ATW News Digest - Musical 'Saved' opens off-B'way - read the reviews

Musical review: 'Saved' (Bergen Record)

'Saved' needs an intervention (Star-Ledger)
"Grey Gardens" and "Sunday in the Park with George" are among impressive musicals developed by Playwrights Horizons over the years. Still, not every fresh work forged at this company is ready (or suitable) to transfer from its 42nd Street atelier to Broadway.

Good Cast Can't Redeem 'Saved' (Hartford Courant)

When a Baby Bump Does More Than Rock the Boat (New York Sun)

Pop-rock musical's a keeper (New York Post)
It may be playing on 42nd Street in the middle of godless New York City, but "Saved" - the new musical set at a Christian high...

'Saved' cast can't salvage musical (New York Daily News)
"Saved," the Playwrights Horizons musical, is based on a 2004 film about a Christian high school where holy rollers are hypocrites, the star athlete is gay and Jesus makes house-calls. Tangy stuff - at least it was when it was on the big screen.

At School, Sin’s a-Poppin’ and Cherubs Are Singing (New York Times)
The movie “Saved,” about Christian youth struggling with issues of faith and identity, has been adapted into a bland, innocuous musical.

Praise Jesus, Pass the Condoms -- `Saved' Aims for Broadway: Jeremy Gerard (Bloomberg.com)
Smoothly staged, impeccably cast and ferociously inoffensive, ``Saved'' clearly has Broadway in its sights, and I suppose Broadway could do worse.

Review: Saved (Variety)
In press materials, Playwrights Horizons is careful to point out that the title of the 2004 indie movie that served as source material for its latest premiere bears an exclamation mark, but the title of the musical, "Saved," does not. That choice is representative of the more serious-minded approach taken by the show's creative team. Equal time is given to cheeky satire of evangelical Christian high-schoolers facing major dilemmas and to more soulful exploration of issues concerning faith, acceptance and nonjudgmental love. But despite its many disarming elements, divine intervention is needed if "Saved" is to deliver the uplifting experience it now provides only in fits and starts.

Saved reviewed by Andy Propst (Back Stage)
Though amiable and occasionally moving, Saved is more often than not a frustrating affair.

'Saved' is a modest, mild-mannered little musical (Associated Press)

Review: Saved (TheaterMania)
A pitch-perfect cast, led by Celia Keenan-Bolger, makes the most of this surprisingly earnest tuner based on the satiric film about life in a Christian high school.

Review: Saved (Talkin' Broadway)
An unfamiliar substance is bursting like a geyser from the Playwrights Horizons building on 42nd Street. It's viscous, messy, and unquestionably addictive, even if it hasn't yet adhered itself to the inhabitants of most theaters on the Main Stem. And it has an odd, yet strangely lilting, name: personality...

Review: Saved (CurtainUp)

Review: Saved (Financial Times)
This musical’s producers have taken a risk of biblical proportions: they have plopped their efforts in the lap of a demographic filled with nonbelievers, writes Brendan Lemon