“Life and Trust,” put together by a massive first-class creative team and an army of fearless performers, fulfills all [...] of these elements of immersive theater superlatively, as beautifully as any show I’ve ever seen in a decade of immersive theatergoing.

One can explore by wandering through what in a traditional work of theater you would call the set, but that word is too limiting for such an extensive, extravagant, exacting environment. Or one can choose to follow one of the cast of forty performers — all of whom communicate primarily through movement, not English. (The Tony-nominated team from “The Outsiders,” Jeff Kuperman and Rick Kuperman, are this show’s inventive co-directors and choreographers.)”

“These miniature tales are told entirely with movement, thanks to engaging choreography from Jeff and Rick Kuperman, the Tony-nominated brothers behind The Outsiders. They’ve outdone themselves here, and Life and Trust excels at communicating character through gait and gesture alone: There may be far too many performers to keep track of, but each dancer seems to be the protagonist of their own adventure for as long as you stick with them.

But Sleep No More, phenomenon that it is, remained monochromatic, as creepy-sexy witchcraft can only stay fresh for so long. Life and Trust, on the other hand, never dulls in its spicily inventive menagerie of styles and vibes. That’s in large part because the Conwell Tower is a marvel of looming pillars, gleaming marble, and tight-squeeze tunnels.

Life and Trust awes as both theater and environment.

The Emursive team built most of the show’s spaces over the course of years, retro-fitting the action around the architecture, and room after room—grotto, laboratory, ballroom, circus—demonstrate that apparently herculean effort. And because each space is so completely convincing and enticing, it’s possible to appreciate the grand-scale machinery—for example, how does each actor arrive in a new location perfectly timed with Taylor Bense and Owen Belton’s spooky jazz score and Jeanette Yew’s explosive lighting?—while also remaining entirely hooked by the action.

… the creators of Life and Trust have opted wisely for mood over minutiae, and who anybody is doesn’t matter once you’re immersed in a tapestry of stories that seem to unspool almost infinitely… If the price of succumbing to Life and Trust’s devilish delights is a lingering desire to see the whole thing again, that’s the kind of deal for which I’d willingly sell my soul.”

“Life and Trust,” from the “Sleep No More” producers, is as immersive and visually stunning as its famed antecedent.

“…the design and conception is so good and so wild, an extravagant and painstakingly realized visual feast…”

”There are no words spoken and a lot of dazzling, sleek movement, and fabulously designed spaces by Gabriel Hainer Evansohn, and just as stunning costumes (Emilio Sosa), lighting (Jeanette Yew), music (Taylor Bense, Owen Belton), and sound (Brendan Aanes, Michael Kiley, Nick Kourtides). All combine to the clanging, haunted-house atmosphere of sexual licentiousness and seamy, wordless plotting and shenanigans.

Sometimes characters enter other characters’ scenes, and there can be amorous passion, drunken ribaldry, a fight, or stricken looks of hatred and smoldering glances—all choreographed and directed with precision by Teddy Bergman, with co-direction by Jeff Kuperman and Rick Kuperman.

Just as with Sleep No More, whoever you’ve been following in whatever state of bafflement, understanding, clue-hunting, impatience, and physical exhaustion you are in, leads to one place; here, events end in a huge main hall where, as in Sleep No More, visitors are given one last visual blast—this one propulsively physical and theatrical.”

“Life And Trust is nothing short of a revelation.

The cast brings emotional depth rarely seen, amplified by the phenomenal sound design that wraps itself all around you... What an unforgettable night.”

“As you wander the labyrinth of rooms located on the six floors, you encounter various characters who[…] often launch into choreographed movement/dancing that requires impressive agility.

