The Goree All-Girl String Band
The Goree All-Girl String Band
Music by Artie Sievers, Book and Lyrics by Michael Bradley
NYMF, Theater Row
July 2017
Photos by: Shira Friedman
“Directed by Ashley Brooke Monroe, it arrived at the festival with an enticing star in Lauren Patten, an impressive new prize from the Kevin Spacey Foundation and an intriguing premise inspired by a true story: A group of female inmates in 1930s Texas form a band, hoping to get on a radio show...this cast is abundantly talented.”
“For anyone wondering if the New York Musical Festival has a genuine hit in this year’s line-up, The Goree All-Girl String Band is it in flying colors. Michael Bradley, responsible for book and lyrics, and Artie Sievers, the composer, have taken a real-life story and turned it into a rousing two-act evening of fun and genuine social concern...this score is entirely new and rousing as all-get-out.”
“The a capella singing is tight and the actors play the instruments with the cohesion one would expect of a longstanding band...country music is “a hard sell” in New York musical theater, but solid direction by Ashley Brooke Monroe helps close the deal.”
“Imagine A Prairie Home Companion staffed by felons, or Orange Is the New Black with yodeling and a washboard. It’s a production that deserves a longer run...Hopefully, the producers will find their way to a lengthier sentence. It would be a crime not to.”
“One of NYMF’s best offerings this year… a sweet story of female friendship, the reclamation of agency, and the healing power of music — It’s the story that hooks you, but it’s the music that keeps you there.”