Trey Anastasio, Amanda Green and playwright Doug Wright

The success of a Broadway show has long been entwined with the opinion of theatre critics and in particular those at the New York Times. After a month of preview performances, the musical Hands on a Hardbody opened officially last night at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The word is positive for the show, which features music co-written by Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green. In a review that appears on the front page of the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, Charles Isherwood writes, “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.” After noting that the show bears “a bravado to match the gumption of its characters,” Isherwood later slightly tempers his enthusiasm in noting the earnest topicality of the production, but adds, “if the writing occasionally wears its social concerns on its sleeve, the score cuts loose. Mr. Anastasio and Ms. Green have taken care to scrub the music ’ and the orchestrations ’ of the canned sound that blasts from the speakers at most Broadway musicals. Employing a variety of instruments not usually found in an orchestra pit in these precincts, including the dobro, various acoustic guitars and even a couple of mandolins, the composers and the musical director, Carmel Dean, bring an authentic and appealing roots-rock vibe to the show.”