Alicia Keys' New Broadway Production "Stick Fly" Leaves Some Reviewers Disappointed

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Apparently, a few theater reviewers missed the memo that Alicia Keys can do no wrong.

Because while it isn’t hard to find reviews saying that her new production “Stick Fly” is the best thing to hit Black folks in theater since “Raisin In The Sun” or “Porgy and Bess,” everyone afraid to say they’re not drinking the kool-aid.

Stick Fly, produced and scored by the No One singer, opened at the Cort Theatre on Thursday night (08Dec11), but the show has failed to meet critics’ expectations.

Reviewer David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter has dismissed the show as “scattershot entertainment”, insisting the production “lacked emotional substance” and “comes up short as both comedy and dysfunctional family drama”.

The New York Post’s Elisabeth Vincentelli blamed the show’s “sluggish” direction by Kenny Leon for its shortfalls, while the New York Daily News’ critic Joe Dziemianowicz echoed the same sentiment, stating the nearly three-hour show “could benefit from some tightening”.

Keys didn’t escape criticism either – Rooney claimed the singer’s “transitional music is used too liberally, more often calling attention to itself than serving the dramatic tone”.

But of course we know that all means nothing. The play, about two brothers who bring their new girlfriends (one of them white) home to meet their families on the same weekend, is set to run until January 29. And will probably kill at the box office because Alicia’s name is attached.

Think about it: would these reviews change your level of interest in the play?

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