The show seems obviously designed for repeat viewings, which has the […] effect of enhancing the experience for attendees… Younger people will no doubt relish the idea of going again and again…

If Life & Trust has a star, it’s scenic designer Grace Laubacher, who’s done such a superlative and herculean job creating so many different environments that you’ll find yourself humming the scenery, and the show isn’t even a musical (although it does have a nearly constant underscoring courtesy of composers Taylor Bense and Owen Belton). As you wander around, you enter offices, bedrooms, laboratories, a cinema, a boxing ring, a vaudeville house, bars, all outfitted with such an attention to detail that even there were no performers you could easily entertain yourself simply by exploring. The production is much more lavishly outfitted (which reminds me, Emilio Sosa’s costumes are fabulous as well) than Sleep No More, with the building, originally built in 1931 for a banking company, providing a built-in history.

It all culminates in an elaborately choreographed finale featuring all of the performers which has to be seen to be believed, complete with a final horrifying image that […] won’t be erased from your memory anytime soon.”

“Fans of Immersive Theater May Rejoice, as a Follow-Up to the Hit ‘Sleep No More’ Arrives at New York”

”If you’re on a hot date, or hanging with your best friend, or rolling hard on molly, you may want Life and Trust to never end.”

”There was a superb boxing match that seemed to have sprung from an Ashcan School canvas. The whole thing culminates in an explosive, multi-level dance finale in which the hell-bound Conwell transforms into a Houdini figure who magically appears hooded and bound by chains in a water tank. Apparently, money is both root of all evil and an illusion leading us to death. ”

“[Life & Trust] feels maybe three times as expansive, both in thematic scope and real estate. Taking over a gargantuan building in FiDi, it smartly builds upon the area’s Gilded Age architecture by setting its story on the eve of the Wall Street crash.”

”…the scenic design by Gabriel Hainer Evansohn, is stupendously rich. We seem to follow Conwell back to his Midwestern roots, filled with carnivals at the age when nickelodeon cinemas began taking over the American imagination and the mind-boggling expansion of ambition and possibility that came with it. Performers act out various scenes – all very well, and choreographed by Jeff and Rick Kuperman…”

”… with its seemingly endless inventiveness […] Life and Trust is a marvel of spectacle, and one I suspect will draw return attendants seeking significance and revelry.”

“Instead, movement and choreography dominate, with many of the show’s 40 performers exhibiting amazing litheness as they perform in close quarters with masked audience members and run up and down the Conwell Tower stairs. (Many of the roles have been double-cast, so the cast varies by performance.) Jeff and Rick Kuperman are credited as the show’s main choreographers; one of the set pieces, a boxing match, recalls their Tony-winning fight choreography in The Outsiders, slow motion and all.”

”…this is an astonishingly well-executed show. Gabriel Hainer Evansohn, credited with the show’s insanely detailed experience and scenic design, has bathed Conwell Tower in an atmosphere in which you can feel the hellish rot in your bones. Jeanette Yew’s chiaroscuro lighting design; Taylor Bense and Owen Bolton’s music; and Brendan Aanes, Michael Kiley, and Nick Kourtides’s sound design further those forbidding sensations. And under the direction of Teddy Bergman, the large ensemble’s full-bodied commitment throughout the show’s three hours is surely impressive, all the way to its big-blowout finish.
Life and Trust will certainly give you your money’s worth in spectacle, and it’s mind-boggling how much work has clearly gone into it...”

“Life and Trust,” the newest show from Emursive Productions, the team behind “Sleep No More,” officially opens at 69 Beaver St. on August 1. We caught a recent preview performance and are here to tell you: you need to snag tickets to this show. It’s a spectacular three-hour experience, taking audience members through an immersive journey full of mind-blowing set pieces, rich choreography and impressive storytelling.

“Life and Trust” is choreographed by Jeff and Rick Kuperman, a sibling pair who worked on the Tony Award-winning “The Outsiders” (which also got a nom for choreography!). Their work is performed by a talented cast of 41 dancers, who unspool the plot through gorgeous, nearly dialogue-free movement. As a reminder, this show is three hours long — the performers’ stamina is as impressive as their dancing!”

“In the Broadway musical adaptation of “The Outsiders,” something shocking keeps happening. It isn’t that the characters throw punches, or not exactly. These are teenagers who rumble, so it isn’t surprising that they’re violent. What’s shocking is the kinesthetic impact. You seem to feel the blows yourself.

