CLOUDLANDS: 50% – BITTER

Adam Kaokept and Addi McDaniel in "Cloudlands" at SCR. Credit: Henry DiRocco.

SWEET
The result is nothing short of a triumph for all concerned with this extraordinary new work.
F. Kathleen Foley – LA Times

BITTER
Cloudlands does not elevate the storyline. It sinks it. The whole piece feels like a travelogue; the characters comment on their feelings, endlessly describing their unpleasant emotional experiences, yammering on and on about what they feel without ever making us feel anything.
Samuel Bernstein – Stage and Cinema

BITTERSWEET
It’s a tall order, and they don’t entirely succeed.
Paul Hodgins – Backstage

BITTER
But “Cloudlands” aspires to near-Greek tragic dimensions, a bad fit with librettist Octavio Solis’ superficial, illogical storytelling and helmer Amanda Dehnert’s terminally tame South Coast Rep premiere production.
Bob Verini – Variety

SWEET
Still, with Gwon’s songs propelling the plotline alongside five marvelous performances and the kind of stunning design that South Coast Rep ticketholders have come to expect, Cloudlands is well worth checking out, particularly if like this reviewer you are an Adam Gwon fan. If only there were an Original Cast CD take home!
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

BITTER
For a play with maps as a central metaphor, Cloudlands, a 95-minute musical by Octavio Solis (book and lyrics) and Adam Gwon (music and lyrics), feels lost.
Cristofer Gross – TheaterTimes

BITTER
Pop ballad scores; jukebox musicals: more than anything, I think the American musical theater needs a new musical language and Cloudlands, while struggling to find it, hasn’t quite arrived there yet.
Brian – OutWestArts

SWEET
I was caught up in Cloudlands from beginning to end. The story in Octavio Solis’ book is compelling, and his lyrics generally maintain a delicate balance between lucidity and lyricism.
Don Shirley – LA Stage Watch

CLOUDLANDS
South Coast Repertory
655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
7:45 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Ends May 6, 2012
Tickets: $20 to $68; (714) 708-5555
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes