More Theater Monday - Stereophonic

We were given complimentary tickets to Stereophonic for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own. 

What: Stereophonic 

Where: Playwright's Horizon 

            416 W. 4nd St.

            New York NY

Who: Recommended for Ages 14 and Up

When: Through December 17, 2023

Stereophonic is the story of a rising young band tasked with recording their new album. However, being in such close quarters for such a long time during the year-long period of recording the album causes tempers to flair, and a lot of underlying resentment and other things rise to the surface that need to be dealt with. No one will survive the experience unchanged and neither will the band as a unit. 

The acting is very good and the relationships are so believable that you really become quite invested in what happens to these people. The show, which at three hours is much too long, drags at times, but for the most part, it keeps your interest. 

It is neither billed as a musical nor as a play with music, but there is music in it. The songs, which were written by Arcade Fire's Will Butler, are quite nice and so are the singing voices. We kind of wish there was an album because we would like to listen to some of the songs again. 

If you like band shows for the happy found family vibes you find, with such shows, as School of Rock and Bandstand. you will probably be disappointed.  This show has more of the dysfunctional family vibes of shows like Almost Famous. It is definitely not a good story for kids either due to language, situations, drug use, and more. Ultimately, this is the story of a band imploding from within. If you want to see if they can survive it, you are going to have to see the play.

And that's our view. For more about this show or to purchase tickets, visit 

www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/stereophonic

Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.

Photo credits:

All Stereophonic productions photos by Chelcie Parry

Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms.
If there is a problem with the rights to any image, please contact us here, and we will look into the matter.