The impact is electrifying, but it doesn’t operate alone. It serves the storytelling and engages the emotions of an audience by bodily means. This is what choreography at its best can do, and it isn’t limited to what you might think of as dancing.

The choreographers of “The Outsiders” and of the four other shows nominated for the Tony Award in that category this year understand this. None dole out the usual stuff. This broader vision of theatrical choreography is worth noticing and applauding.”

“‘The Outsiders’ Broadway review: Warring teens tug at the heart in one of the season’s best new musicals”

”And, yes, like in “West Side Story,” “The Outsiders” also has a rumble — a breathtakingly visceral one choreographed by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman with unison jabs under a full-stage downpour.””

“Many stunning things are happening on the stage of the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater — and from the sobs I heard the other night, in the audience, too.”

“The big fight that takes place toward the end of the new show “The Outsiders” ranks as one of the most impactful (literally) moments of this, or any, Broadway season.”

”...their climactic, rain-soaked rumble is punctuated only by the thumps of fists and kicks viciously hitting their targets, by grunts of rage and groans of pain. Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman’s fight and movement choreography works in symbiosis with Brian MacDevitt’s stark lighting and Cody Spencer’s imaginative sound design.

Similar inventiveness is on display throughout, albeit on a smaller scale, as when a few tires and boards are enough to make us see characters jump aboard a freight train.”

“...has the power to inspire an entire generation of young theatergoers...”

”...brilliant staging speaks.... director Danya Taymor keeps Ponyboy and his pals moving at a swift gallop onstage, pausing only for a few slow motion fight sequences that were choreographed by brothers Rick and Jeff Kuperman. The musical’s biggest brawl, the rain-soaked Rumble, is some of the most captivating stage fighting currently on Broadway...”

“All of the fight scenes and dance sequences were expertly choreographed by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman... “The Outsiders” musical is captivating, high-octane, refreshing, and it garners five out of five stars. Bravo.”

“To my very pleasant surprise, as musical adaptations go this season, The Outsiders jumps to the head of the class.”

”Everything about this production feels original and dynamic.”

”Add to all this, thrilling dance and fight choreography under the direction of Rick and Jeff Kuperman. The brothers were happily given free rein to ply their exceptional skills. With tremendous athleticism, their dance movements are powerfully evocative. The climactic rumble between the warring gangs is an extended ballet that’s as fittingly violent as it is graceful.”

”The show appeals on so many levels. If the catchy songs, dynamite choreography and heartfelt sentiment don’t grab you, all those hunky young men displaying gobs of talent should do the trick. Injecting a healthy dose of testosterone is always hard to resist. But that’s just a bonus. The Outsiders is an emotionally and viscerally satisfying work. There is much to savor and we have a new generation of Broadway talents to thank for it. They are gold. Just hope they’re here to stay.”

“THE OUTSIDERS Finds Greatness On Broadway — Review”

”When I attended a recent performance of The Outsiders at the Jacobs Theatre on Broadway, there was a certain buzz in the air. Something we don’t always see in a Broadway house… a mass of young people eagerly awaiting the start of the show. Not since Beetlejuice or Newsies-mania back in the day have I felt the energy of young audience members rallying around a musical, especially so early in the production’s life. But that’s what happens when you have all the right ingredients to deliver what is perhaps the best new musical of this decade.”

”Rick and Jeff Kuperman’s impressive and striking choreography aids the narrative and never detracts from the moment at hand. Their much-talked about rumble late in Act II is just as astonishing as it was out in La Jolla and simply must be witnessed in person. When you pair that with intricate scenic design by AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian, wonderful lighting by Brian MacDevitt, fitting costume design by Sarfina Bush, and engaging sound design by Cody Spencer, it all fits perfectly.

In a historical theatrical season with more shows than even the critics can count opening, The Outsiders stands out far and wide—this revelatory new work is sure to be talked about for generations to come. And although it might be the ultimate cliche, S.E. Hinton wrote it best: The Outsiders is theatrical gold, and Ponyboy, you are gonna wanna stay with it. ”

“Luckily, the words matter less than they might have because the most outstanding aspect of this musical is the staging – by which I mean primarily the choreography. The set, design (especially the lighting by Brian MacDevitt) and special effects (rain, smoke, fire) allow for, and sometimes enhance, the movement. This encompasses not just the dancing, but the fighting, which at its most arresting, resembles not just slow-motion cinematography but stop-motion animation – performed by the human beings on stage.”

