Review: ‘Slava’s Snowshow’ Delivers Flurries of Joy

Nov 14, 2019 · 7 comments
Rose (Massachusetts)
Saw it off Broadway the first time. You knew that “blizzard” was coming and you were gonna get it in the kisser. Loved it so much. The MUSIC, which I still play today is a wonderful souvenir. A piece of confetti is stuck in the CD cover. My sister-in-law hated everything about it. But she’s a Broadway snob. To me, it was simply genius.
Dixie (Denver Colorado)
I saw Slava’s Snowshow in Denver many years ago. I am 77 & when I list the things I have seen during my lifetime which have made my life worth living, this show is number 1 or 2. I was totally enchanted! Remembering the snow storm at the end of the show, still brings tears to my eyes. The little boy sitting in front of me turned around and we repeatedly dumped armloads of ‘snow’ on each other. 240type - you & I are kindred souls! I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to witness Slava a second time.
Freddie (New York NY)
@Dixie - I was wondering how a show that uses effects like these for its impact when it sits down for a long while in New York could have a similar effect in the road. Thanks for that firsthand account that, for this show, the tour stops seem to not to be getting shortchanged. I'm guessing the houses are being picked with that in mind. (P.S. I was pretty delighted to see for myself another family-friendly show like "Wicked" incredibly didn't skimp on physical effects in any way for its tour. That show doesn't bring the hovering dragon and all those clocks along, but those weren't missed at all. Back in the day, even "Sweeney Todd" when it toured with the Broadway cast really scaled down in a huge house in Boston and the whole Industrial Revolution parallel Harold Price had brought was just almost not there. And "Titanic" on the road looked like a skeletal off-book concert, which actually ironically proved the show could work without the scenic design.)
240type (Canada)
Last December, I flew all the way from Vancouver to Montreal, in order to see this show. I didn't really have the money, but - having seen a boot-leg video of the show on Youtube a number of years ago (that has since vanished) - I was obsessed with seeing it in person. It was FABULOUS. Every once in a while, in the ensuing months, a piece of paper confetti would pop up from my purse, my wallet and heaven knows where else. It was an enchanting reminder of perhaps the best performance in my almost 70 years of life.
Freddie (New York NY)
@240type - regarding confetti flurries, I'm still finding those confetti sort-of hearts from "Moulin Rouge" in August 2018 from Boston (and also the silver confetti at the end of "Summer" last year, which was at a moment where the show was trying to send us out happy but after an ending that was so incredibly tragic). Around the time of "Beauty and the Beast on Ice," we used to joke about "Follies on Ice" or "Mame on Ice," and then soon after YouTube started, there"Mame on Ice" actually was: Mitzi Gaynor skating and singing "We Need a Little Christmas" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBBRJs6YCE4 with a look of "oh, well, I guess we goofed" when she sings "It hasn't snowed a single flurry" and realizes artificial flurries are falling around her in buckets.
DavidCNYC (New York, NY)
We sat in the mezzanine. There are clowns up there! Full effect. And the blizzard definitely reaches.
Freddie (New York NY)
I wonder if what's new since the show played the Union Square is that the audiences want the back and forth that some shows give when we look for live entertainment - specifically something we can't get from Tv or commuters' thousands of choices. I think this may be why these mid-shoe standing ovations seem to have sprung up around the time of :Something Rotten." Maybe the lining up even at musicals where inside you see you could easily go bowling in some empty rows of seats, maybe the bag search gets us in the mood. The willingness to interact with shows feels stringer, or maybe the shows are getting more skillful at it I was at lunch with a high school friend, who now better accepts when the audience is involved almost as a character now. He goes to enjoy a show with other people who came to enjoy the show. Years ago, you've never seen such an annoyed look to have to join in helping pass the toilet paper back at "Blue Man Group" or do the Hokey Pokey at "Oil City Symphony." These days, he can't imagine why his younger self ever resisted joining in.