Picnic at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble

Picnic

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd Los Angeles

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents a revival of Picnic, the sensual, passionate and delightfully funny Pulitzer Prize winning play by William Inge. Set in small town Kansas, this is a sexy world, dangerous and cruel, where residents keep each other in their place while longing to break free. When a handsome young drifter named Hal arrives on the eve of the annual Labor Day picnic, his combination of uncouth manners and titillating charm sends the women reeling - especially the beautiful Madge. Friendships are pushed to the limit and the fragile line between restraint and desire is stretched thin. Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.

Thru - May 28, 2023

Price: $25-$40

Show Type: Comedy

Box Office: 310-477-2055

www.odysseytheatre.com

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Picnic Reviews

Average Rating based on 7 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Santa Monica Mirror - Not Recommended

"...So, to be absolutely clear, this is not your William Holden, Kim Novak award-winning version of “PICNIC.” What you have instead, is a rather amateurish rendering of this American classic. I dare say that the playwright is probably turning over in his grave wondering how his play, under the spotty direction of John Farmanesh–Bocca, morphed into a high school or even a middle school version."

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- Beverly Cohn

Broadway World - Highly Recommended

"...Lust cools as picnics end and consequences lead to practical questions. The train that earlier promised passage to so many better places will return and it will carry one or more people away. The cast of this PICNIC have ably done their work, thereby assuring that it matters to us - as it did to Inge - where these ordinary folks are going and what they will do when they get there."

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- Evan Henerson

Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended

"...An African-American cast, a decade-later timeframe, and a hit-packed ’60s R&B soundtrack revitalize William Inge’s 1953 classic Picnic in John Farmanesh-Bocca’s ground-breaking new intimate revival for Odyssey Theatre Ensemble."

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- Steven Stanley

Showmag - Recommended

"...Director John Farmanesh-Bocca’s recreation of Picnic, now in an exciting staging at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, has a memorable cast of characters that are all Black Americans. But according to Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca’s program note, not a word of dialogue has been altered. Though Picnic has been transported from the 1950s with a toe-tapping soundtrack that sounds as if it could be lifted from an episode of Soul Train (both John Farmanesh-Bocca and Jeff Gardner are credited with sound design), the story of eros versus practicality still rings with currency and relevance."

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- Ben Miles

Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended

"...The production approaches the poignancy and truth at the play’s heart with the performances of Mason and Parker as Rosemary and Howard respectively — she an unhappy “spinster” desperate not to end life alone, he a nice-enough fella who wants to stay unattached. As Flo’s good-hearted neighbor, Mrs. Potts, a persuasive Rosemary Thomas contributes a palpable sense of community to the story."

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- Deborah Klugman

Theatre Notes - Highly Recommended

"...It is heart rending and humorous at the same time. Absolutely loved it. And I am sure that was one reason that the opening night performance had an audience that pelt to their feet with unbridled enthusiasm. Bravo!"

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- Paul Myrvold

Glamgical - Recommended

"...Picnic is a sublime painting of the American heartland, a meaningful play with a ray of hope in the face of emptiness. The direction and the cast give a refreshing and meaningful rendition to William Inge’s exceptional script; a story set in a small Kansas town on a Labor Day picnic that says so much of what America was and what it has become, for better or worse."

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Picnic at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble

Picnic

Picnic Reviews

Santa Monica Mirror - Not Recommended

Broadway World - Highly Recommended

Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended

Showmag - Recommended

Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended

Theatre Notes - Highly Recommended

Glamgical - Recommended

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