“‘The Outsiders’ review — adaptation of the classic novel rumbles with talent”

”Choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman put the show in gymnastic, muscular motion. The climactic gang war surges in such stylized, cinematic fashion that my audience actually cheered.”

“The moments from which you can’t come back – a concussion, a punch, a death – are rendered in near strobe-lit slow motion, glimpses and snippets rather than scenes... You can see, in the searing flashes of ... lights and staccato, gorgeous fight choreography by the brothers Rick and Jeff Kuperman, a more modern understanding of how trauma shreds memory, of how violence obliterates all it touches.”

“Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman’s muscular choreography serves the material well...”

“Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman provide vivid fight choreography.”

“The Outsiders Review: Greasers and Socs Will Get a Hold on You in Musical Adaptation”

”Juvenile Delinquents Turn Heroes,” proclaims a newspaper headline in S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel The Outsiders, which was famously adapted for the screen in 1983 by Francis Ford Coppola. And the juvenile delinquents on stage at the Bernard J. Jacobs Theatre are doing the same, rescuing a Broadway season overstuffed with undercooked musicals in an unexpectedly persuasive new adaptation of Hinton’s scrappy, moving story.”

”...The Outsiders is, at last, a darn good musical.”

”And while Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins musicalized West Side Story’s deadly Rumble and re-physicalized that show’s brutality through dance, The Outsiders takes a different tack. In the musical’s two most harrowingly visceral scenes of violence, the music drops out entirely, and, while the fighting is lightly stylized by Rick and Jeff Kuperman’s choreography, it also feels queasily real. Like the Sharks and the Jets before them, The Outsiders’s Greasers and Socs glamorize and glorify themselves and their aggression, but, when those bloody confrontations detonate, this show demands that the audience see those scenes as they really are, in startling contrast to the safer surreality of the musical theater form.

It’s that kind of fully realized theatrical gesture that most distinguishes Taymor’s directorial vision, elevating The Outsiders’s well-made material to a remarkable, emotionally arresting piece of theater. And, in the musical’s final minutes, as Grant’s sorrowfully resilient Ponyboy begins to pen his own self-portrait in the face of unrelenting loss, one could almost call that kind of heart-wrenching theater-making heroic.”

“Brian MacDevitt’s lighting design and Cody Spencer’s sound meld well with with the choreography, especially during a crowd-pleasing slo-mo, freeze-frame, strobe-lit rumble between the vengeance-seeking cliques.”

“Even with its echoes of “West Side Story,” that lengthy fight, which involves a rain curtain... is among the most imaginative scenes staged by director Danya Taymor and choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman on the show’s clever industrial set...”

“The highly physical choreography, by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, skillfully mixes vernacular movement with dance.”

“[Ace] and her frequent counterpart, the waggish Two-Bit (Daryl Tofa), dance like devils and tumble like acrobats. They’re a vital part of the Greaser family and of the show’s high-octane choreography by the brothers Rick and Jeff Kuperman. Along with director Danya Taymor, the Kupermans have built an exhilarating movement world for The Outsiders, especially in the brutal “rumble” that goes down between the Socs and the Greasers at the show’s climax. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that The Notebook gets epically out-rained, and — working in militarily precise tandem with the flashes and crashes of Brian MacDevitt’s lights and Cody Spencer’s sound design — [Kupermans and] Taymor [create] a spectacular ballet of violence. [They’re] constantly and compellingly repurposing the basic elements of the show’s gritty warehouselike set (its old tires, boards, and jungle-gym scaffolding by Tatiana Kahvegian and the design collective AMP), and both mid-rumble and elsewhere, [they suspend] time to great effect. Moments of impact stretch into the molasses of slow-motion while frigid LEDs half-blind us; the actors’ bodies float and arc through space before smashing back into action — choreographed in tight unison at one moment, released into apparent chaos in the next. It’s a great trick: Not only does it facilitate agile leaps into Ponyboy’s frame narration — it also makes the hits land harder than they ever could under the constraints of realism.”

