This week, New York's Vivian Beaumont Theatre played host to the much-anticipated Floyd Collins'. By Adam Guettel and Tina Landau, Floyd Collins is set in Kentucky 1925, and follows a cave explorer who embarks on a journey with the hopes of bringing the joy of the underground to the world. Tragedy struck, and Collins was trapped in one of the caves. The media quickly sensationalized his situation as heroic efforts were made to rescue him.

Curious to see who found it worth the hype? Dive in below to discover their perspectives!

The Reviews

The New York Times

"Yet one of the wonders of the show's glorious-sounding new production, which opened on Monday night at the Vivian Beaumont Theater with a thoroughly winning Jeremy Jordan in the title role, is how far from claustrophobic it feels. Lincoln Center Theater's vast and airy Broadway stage becomes an exalted evocation of the enormous cavern that Floyd discovers, delighting in its echoing acoustics, just before he gets into his ultimately fatal jam."

Theatrely

"[Trensch] and Jordan (and that opening sequence) are worth the price of admission, as are Ted Sperling's music direction and Bruce Coughlin's orchestrations. Floyd Collins is an odd piece which, staged, asks a little too hard that we mine through dense earth to reach its goal. But this Broadway premiere makes a solid case for its beauty, found through a gorgeous score that draws opera from Americana."

Theatermania

"Sumptuously desolate yet charged with enough emotion to reach the heavens, Landau's crystal-clear revival allows us to see the show for what it truly is: an elegy for a carefree way of life, and a searing indictment of the way technology allows us to commodify tragedy."

Variety

"Despite some scattered strong elements, it's hard to totally make sense of "Floyd Collins" or feel that it really works as a whole... There may be treasure hidden deep in the cave that is "Floyd Collins," but it may just be too dark and difficult to fully extract it."

The Daily Beast

"Floyd Collins is more meditative than propulsive, with an unhappy ending it doesn't shy from. You feel for its main character, but Collins is also a strangely meek and receding focus in his own story. Simultaneously, both his plight and the show disappear from view."

Wall Street Journal

"Floyd's final solo, "How Glory Goes"one of Mr. Guettel's most rhapsodic and best-known songsis performed with a transfixing ardency by Mr. Jordan, and leaves you with a sense of spiritual uplift that, in contrast to similar climaxes in many musicals, feels not manufactured to manipulate the emotions, but absolutely authentic."