BIKE SHOP Current Reviews: 2026
“Is a little gem of a musical” www.encoretheaterreviews.com
Off-Broadway Review: BIKE SHOP: THE MUSICAL (Theater for the New City)
BIKE SHOP Past Reviews as a Solo Show: 2012 – 2016
“Bike Shop’ Sings Cycling’s Praises on the Stage” Suzanne Rozdeba – NY TIMES
Reviews “I sincerely applaud Elizabeth [Barkan] for having the courage to mount such an ambitious and uninhibited performance. I also applaud her creativity and admire her obvious commitment.” BSNYC Culture Desk
BIKE SHOP was featured in Times Square Chronicles!! – The music is beautiful and flows seamlessly in and out of the story, almost making one feel as if the music should be underscoring the entire musical. Elizabeth heroically breaks all of the “traditional musical theater” rules, backed up by a three part bicycle band who support her with what is obviously love and friendship melded with excellent timing and phenomenal sound effects.”
Bike Shop, the musical, captures retail from back in the day “The show is sweet, and funny, and [Barkan] plays a variety of roles, the most amusing of which is a slightly crazed Spinning Rabbi, a great big valentine to bikes and their riders.” Grace Lichtenstein
BIKE SHOP, The Musical – Passion, chutzpah, and bikes? The talented Elizabeth Barkan comes full circle in this heartwarming and witty musical proving that the cliché is true: If you fall off your bike, get back on.
Posted on September 22, 2015 by Courtney Marie in Musicals, Off-Broadway: Elizabeth Barkan in a scene from “BIKE SHOP” A
musical about life in a Brooklyn bike shop… what will they think of next? Walking into BIKE SHOP, created, written by and starring Elizabeth Barkan, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The stage is set with bicycles from NYC Bikes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and designer Mark Marcante re-creates the hustle and bustle of a bike shop, furnished with tools, workbenches and equipment, to bring the story to life. To lyrics by Caroline Murphy and music by Youn Young Park, Barkan makes her entrance (on a bike, of course) as the energetic and adorable Bobby who shares her passion with us for her career as a former bike messenger.
Barkan doesn’t hold back as she expresses herself through song and dance to share her personal journey. The opening number “Streetwise” is a burst of exhilaration and adventure and pumps the audience up for what’s to come. In addition to the hilarious and entertaining moments, the climax is a literal bump in the road that causes her story to turn somber and results in Barkan hanging up her helmet and retreating to her family’s bike shop as she works on healing emotionally after a tragic accident. The audience is left with one question on their minds: Will she ride again?
Under Gretchen Cryer’s meticulous direction, Barkan wears many hats as she portrays the characters of her wise grandmother, the witty Uncle Rabbi, and others with much finesse. Her charisma and willingness to take risks is not only admirable but stretches her already impressive range of talent to new levels. Her voice is lovely and full of emotion as she belts out ballads such as “I Fix Things” and “Can You Feel the Music.” Barkan is accompanied by The Bicycle Band, which features Dennis Bulhões on drums, Phil Smith on bass and musical direction/piano and additional music by Gerry Dieffenbach, to create a dynamic sound. While the gentlemen are extremely talented and add dimension to the performances, there were moments where it was hard to hear Barkan over the music.
Choreography by Sue Samuels incorporates elements of Barkan’s training as a Certified Group Fitness and Indoor Cycling instructor for an authentic treat. It is incredible to watch Barkan sing and dance on a spinning bike, as she keeps balance and poise the entire time. Those who spin will understand how difficult a task it is to multitask (and maintain your breath) while riding a bike, but Barkan makes it look effortless.
The honesty in which the story is told is heartwarming and a lovely reminder that just like falling off a bike, we must dust ourselves off and get back in the game after a setback. Barkan explores the depth of her emotions as she hides away to deal with it all. Her Irish grandmother (who founded the shop) comes to her and reminds her of all the chutzpah she possesses. In the end, the twist on the uplifting personal success story is a fun and innovative one, as passion and strength re-emerge. Join the ride!
www.theaterscene.net/musicals/bike-shop-the-musical/courtney-marie/
The East Village’s Theater for the New City and Executive Director Crystal Field present “Bike Shop” — a musical that depicts a time, not so long ago, when bike messenger fleets zapped throughout New York City’s streets in lighting bolt fashion. The production chronicles the trauma, trails and trials of Bobby (Elizabeth Barkan), former NYC messenger bolt in empowered-lady form. Bobby’s biker life comes to a backpedaling halt during one fateful New York minute. She then suspends her bike and slowly unravels in her Williamsburg bike shop oasis, as life rolls on for several years. Barkan conceived and bravely performs the solo role in this well packaged and equally well delivered 90-minute snapshot of a complicatedly simple, grunge-era New York life.
