Awash in sound and fury! ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ marks the return to the era of big blockbusters such as ‘Les Miserables,’ ‘Phantom,’ and ‘Miss Saigon.’

James Barbour has one of those industrial-strength voices, perfectly suited for the kind of full-voiced pyrotechnics that are necessary for larger-than-life shows. He possesses considereable stage presence, and he nicely accentuates his character’s self-mockery.

It’s impossible not to be moved. Brandi Burkhardt sings prettily and stage veteran Gregg Edelman delivers a nuanced and compelling performance.

James Barbour delivers a bravura star-making turn, infusing his Carton with a sleepy, sardonic charm that clearly will win over audiences.  Gregg Edelman and Nick Wyman provide vivid supporting turns.

This Tale rises on Tony Walton’s ingenious sets, David Zinn’s stylish costumes, and Richard Pilbrow’s imaginative lighting.  But the show belongs to the sensational James Barbour, who sings and acts wonderfully. He acts with a kind of hangdog panache that is both ironic and very moving. 

A Broadway must see!  Everything is here to stir the soul—young love, purity, vengeance, villainy, valor—all played out against that historic revolution. This “Tale” with its array of song, spectacle and heartbreak, should join the panoply of long-running Broadway musicals.

Barbour is dazzling! Some actors are born to the role. Consider Michael Crawford in “Phantom of the Opera,” or Lawrence Olivier in “Henry V.” And now James Barbour comes along to play Sydney Carton in “A Tale of Two Cities,” which has just opened on Broadway. His thrilling baritone lifts the show to soaring heights, high as the scaffolding on which the players hold forth. It is indeed a juicy role, and Barbour meets the challenge, an unlikely hero of a Dickensian melodrama.

Brandi Burkhardt is delectable! Greg Edelman is first-rate! Aaron Lazar is first-rate! Tony Walton’s set is simply brilliant!

It's got a rousing score, the company is first-rate and the story's noble sacrifice, beautifully realized by Jill Santoriello, doesn't leave a dry eye in the house.

Dramatic! Brandi Burkhardt sings beautifully in her Broadway debut. As the vengeful Madame DeFarge, Natalie Toro is a fiery presence.

It's daunting enough reading the works of Charles Dickens—at least for most readers—let alone taking one of his classic stories and retrofitting it for another medium. It's well known that Dickens was paid by the word and that he preferred, by and large, to get as big a paycheck for his work as he could manage. To distill such a book as A Tale Of Two Cities into a 155-minute musical without disintegrating the meat of the story is tantamount to suicide. This is the first place that an adaptation can go inexorably and horribly wrong under the best of circumstances, and yet it's where Jill Santoriello—the librettist, composer, and writer behind A Tale Of Two Cities: The Musical—went unquestionably right.

Good fiction, like magic, makes it difficult for the audience to see the mechanics of the trick. Charles Dickens was a master magician whose greatest feat was the grand illusion created in the pages of A Tale Of Two Cities, and Jill Santoriello's musical has not only recreated that sleight-of-hand, it is guilty of a far less obvious magic: to take a classic novel, long buried under scholarship and praise, and recall it to life.

James Barbour’s performance is terrific! The strapping, long-haired Barbour portrays the disreputable secretly sensitive Carton with much emotional urgency and a heroic baritone that shivers the chandeliers. 

 James Barbour, oh my, this man he can sing like a dream.  Thrilling!

 I was there and it was phenomenal!

It was the best of times at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. A tremendous, magnificent grand new musical. A lush production. A Tale of two Cities has earned a special place in the history of the theater. 

The music is excellent. Directed and choreographer with brio and warmth by Warren Carlyle. The cast of 40 is one of the best ensembles I’ve seen on stage.

James Barbour is truly spectacular. He gives one of the most nuanced portrayals as Sydney Carton, a most dissolute, recalcitrant, and sexy lawyer ever to grace a stage. He has made a deep and lasting impression. The beautiful Brandi Burkhardt is shimmering in voice and looks. Natalie Toro is riveting.

James Barbour brings a ringing voice and a sweet sense of pathos to Sydney Carton. Gregg Edelman is strong and appealing as Dr. Manette. The audience cheered, some even wept.

James Barbour has remarkable range and color. Tony Walton smartly moves the story through hundreds of locations throughout Paris and London. And that’s just before intermission!

Rousing and engaging! The show’s best asset is James Barbour, a charismatic actor with a booming baritone that rocks the rafters. He’s matched in voice be lovely newcomer Brandi Burkhardt as Lucie Manette. Gregg Edelman stands out as the goodly Dr. Manette.

Designed to be a crowd pleaser, there is no denying “A Tale of Two Cities” succeeds.

James Barbours performance is magnetic! 

There is a ton of talent on this stage! James Barbour gives an A-One performance. Brandi Burkhardt has sweet innocence and a silent-film-star look of purity in her portrayal of Lucie Manette. The handsome Aaron Lazar plays Darnay with unfailing wholesomeness.

