Read our review of School Pictures off Broadway, a solo show written and performed by Milo Cramer, now plating at the Cherry Lane Theatre through November 29.<\/p>\n
Milo Cramer has the kind of temperament that would make you instantly trust them to tutor your child. In School Pictures<\/a>, a collection of vignettes about their former students, Cramer playfully recounts the kids’ stories in a song cycle that is both delightful and moving.<\/p>\n Cramer sings of his students\u2019 fears, hopes, and struggles with parents fixated on success, including 13-year-old Javier, whose parents send him to a summer camp for aspiring lawyers. The songs are accompanied by a variety of instruments, like a ukulele, a tiny pink piano, and, in a humorous moment, a Croc shoe as percussion.<\/p>\n So much of the play\u2019s humor unfolds between songs. Each student is represented by a colorful piece of construction paper, and when a story ends, Cramer finds a different way to dispatch their paper. They fold one into a paper airplane and send it over the audience; another, they rip up and chew, to the audience\u2019s jeers. In another funny transition, he removes an \u201cI Love NY\u201d crewneck to reveal an \u201cI Love NY\u201d t-shirt underneath.<\/p>\n Running through the stories is the tension between the elite students\u2019 privileged upbringings and Cramer\u2019s own experience of making ends meet as an artist through tutoring. They croon: \u201cPeople with urgent stories to tell don\u2019t have the means to tell them. The people who have the means to tell stories don\u2019t have urgent stories to tell.\u201d By the end, Cramer humanizes each of those colorful pieces of paper, and their desire to make a lasting impact on the students’ lives is so apparent. The woman next to me was in tears.<\/p>\n School Pictures summary<\/p>\n Written and performed by Milo Cramer, School Pictures is a collection of songs and stories about their former tutoring students. They include a zombie-obsessed third grader who learns to love reading, a 16-year-old gripped by climate anxiety, and lacrosse player with championship dreams. Together, their stories build toward a broader critique of New York City\u2019s school system.<\/p>\n School Pictures was produced at Playwrights Horizons in 2023. Cramer and director Morgan Green received an Obie Award Special Citation, and it topped Vulture’s list of the best theatre of 2023.<\/p>\n What to expect at School Pictures<\/p>\n School Pictures isn\u2019t quite a musical. Cramer mostly talk-sings, accompanying themself on the ukulele or piano, occasionally slipping into falsetto. It\u2019s an endearing style that feels perfectly suited to the material.<\/p>\n School Pictures runs 1 hour with no intermission. The show runs in repertory at the Cherry Lane Theatre with Two Girls<\/a>, making it easy to plan a double header at the theatre even though the two productions are unrelated.<\/p>\n What audiences are saying about School Pictures<\/p>\n As of publication, School Pictures has an 85% audience approval score on Show-Score, an review-aggregating site. Audience members are praising Cramer\u2019s earnest performance.<\/p>\n \u201cSweet and earnest, with richly drawn characters told through short songs; thought provoking about life for kids in nyc […] it’s an untraditional music[al] that’s more \u2018warbled’ than ‘sung’\u201d – Show-Score user Georgia W.
\nCramer may be divulging their former students\u2019 shortcomings, but the stories in School Pictures ultimately illuminate something much larger: the failures of New York City\u2019s school system. In a lesson for the audience, chalkboard and all, Cramer unpacks the city\u2019s Gifted and Talented program and standardized testing requirements, revealing the inherent class and social inequities. There\u2019s even a math equation for the audience to solve.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSee it if: you like off beat thoughtful theatre that creates a personal journey through creative original vignettes that are poignant and funny. Do not see it if: you need a theatrical musical extravaganza with three acts and full cast. Utterly charming!\u201d -Show-Score user Laura3353
\n\u201cEvery once in a while, a smart and funny show unlike you’ve ever seen before completely grabs you, intellectually, artistically, emotionally\u2026\u201d – Show-Score user GreatAvi<\/p>\n