“Deep into the new musical The Outsiders, there is a sequence that is rawer and more pulse-pounding than anything else on Broadway right now. It’s halfway through the second act, and the simmering animosity between opposing youths in 1967 Tulsa...has come to a violent boil. The two groups square off in rumble, trading blows as rain pours from the top of the stage... The music stops, the lighting flashes, and before long it is hard to tell which figures onstage, caked in mud and blood, belong to one side or the other.

This scene succeeds for many reasons: the stark power of the staging by director Danya Taymor and choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman; the aptness of the confusion, which dramatizes the pointlessness of the gangs’ mutual hostility; the talent and truculent pulchritude of the performers.”

“‘The Outsiders’ Broadway Review: It Vastly Improves on Coppola’s Cult Classic

”In a musical about a bunch of rowdy teenagers, it’s right that a few wooden planks and some tractor tires function as an obstacle course that Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman’s kinetic choreography keeps throwing at the very expert and inexhaustible dance ensemble.”

“Many of us have known the young adult novel since our junior high school days, but never like this; now, you can experience a fresh original take with a steady stream of creative theatrical ingenuity.”

”Choreographers Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman avoid any easy comparisons to the musicals West Side Story and Grease and instead offer masculine, vigorous moves both in joyful celebration and in violent brawls. At one point, the fight choreography becomes affectingly synchronized, ensuring a nomination if not an outright win for a Tony Award. It is quite simply the best choreography in any new Broadway show.”

“Rick and Jeff Kuperman’s choreography is similarly evocative as these Tulsa boys kick up the Oklahoma soil (the stage is dusted with a synthetic rubber granule called EPDM, giving the impression of a dirty junkyard). From the very beginning, Danya Taymor’s production has purpose, momentum, and a strong point of view.”

”An old car on blocks remains stage left throughout, with the actors creating every other scene using tires and wooden boards, which they whip through the air with balletic grace... ”

“A stirring new musical adaptation of [...] The Outsiders [is] a dynamic, heartrending, and ultimately hopeful story [...] filled with expressive music, thrilling choreography, and empathetic performances by a breakout cast of triple threats, under the inspired direction of Danya Taymor.”

”As with Grant, every member of the featured cast and ensemble brings a youthful spirit to the show’s exciting choreography (by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman), which masterfully combines fight, dance, and acrobatics, slow-motion and stop-action movement...”

”Through its highly sensitive songs, stunning choreography, telling design, deeply moving performances, and profoundly affecting underdog perspective, with a star turn by Brody Grant, The Outsiders takes a classic of modern literature and film to new heights on Broadway, so get your tickets – and don’t forget to bring your tissues.”

“Review: A hypnotic new musical adaptation of ‘The Outsiders’ stays gold.

The violence is made real, even when it’s stylized in the kinetic battle scene in the second act. The choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman becomes more flamboyantly muscular as bodies are pummeled in a storm that is literal as well as unapologetically metaphoric.”

“Now comes the superior “Outsiders” the musical, which opened in its world premiere Saturday at La Jolla Playhouse. It successfully blends the best of the book and the movie in a richly detailed story for teen and adult audiences. It reveals its characters’ thoughts through song lyrics that feel authentic to the book, while still delivering a cinematic- style visual punch, with muscular choreography and, yes, a dazzling rumble in the rain.

Choreographers Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman have created a blend of highly athletic dance and fight choreography that reaches its zenith in the thrilling rain battle, performed with synchronized and percussive slow-motion punches, streaks of lightning and flying sprays of black cork particle “dirt” that lines the stage floor. The scene powerfully reflects Ponyboy’s growing realization of the brutality and futility of violence.”

“The choreography by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman, is physical and visceral, with all of the barely restrained energy and frustration that fuels these characters coming out in their movement...

