AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

New York Times

Accidental Tourists, on a Train to Eternity
Despite top-grade production values and a polished cast, this anxious smiley face of a musical slumps into a funk soon after it begins.

New York Daily News

No light at the end of this tunnel
When you hear the subway advisory, "Stand clear of the closing doors," it means the train is about to depart. The announcement for the frustrating new show "Happiness" at Lincoln Center could be trimmed to "Stand clear."

Newsday

Stroman disappoints with new musical 'Happiness'
Oh, dear. As if the MTA didn't have enough trouble, here comes "Happiness" - Susan Stroman's disappointing new musical about nine New Yorkers stuck in a subway car.

New York Post

Don't hop on: this train's stuck & so are we
The train of life moves on," a conductor named Stanley sings. Except, as MTA riders know all too well, when it doesn't. In the new musical "Happiness," a motley group of nine New Yorkers is held captive in a subway train stuck between stations. When Stanley (Hunter Foster) tells them they can leave the car once they...

Hartford Courant

New York Stage: 'Happiness' Doesn't Live Up To Its Name

Bloomberg.com

Mysterious Subway Transports Dead Strangers to Eternal Bliss: John Simon
Strangers in a New York subway car bound for -- who knows where? -- may not seem to be the most surefire bet for a musical.

Variety

Review: Happiness
But despite the best intentions of everyone involved, and the resources of Lincoln Center Theater, this underwhelming meditation on mortality doesn't resonate at all.

Hollywood Reporter

Theater Review: Happiness
Bottom Line: You'll find only fleeting moments of it in this high-concept musical.

Back Stage

Happiness reviewed by Erik Haagensen
Happiness is also that rare animal: a new American musical not based on a source in another medium. All of which makes it frustrating to report that, unhappily, Happiness falters.

TheaterMania

Review: Happiness
This sweet musical fable about the need to seize each moment is buoyed by a top-notch creative team and a superb cast.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Happiness
If real MTA employees were as helpful as Stanley, the subway conductor at the center of the new musical Happiness at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, New Yorkers might not mind the impending fare hikes. Stanley may be bitter, brooding, and unapproachable, but once you leave the station, he’ll ensure you get where you need to be, even if it’s not where you expect or think you want to go. . . .