New York theater critics have given primarily negative reviews to the new Broadway adaptation of The Little Prince, based on the 1943 book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The creative team includes Chris Mouron (book, direction), Terry Truck (music), Anne Tournie (direction, choreography), Peggy Housett (costumes), Stephanie Fritsch (lights), Tristan Viscogliosi (sound), Marie Jumelin and Etienne Beaussart (video), and Carmen Arbues MIro (hair & makeup). The cast includes Dylan Barone (Fox, King), Aurélien Bednarek (Aviator), Antony Cesar (Vain Man), Marcin Janiak (Lamplighter), Andre Kamienski (Drunkard), Chris Mouron (Narrator), Adrien Picaut (Businessman, Switchman), Srilata Ray (Snake), Laurisse Sulty (Rose), and Lionel Zalachas (Little Prince), with William John Banks, Joän Bertrand, Marie Menuge, and George Sanders. The production continues its limited run through August 14.
N.Y. Post (Johnny Oleksinski): The woeful touring dance show … does not belong whatsoever where it’s currently situated. That is on Broadway. … In music, dance, design and storytelling, Little comes up short. … We leave not knowing how to feel about The Little Prince, other than that it is French and vaguely whimsical; its messages and life lessons wiped away by a production more content with being wannabe ASMR than an embraceable tale. 1 out of 5 stars.
N.Y. Theatre Guide (Gillian Russo): If you think you’re too old or jaded to watch in wonder as someone flies above your head while rose petals shower down, think again. It’s unfortunate that this dazzling moment doesn’t come until after the curtain call. … Until then, most of the choreography, gymnastics tricks, and even aerial stunts … feel too small for the vast Broadway Theatre. However, by eschewing the trappings of a traditional play, this production asks audiences to do the very thing the book does: Embrace your inner child. 4 out of 5 stars.
N.Y. Times (Elizabeth Vincetelli): This Little Prince is an uncomfortable hybrid, neither fish nor fowl nor sheep. … A few minutes into a nearly two-hour-long production, the realization hits that this Little Prince is going to be a long day’s journey into whimsy. … Despite the performers spending time suspended about the stage, the production remains stubbornly earthbound. Until, that is, what turns out to be a somewhat perverse move: the single showstopping scene … happens after the curtain call, when there is no show to stop anymore.
Time Out (Adam Feldman): Pity the poor Little Prince. Having left his tiny asteroid planet to explore the galaxy, the wide-eyed wanderer has landed with a very loud splat on the stage of the Broadway Theatre. … The Little Prince is not — as its cannily edited videos may have led audiences to expect — a musical or a spectacular cirque piece, though it has several unimpressive musical and circus elements. It is a clunky extended contemporary-dance piece. … The talented dancers deserve better, and so does the audience. 1 out of 5 stars.
Variety (A.D. Amorosi): Whether you’re an adult or a child … much of this amorphous action is messy, confusing and slow in the first act. … Yet, for all the blur, faux-modernity, wrongheaded bluster and maladroitness of the first half of The Little Prince, the second half is brilliant, better paced. … For all of the frenzy and wordiness of the first half, the second, quieter half of The Little Prince is more radically poetic, experimental and adventurously, genuinely engaging — for children and adults alike.