The rumble between the two groups is an outstanding piece, combining dance and fight choreography ... to create a moment that you will be talking about well after you have left the theatre.”

“No one sings during the rumble scene in “The Outsiders,” a new musical at La Jolla Playhouse adapted from S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel of teenage alienation and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film version... Instead, young bodies, about 20 of them, supply their own percussive music, falling to the cork-covered floor, groaning into their mikes, as stage rain soaks them through.

This violence is for show, of course. Those kicks and punches don’t actually connect. But the brawl, at least at first, is not aestheticized. It’s a fistfight, not a dance — brutal, futile, wet, raw and sad.

... the choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman, manag[e] some striking and playful images...

For the hopeless, for the loveless, for the misunderstood, which is all of us, Greaser and Soc, young and old, “The Outsiders” offers the promise of harmony.”

“Rick and Jeff Kuperman provide standout choreography, including a rumble with a visually stunning rain sequence late in Act II that will almost certainly take your breath away.”

“[The] impressively staged battle sequence looks like a scene from Cold Mountain... events take on a lovely music-video quality, and [the show] uses slow motion and even a kind of scenic crossfading like a master.”

“And Schmidt stages the numbers with a lovely simplicity, embellished with expressive gestural choreography by Jeff and Rick Kuperman. This is especially effective in an early scene at Ragueneau’s, in which a window opens in the set by Christine Jones and Amy Rubin — aptly dominated by a wall etched all over with cursive script — showing the graceful movements of the bakers as Cyrano bares his poetic soul.”

“The production boasts an effective traditional-yet-modern feel, with a handsome minimalist set design by Christine Jones and Amy Rubin; dreamlike and ritualistic movement by Jeff and Rick Kuperman (who also supplied one of the more memorable elements of “Alice by Heart”)...”

“Schmidt (who both adapts and directs) manifests Cyrano’s poetic worldview in stage pictures that look like Baroque paintings... a cutout window elegantly frames Jeff and Rick Kuperman’s dreamlike choreography for the bakers at the shop where Cyrano and Roxanne have arranged a meeting (Waitress has some competition when it comes to dexterity with a wisp of flour).”

“Cyrano [is] eye-catchingly choreographed by Jeff and Rick Kuperman...”

“The director-choreographer brothers creatively play with time and space, best exemplified when Cyrano, Christian and De Guiche find themselves on the front lines of the siege at Arras... the atrocities come to life through haunting, suspended imagery — reminding us that the ravages of conflict linger long after the dust settles on the battlefield.”

“All of the resentments and feelings of inadequacy between the two Mileses fuel their fight scene at the very end of the season — a carefully choreographed mess of wrestling, pillow-fighting, twinning, and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that immediately stands out as an accomplished feat of filmmaking.

“These two guys have the exact same instincts as one another and the exact same strengths and the exact same lack of training as well,” says Rick, the older of the two. Jeff adds: “It’s kind of like two brothers just going at it, which we have a lot of experience with from our childhood.”

“Choreographers Rick and Jeff Kuperman deserve major props... The Kupermans’ witty, athletic choreography is the show’s raison d’être, along with Nelson and her designers’ creative use of setting…
...along with the Kupermans — [they create] a terrific Caterpillar out of the whole ensemble packed together in a line, doing creepy-crawly choreography in matching knitted arm-warmers.
Whenever the Kupermans and the actors let loose together, the show takes off...”

“For all of Alice by Heart’s other moving elements, in fact—among them the fittingly dreamy, sinuous choreography, by Rick and Jeff Kuperman…make it transcendent, a term that can still be applied only occasionally to contemporary musicals. Catch it while you can, and prepare to be devastated, and uplifted.”

“Aesthetically, Alice by Heart has stunning moments... Rick and Jeff Kuperman’s imaginative ensemble choreography, which delicately floats above reality — sometimes like a dream, sometimes a nightmare — [is] consistently thrilling to watch.”

“The choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman is excellent and works beautifully… especially in the Caterpillar
song “Chillin’ the Regrets” and the Mock Turtles song “Your Shell of Grief.””

