David Bowie and Enda Walsh’s musical arrives in London following a successful run in New York – but what have critics over here made of it?
The Guardian: *** “Of course, it’s great to hear the Bowie songs and his death lends the show a patina of melancholy. But, watching this spectacular study of a pained outsider’s search for peace, I too felt a sense of alienation.”
The Telegraph: *** “The curiosity value, then, is high, but artistically, I’m not so sure – a lot of factors conspire against Lazarus being as much a pleasure as a commemorative duty.”
Radio Times: ***** “Ivo Van Hove’s musical inspired by the late star’s music is strange and ethereal, but oddly moving.”
WhatsOnStage: **** “The images haunt the imagination but the show never finds lift off. It’s so nearly something. But not quite.”
The Stage: **** “I can’t honestly say I always knew what was going on, but then it is meant to feel other-worldly – and the musical adds another mysterious chapter to a career that was full of infinite mystery.”
The Independent: **** “The deep imaginative integrity of this meditation on despair, hope and the seeking of release is, however, beyond question. As is the flawless expressiveness of the staging.”
British Theatre.com: ***** “There’s nothing at all conventional about this. It is festive. Riotous. Dionysian. Wonderful.”
A Younger Theatre: “As such a touching tribute to the late David Bowie, this show is a must see for die-hard fans as well as anyone who has ever felt a connection to this enigmatic legend.”
Live Theatre UK: **** “Lazarus is an utterly bizarre, utterly absorbing, utterly confounding theatrical experience.”
Exeunt Magazine: “I’d 100% go and watch it again, though, just to savour that mood, that combination of empyrean expanse and khaki claustrophrobia, of being startled and challenged and asked to think, soaking up all that joylessness.”
Lazarus is booking at King’s Cross Theatre until the 22nd January 2017. To book tickets visit: Ticketmaster.co.uk, Discount Theatre.com, Theatre Tickets Direct.co.uk, Love Theatre.com, Theatre People.com and UK Tickets.co.uk.