The production’s musicality binds its quirkier parts with nostalgic bits for a harmonious fusion. The Bicycle Band performs all sound effects and live music. “Streetwise” and “Spinning Rabbi” are the catchiest tunes; Barkan’s confidence radiates while she enthusiastically performs both songs. Even under the most doleful of narrative circumstances, Barkan manages to flash the audience her stunning set of teeth and performs with a minimal palette that includes two shades of happy: exuberant and vivacious…and aptly so, “Bike Shop” is a musical!
Bedford + Bowery Where downtown Manhattan and north Brooklyn intersect.
Watch Your Fixie Become a Star of the Stage in ‘Bike Shop: The Musical’ Home2014JuneWatch Your Fixie Become a Star of the Stage in ‘Bike Shop: The Musical’
Liz Barkan’s one-woman bike-themed off-off-Broadway musical is not autobiographical. Well, OK, it kind of is. The part about owning a bike shop is true. The part about being a bike messenger is true. The part about being Jewish is true. Let’s go with semi-autobiographical, even though Barkan insists, “None of the play is autobiographical.” The show is “Bike Shop,” and it’s about—you guessed it—a bike shop. Barkan plays Bobby, a bike messenger grappling with the heavy weight of having accidentally murdered a young girl while delivering a package. After the accident, Bobby holes up in her family-run bike shop, opened by her Irish immigrant grandmother back in 1936. Characters—all played by Barkan—file in and out of the store: Bobby’s father, a Vietnam vet; her uncle, a self-proclaimed Rabbi; and a mysterious man, a fellow messenger who helps Bobby get back on her bike. Courtesy (Photo courtesy Liz Barkan) “The bike is a… what’s the word?” Barkan asks, considering her choices. “A metaphor! The bike is a metaphor!” Barkan attended the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, and just after graduating, landed a job as a bike messenger in Manhattan for Elite Couriers – “the caviar of the bike messenger world,” Barkan says. She carried everything from giant fish to cinderblocks to chicken noodle soup. Was it like that god-awful white-knuckle Joseph Gordon-Levitt flick, Premium Rush? “No,” Barkan says. “I’m from the Quicksilver time. I was Kevin Bacon.” By the time Barkan was 21, she had been a bike messenger for three years and, having picked up racing as well, had become a member of the Century Road Club. Suffering from burnout, she and a friend decided to open a bike shop in Fort Greene in 1990. They gradually stocked more and more bikes until they had a profiting business. But keep in mind that this was Fort Greene in 1990—Barkan says they got held up on a regular basis. “Kids would come in with bats,” she says. “It was bad. I’d be running down the street screaming like a crazy lady with a bat running after them. ‘You little bastards! Get back here!’” She and her partner decided to liquidate the business before something really bad happened. After turns as an aerobics instructor, then a spinning teacher, Barkan began writing her one-woman play. “The reason I did it,” she explains, “was because people would ask, ‘What do you do for a living?’ And I’d say, ‘I teach fitness, but I used to be a bike racer, and before that I owned a bike shop, and before that I was a bike messenger. People would say, ‘Wow, you should do a show about that!’ After five or ten times hearing that, I thought maybe I would.” (Photo courtesy Liz Barkan) (Photo courtesy Liz Barkan) A friend of Barkan’s, Crystal Field, was (and still is) the Artistic Director at Theater for the New City in the East Village. When Field caught wind that Barkan was working on a play, Field approached her and offered to produce it, on one very specific condition: it had to be a musical. Barkan says, “Crystal told me, ‘I hate one-person shows, but I like you, and you have a great voice.’ That was enough.” “Bike Shop” begins its two-week residency at Theater for the New City on June 20. Show-goers are encouraged to ride their bikes to the show, then park them on stage to be part of the set. Throughout the show, Barkan, backed by a three-piece band, tinkers with bikes while she performs. “The bikes are the star,” she says. “I’m just one of the props on stage.” Share this: X Facebook Like this: Tags: Arts + Culturebicyclesbike shopbike shop: the musicalbikingcrystal fieldEast Villagefort greenetheater for the new city Post