Parsifal

““'My Parsifal Conductor’ is billed as ‘a Wagnerian comedy,’ and while Leicht's script may contain a few more laughs than there are in 'Götterdämmerung,' it's director Robert Kalfin's light comedic touches played by a terrific cast that make the evening fly. The current Off-Broadway production...is the play's world premiere, and if the intention is to make serious points through laughter, both aspects need to be strengthened.”

““Not only ardent Wagnerites should be appalled; the trouble isn't the decision to mine their lives for laughter...But there's a difference between low humor and second-rate clowning, a distinction that is apparently lost on everyone here...Silly as it is, at least Act I has a conflict to dramatize; Act II is an exercise in marking time. And, throughout, the jokes are tired...A tiresome, trivializing work that diminishes its characters while failing to engage with the very ugly issue at its heart.””

““A broad comedy based on the true story...The comic turbulence is over-extended and the writing could use more wit. But there are very funny sequences...It could use some trimming, but delving into the true situation and giving it a broad comic interpretation is imaginative and mostly entertaining. There is an abundance of acting, writing and directing skills in this colorful production.””

“'My Parsifal Conductor,' subtitled 'a Wagnerian Comedy'...Except for a few low key chuckles from a few women in back of me at the press preview I attended, that subtitle was apparently as much a misnomer for my fellow viewers as it was for me...Leicht's researched facts do indicate that 'My Parsifal Conductor' could be interesting enough to offset a theater-goer's resistance to a play with unlikable main characters...Unfortunately the way the story is structured comes off awkwardly.”

“Deals with a powerful, artistically-inclined woman evaluating her past, but does not go very deep into the complex issues it raises...The subject is potentially gripping, but Licht...fails to significantly explore Wagner’s work, Cosima’s relationship to it or Levi’s, or the roots of European anti-Semitism. We never even learn why 'Parsifal' is considered so magnificent and why it was important that Levi interpret it...Kalfin’s direction is too broad as are the performances.”