Review of WHITE at the New Victory (NY)

On Saturday I took my 3-year-old son to see the show WHITE at the New Victory Theatre. *

As I've stated several times on this blog and other blogs and in person to anyone who will listen, I LOVE the New Victory.  I don't think I've ever seen a show there that I've regretted seeing. And WHITE is no different.

The show is very similar in feel to POTATO NEEDS A BATH, which I reviewed earlier. (No mistake, it was designed by Shonna Reppe, who did the Potato show)  When you enter there is an "art on the floor" workshop, which consists of coloring and cutting out perforated birdhouses to hang around your neck.  The show has lots of birdhouses in it, so it makes sense.  We had a pretty good time making the art, and then after I tore out the perforated bird house, I made a bird with the detritus.  Later I presented it to one of the performers, who thought it was interesting, I guess.

White at the New Victory. Photo by Paul Watt

Once you enter, you meet two characters Wrinkle and Cotton.  They live in a highly structured world where they have a number of morning rituals, including eating breakfast together, scouring their birdhouses to make sure no color has infected the world, and catching perfectly white eggs from the sky and caring for them.

One day (our day)  a red egg also falls from the sky, which gets thrown in the bin with the rest of the color.  Against the rules, one character saves the egg, and then color starts to infect this previously pure stage-- soon color is everywhere!

The set has an ingenious design, and the writing/staging/performance of this are all great.  My son (and all the other kids there) were basically entranced for 45 minutes.

Part of it is the ritualized world they live in.  Each bird house is a little box, and when they are caring for them, they open them up and they are all different, so it's like opening up little presents all day long.  Part of it is the open innocence of the characters - they are gentle, but not saccharine.

A friend reported seeing Liev Shreiber and his family at the show they went to.  I sat next to some famous looking people, but didn't recognize them at all.  (And I'm sure they didn't know they were sitting next to me!)  So if you like celebrities who watch kid's show, keep your eyes open!

This show is definitely worth seeing.  Check it out!

BUY TICKETS HERE.
And find out more about the company that produced it HERE.

And here's the promo video, for those of you who a video is worth a thousand words.

* DISCLAIMER:  I received complimentary tickets to this production of WHITE in hopes that I would write about it.  I only write about things I like, and my opinion of the show is not influenced by the free-ness of the tickets.  I promise.