Hands on a Hardbody BROADWAY REVIEWS

• NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF Hands on a Hardbody

  

  Hope Is a Thing With Tires

  Charles Isherwood

  March 21, 2013: You can hear the sound of America singing in “Hands on a Hardbody,” the daring new musical that opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on Thursday night. With a bravado to match the gumption of its characters, a hard-pressed bunch of Texans hoping to beat the odds and win a truck in a grueling contest, this new show drives onto the Broadway lot without the high-gloss blandishments that adorn most big musicals: glittering sets and costumes, high-kicking chorines, megawatt star turns. Instead it concentrates its energies on giving voice to a story of average people fighting to hold onto hope in the face of fierce economic headwinds and bad breaks, not to mention buckling knees.

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• ASSOCIATED PRESS REVIEW OF Hands on a Hardbody

  

  Musical ‘Hands on a Hardbody’ a tuneful, heart-filled ode to small towns and America

  Mark Kennedy

  March 21, 2013: If sales of Nissan pickup trucks tick up in the next few months, there may be an unlikely source: a Broadway musical. “Hands on a Hardbody,” a seemingly far-fetched stage show based on a documentary that features songs co-written by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, stars a modified Aztec red Nissan. By the end of the show, you’ll swear that truck can dance.

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• AM NEW YORK REVIEW OF Hands on a Hardbody

  

  'Hands on a Hardbody' -- 3 stars

  Matt Windman

  March 21, 2013: One of the simplest, purest ways to create a drama is to expose a competition or game where various individuals are all motivated to win - preferably at any cost. There are two great musicals written from this vantage point: "A Chorus Line and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Now comes "Hands on a Hardbody," a new musical based on the 1997 documentary film about an endurance contest in Texas where people compete to win a new pick-up truck by seeing who can hold his or her hand on the vehicle for the longest period of time over several days.

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• VULTURE REVIEW OF Hands on a Hardbody

  

  Theater Review: Hands on a Hardbody

  March 21, 2013: One kind of source material rarely exploited for musicals is the documentary. I’m not looking forward to a singing version of Capturing the Friedmans. But Doug Wright (who pulled off the trick with Grey Gardens) must like the grit and rhythm of real-life drama. His adaptation of the 1997 film Hands on a Hard Body into a musical of almost the same name (the last two words have mysteriously become one) features tough times, moral uplift, and alt-country songs by musical-theater royalty Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio of Phish.

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• VARIETY REVIEW OF Hands on a Hardbody

  

  Sundance documentary inspires off-beat, endearing new Broadway musical

  Marilyn Stasio

  March 21, 2013: Well, Broadway finally got itself an all-American musical in “Hands on a Hardbody.” The question is, will an all-American audience go for it? It’s hard to picture hotel concierges, travel agents and group sales ladies pitching tourists a show about some working-class stiffs from East Texas clinging desperately to a cherry-red pickup truck in a marathon competition to win it. Better to comp New York cabbies and cops to spread the word about this offbeat but totally endearing show. Still, no matter how this dark tuner fares under Gotham’s cold glare, regional bookers should be lining up six deep.

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• ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY REVIEW OF Hands on a Hardbody

  

  Hands on a Hardbody (2013)

  Clark Collins

  March 21, 2013: If you only see only one musical this year loosely based on a 1997 documentary about people in Texas trying to win a Nissan truck by being the last person to keep their hand on it, it may as well be Hands on a Hardbody. Yes, it's easy to raise a mocking eyebrow at the unusual pedigree of this show — and we haven't even gotten to the almost-as-unlikely part about the songs being co-written by Fort Worth-born but New Jersey-raised Phish frontman Trey Anastasio.

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