Liz Mikel Gets Rave From NYT

Lysistrata Jones, the Douglas Carter Beane/Lewis Flinn musical that began as Give It Up! at the Dallas Theater Center, has opened off-Broadway, and the New York Times calls it "effervescent, tasty and surprisingly filling."

The musical, a modern day version of Aristophanes' Lysistrata set in the world of college cheerleaders and basketball players, has been reworked a bit since it opened here in early 2010. The show mostly drew the same sort of "it's goofy but super-fun" raves here. (Although not by everyone.)

The show is now being performed in an actual gymnasium by the Transport Group, and Dallas' Liz Mikel, who played the madame/mystic Heterai here, reprises that role in New York.

Here's what the Times' Ben Brantley says about her:

Played by the commanding Ms. Mikel as a cross between Mae West and Aretha Franklin, Heterai is equally fluent in the musical languages of Motown and rap and (when need be) incantatory chanting, which after all was used by ancient Greeks in amphitheaters long before there were American cheerleaders in stadiums.

Here are links to some of the New York reviews, most of which are positive, so far (except for Talkin' Broadway):

• New York Times
• Variety
• Hollywood Reporter
• The Faster Times
• Talkin' Broadway
• The Village Voice

We'll keep adding them as they come in.