1300, online at roundabouttheatre.org, in person at a Roundabout box office; or by visiting StubHub, the Premier Secondary Ticketing Partner of Roundabout. Ticket prices range from $59-$159. For groups of 10 or more please call 212-719-9393 x 365 or email groupsales@roundabouttheatre.org 

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: 

Caroline, or Change plays Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00PM. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00PM. Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:00PM as well as Sunday matinees at 3:00PM. 

This production is produced in association with Ambassador Theatre Group, Benjamin Lowy Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, Glass Half Full Productions and Nine Stories Productions. 

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