Review: The Miracle Worker (on Broadway)

Set in the American South in the 1880s, The Miracle Worker tells the story of Helen Keller, who suddenly lost her sight and hearing at the age of 19 months, and the extraordinary teacher who taught her to communicate with the world, Annie Sullivan.

As a child, I was intrigued by Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan.  I read whatever I could get my hands on,  wrote many reports on Helen Keller and made sure that I watched whatever documentary I could find about her. To me, she was inspiring and to think that a blind, deaf and mute young girl could accomplish so much, it made me push more in my own life and set my own goals higher.  She was very inspiring to  me and still is. 

When I heard about The Miracle Worker opening on Broadway for the revival of the show's 50th anniversary,  I knew I had to see it.  Not only did I want to see it because of my complete interest in Helen Keller, but because of the amazing things I had heard about the show previously.

On Sunday, I had the chance to see The Miracle Worker and I jumped at the chance immediately.  I could never let this opportunity sink through my fingers!  My friend and I then went to see the show.  Honestly, we did not know what to expect.  Partly because the majority of the Broadway shows we have seen were musicals, not plays.  I had high expectations because of all I had read and learned, I had hoped it would hold up to all of my expectations.

The set was just amazing, and that was the first thing I noticed.  The theater itself is a little awkward, not being traditional.  The stage is set in a circle in the middle of the audience. That said, there is no bad seat in this theater at all! There had not been a real "backstage" to this theater, all of the props and set were suspended by wire and stored in the ceiling above.  I found that very ingenious and again, very intriguing!

Without giving too much away, I felt this play was very powerful and amazing at tackling the most important parts of Hellen Keller and her incredible teacher, Annie Sullivan's teachings.  The acting of Allison Pill (Annie Sullivan) and Abigail Breslin (Hellen Keller) were just perfect.  The emotion that was portrayed through the characters really rang through the audience.   The show didn't only meet my expectations, but exceeded them.  The way the show was set and the way the actors portrayed the characters really made you feel what they felt.  

I have to say that as much drama and seriousness this play has, there was more than enough humor to really back it up.  Though, the humor was done in a very tasteful manner at just the right times.  It was just enough to lighten the mood, but not too much that the seriousness was forgotten and masked. 

If you have the chance to get to NYC to see this show, definitely do.  This is just an amazing show that will really make you think. 

This show is the first to offer state of the art D-Scriptive audio system for blind and low vision audience members, as well as the I-Caption system for deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members, both free of charge at every performance.

D-Scriptive is an automated audio-description system "allowing theatregoers to hear a detailed description of all visual aspects of the production, including physical drama and humor, choreography, lighting, sets and costumes." I-Caption is a hand-held captioning system, also automated, that displays verbatim texts of the entire show as it's performed, including lyrics, announcements and show information. Both systems are timed to the action of the show and integrated into the production's cueing system, "so that the commentary and captioning always keep pace with the action onstage and can adjust themselves according to any fluctuations in the performance." - Credit

The Miracle Worker will be starting a family package this Friday that is $150.00 for group of 3 and $50.00 for any additional tickets but at least 3 must be bought at once to get this pricing. CLICK HERE FOR THIS SPECIAL OFFER. Abigail signs autographs in the lobby after each performance and they also have Talk-Back Tuesdays - the cast is available after the 7 pm show to chat with audience members in a panel discussion format.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this review at all.  I was simply given two comped tickets to the show in order for my review to be accurate.  I am not affiliated with The Miracle Worker or the Circle in the Square Theater.  RoleMommy provided me with this great opportunity.