“The staging is fluid and the choreography, by Rick and Jeff Kuperman, often inventive.”

“The choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman is consistently inventive, providing [...] visual cohesion to the proceedings...”

“Giving the show a lift is the staging directed by Nelson, along with the imaginative choreography by Rick and Jeff Kuperman. Using the props at hand — crutches, helmets, gas masks, curtains and cots — they conjure croquet matches with flamingos, turtles hunkered down for a shelling and garden doorways.”

“Richly imagined and delightfully acted... [promises to leave] young theatergoers... walking on air!”

“The Light Princess at the New Victory Theater is a fiction that charms.”

“Jeff and Rick Kuperman create a flowing ensemble choreography that defies gravity. This show is quirky, imaginative and fun.”

“The Light Princess is bound to leave everyone who sees it feeling uplifted. Before kids learn to defy gravity at another musical that’s been playing uptown, they should experience the delights of The Light Princess for an unforgettable first taste of live musical theater.”

“Every member of the ensemble displays an incredible command of acting and movement. The choreography by Videt, Ricky Kuperman, and Jeff Kuperman sublimely evokes a weird, poignant story of love and dislocation...

Startlingly visceral... Eerily beautiful... Brilliant...

If you want to glimpse theatre’s future, go see One Arm and a Leg...

One Arm and A Leg is one of the most exciting theater pieces I have seen this year, and I look forward to seeing more work from this talented young company.”

“...the piece de resistance of this performance is the mesmerizing choreography by brothers Jeffrey and Rick Kuperman...

The Kupermans move with charm and magnetism...

It is clear that One Arm and a Leg was created collaboratively with every artist involved, because the entire show is a unified, vibrant, and exceptional work. This is one of the best performances to play downtown this summer.”

“[The Kupermans] directed the videos for “Good and Ready” and “Was a Time,” which Entertainment Weekly just premiered this week, and they always manage to stretch shoestring budgets into these wildly creative, visually engaging pieces with so much heart and charm.”

“From brawling guests to a stolen bride, [D’Amato] collaborated with directing duo the Kuperman Brothers to create an unforgettable vision for the latest single off his New West Records debut... ”

“PST’s The 39 Steps opened last weekend to deafening laughter and applause... [the show] explodes on the Hamilton Murray stage under the visionary direction and choreography of Jeff Kuperman. This highly physical re-invention of the classic spy adventure is literally breathtaking, sure to impress as much as it amuses.”

“That was the best production I’ve seen here in at least 10 years.

And if you ever wondered just what was meant by ‘physical comedy,’ watch what director Kuperman has created for the Clowns. He pays tribute to the pair in a program note for ‘danger, perseverance, and trust.’ It is far more than high-speed, side-splitting fun through spyville, it is theater at its most expressive.”

“Clayton Raithel is indeed the “f*cking man”... Hilarious... flawlessly timed... People with depression need to know they’re not alone, and Smile is a brave and honest work.”

“Raithel is an enormously likable performer... He makes great use of the space, sharing his well-crafted tale with wonderful physicality. The sound and video design, too, is among the best I’ve seen and is incorporated seamlessly.”

“Well-written... light-hearted... bold... The direction is a tightly woven canvas of sound, voices, visuals and lights.”

“... having that edge of the cliff [...] sensation was a constant reminder of the brothers’ precision and brilliant theatrical consideration...”

“Kuperman’s Tit for Tat ends the first part with a resounding triumph of masculine aggressive energy, athletic prowess, and visual acumen. The piece is rich with unexpected body shaping, weight sharing, and highly successful visual choices (both in design and staging). Tit for Tat was both thoughtful and exciting - it is clear why it was an audience favorite.”

“Another memorable piece on the program was Kuperman’s own, Tit for Tat... [The performers] all captured a type of “breathy” strength, and it was very rewarding to see this group of men dance with such fearlessness and commitment. The partnering that Kuperman developed was especially hypnotic. The men were able to use their natural physical strength to create interesting, statuesque snapshots and hold them for a long moment. Overall, Tit for Tat was a very enjoyable and well-structured piece.”