The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

By: Lorraine Hansberry

Narrated by: Oscar Isaac, Rachel Brosnahan, Gus Birney, Julian De Niro, Glenn Fitzgerald, Andy Grotelueschen, Miriam Silverman, Raphael Nash Thompson

Fresh off the success of her groundbreaking first play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window tells the tragicomic story of a young bohemian couple in New York's Greenwich Village, struggling to do what's right in a world that rewards everything that's wrong. Sidney is a dreamer who wants his own Walden Pond; Iris is a budding actress whose own backstory is a performance. They're caught in a moment where, "the world is about to crack right down the middle," as the play deftly tackles racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, liberal complacency, and more. A 2023 Tony Award Nominee for Best Revival, Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar Isaac lead a stellar cast, bringing wit and humor to characters and issues that are as relevant today as they were in the turbulent 1960s.

©1964 Lorraine Hansberry (P)2024 AO Media, LLC

Irritating

Mixed up ness Very difficult story to try to follow. I kept listening goin gi would find something redeeming but alas I did not.

Enjoyed Overall!

The back and forth between the actors is amazing. Loved Oscar Isaac’s performance. I know a lot of people didn’t like bc it’s a play turned audio book. I’ve listened to a lot of this style from BBC and I thought it was still good. The story is a hard one to follow at first but I think it has some great messages and is snapshot of that time period. It’s not long enough for anyone to be so upset about having listened to it!

Great acting

I thought the actors were excellent. I just confused by the end and what happened. Maybe I wasn’t paying close attention but the big climate of the story was not clear to me. I loved the music in this production. So so good. I would have liked more .

Play doesn’t work well as an audiobook

The cast performances were great but this play does not work very well as an audiobook.

Doesn’t work as audio

I love the actors, they are normally very talented, but unfortunately the audio version of this play sounded over-acted without seeing the nuances & expressions of faces and was also very hard to follow.

The switch of scenes & time jumps was extremely hard to follow. I was left rewinding a lot and still confused after.

Some of the female characters were very hard to distinguish between.

I have not seen the play, but the audio ended up giving me major anxiety & triggered me deeply. Especially during the fighting scenes, or which there were many.

The husband and wife fights were very verbally abusive & so toxic!

I barely made it through, hoping to have a better ending.

I was sorely disappointed on every front.

This is one of the lowest ratings I’ve ever given on Audible.

I gave two stars simply for the quotes of other great works.

Disappointed

I’m sure there was a subliminal message in there somewhere that I simply failed to grasp.

Overacted

I couldn't finish. I am sure this is a wonderful play, I'd love to see it. but it didn't work as an audiobook I'm afraid.

Excellent performance of Hansberry play

I enjoyed this audio-play despite not knowing the plot or characters before listening. Oscar Isaac is fantastic, holds the performance together, and shows off his singing chops. The play is somewhat dated, which adds to its charm.

The actors were great!!

The story was entertaining, it will not change your life or anything beyond entertaining you, however the performances were just amazing!!!

Weird

This was unenjoyable. The actors were too aware they were voice acting, I didn’t like the characters, and I couldn’t follow the story. I wouldn’t recommend.