A dashing, strong-voiced hero and eye-popping stagecraft. Barbour is a hero who can melt even the most resistant to kitschy sentiment heart. Gregg Edelman shines.

There is something irresistible about its grandiosity. After all, who can’t take some pleasure in a passionately sung cry for “the world the way it ought to be?”

The second coming of Les Miz! James Barbour has the best voice on Broadway. He gets a standing ovation and deservedly so!

The cast is blessed with voices that would send thrills up the spines of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Alain Boublil, and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Natalie Toro scores in the solo, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” that catapults her vocals and her character’s sanity straight to the rafters.

Rarely have so many glorious voices been brought together. Lazar may have the best pipes on Broadway. Burkhardt has the kind of silvery soprano that causes strong men to faint.

The rousing pop opera, inventively designed by Tony Walton, makes a handsome showcase for some of the most gifted voices on Broadway. A compelling love story told against the backdrop of the gritty French Revolution. The creators and the cast have tapped into the universal appeal of the well read Dickens’ story that has sold over 200 million copies around the world. A heart wrenching story told through stirring songs.

Tony Walton lifts the evening with impressive work. Walton’s ingenious bare bones set with curved shapes are like the framing for multi-level houses. Dominated by a dynamic ever changing backdrop, the forms twist and turn transforming with just the barest of props into a French chateau, a ship crossing the channel to London, and even the Bastille. David Zinn’s costumes are a stylish compliment and Richard Pilbrow’s high tech omputerized lighting is artistically lush.

The stars of the evening are the glorious voices of the talented performers. Aaron Lazar is always fabulous. Brandi Burkhardt sings beautifully. James Barbour, a tremendous baritone, is charismatic. He steals the evening with the kind of narcissistic self aware performance that is great fun to witness and he makes the most of his every moment on stage.

The Best of Times - A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens, a man who was obviously paid by the word, may have inspired the development of Cliff Notes, but he knew how to spin a plot. A Tale of Two Cities, a Broadway musical that will open this Thursday night, captures the heart of the story and the audience with an exceptionally strong performance by James Barbour as Sydney Carton, drunken lawyer turned romantic hero. Barbour's terrific voice is no surprise, but that's only the beginning. He makes the character's unlikely moral u-turn credible and handles a handful of critical comedic lines with perfect timing and tone - self-loathingly straight, with a dash of boozy irony.

It’s epic, electrifying musical theatre at its grandest.

As Sydney Carton, a very much hung over, cynical charmer of a guy – Mr. Barbour instills his character with a strength, vulnerability and honesty which makes Mr. Barbour a prime candidate for one of the best leading men on the Broadway musical stage today. His magnificent voice. His throw away wit. His mangy, messy, manly looks. All add up to this thrilling and compelling performance - worthy of the cheers that greet him at plays end.

Truly winning! Barbour displays matinee idol showmanship and a genuine flair for old-fashioned melodrama.

I loved it. I want to go again! ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ is one of the best musicals on Broadway. Quite moving.

James Barbous is magnetic! He captures the character fully through his nuanced acting and with his powerful voice. All of the cast members are good, but Barbour is the standout.

David Zinn has fashioned evocative costumes, with gorgeous gowns for Lucie, handsome Victorian fare for the gentlemen and appropriate tatters for the peasants. The vividness of the costumes standouts against the simplicity of Tony Walton’s rolling sets.

I hope the show enjoys a long run.

What is presented is unself-conscious good humor, a lightness in the story-telling...

Rousing moments in Act Two replace plot-point ones in Act One, starting with a robust number titled "Everything Stays the Same." And the voices are uniformly first-rate, and none more than Barbour. The proceedings are served well by Tony Walton's versatile skeletal sets and rear-wall silhouettes, reinforcing this production's choice to give us realism once removed, fidelity selectively honored, and a welcome antidote to the never-ending Masterpiece Theatre imports that, when aired past eleven, dispense with the need for sleeping pills.

James Barbour rocks the theatre with his powerful base-baritone voice and deep emotional commitment, the very beautiful Brandi Burkhardt shakes chandeliers when she sings, the entire cast is top Broadway level in acting and voice, and the active imaginative set by Tony Walton, good classic costumes by David Zinn and fine lighting by Richard Pilbrow, all directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, adds up to a Broadway spectacle...  

'A TALE OF TWO CITIES’ has much to recommend it. Brisk direction. Fluid musical staging. Impressive design. Elegant costumes. Revealing lyrics. A vibrant and rousing first-act finale. Natalie Toro’s powerhouse performance. Nick Wyman is comically dastardly as ‘Basard.’ Katherine McGrath oozes humanity and sarcasm as the wry nanny, ‘Miss Pross.’ Alex Santoriello is lovingly compassionate as the long-imprisoned, Dr. Alexandre Manette.’ The stage is beautiful as it transforms with graceful elegance from bloody Paris streets to London courtrooms and palaces. There is a story here that certainly can touch audiences.