Washington Post - Not Recommended
"...The experiential hollowness of “The Hollow,” by book writer Hunter Foster and composer-lyricist Matt Conner, and based on Washington Irving’s celebrated short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” has less to do with a certain opaqueness than a decided flatness. To put it bluntly, it’s a snooze. Neither spooky nor comically infused, the musical unfolds as a somber evening service of ballads and chorales. Some songs, like the plaintive “Goodnight Prayer,” delivered silkily by actress Whitney Bashor, possess a supple beauty. But they coalesce around no urgent dramatic idea."
Washington Examiner - Recommended
"...Using all the power of myth, Foster and Conner effectively address the negative effects bigotry and small-mindedness have on a community. Through their characters, story and music, they have created a dynamic new legend in "The Hollow," a valid contribution to the cause of the new American musical, a cause to which Signature Theatre is firmly dedicated."
Examiner - Not Recommended
"...“The Hollow” is, well, rather sleepy, I’m afraid. It’s a one act take on the whole Headless Horseman classic. Only very little happens. The songs are beautiful and beautifully sung, but they come too closely together. On the one hand, there’s not much time to breathe (yes, audience members need to breathe too) and on the other hand, hardly anything happens over the course of the 90 minute musical. The staging is stiff, the show is almost inert, at times. It’s not that one must have action throughout, indeed, one actor with a chair can engross an audience for two hours."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...Foster and Conner wisely confine the proceedings to a compact 90 minutes; much more could easily ride into overkill territory. And director Matthew Gardiner punctuates the show with interesting flourishes such as a sequence with books that shoot out flames, illustrating the conservative crackdown on intellectualism in the village."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...While Ichabod is the most recognizable character, the moral and emotional center of The Hollow is Katrina Van Tassel (Whitney Bashor), the previous schoolteacher. In a vivid performance, Bashor demonstrates how Katrina finds herself torn between the intellectual freedom Ichabod offers and the familiar, if faintly threatening, love of Brom Van Brunt (Casey). Katrina's father (Winter) is the closest thing to a freethinker in Sleepy Hollow, while Bram's mother Henriette (Sherri L. Edelen) devotes her life to criticizing people for not following their religion as strictly as she would like."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"...Director Matthew Gardiner successfully captures an atmosphere of eeriness and unease; his set is a minimalist forest where lighting and sound are responsible for much of the show’s gloom and tension. He wraps up The Hollow abruptly, and the story’s tragic resolution, with many questions still left unanswered, proves more unsettling than the thought of a ghostly figure and his horse with glowing red eyes."
TheaterMania - Recommended
"...The Hollow shares some of the ambiance of Conner's previous musical, Nevermore, but here, some of the lyrics are unadorned, while others blossom into an eerie dimension, sometimes carried by wafts of classical-sounding music. The effect is almost unremittingly hypnotic."
Curtain Up - Somewhat Recommended
"...The Hollow's ensemble under Matthew Gardner's direction is, for the most part, fine. But Hunter Foster's adaptation of Washington Irving's wordy and grim tale of narrow-minded, rich and zealous Dutch immigrants living in Tarrytown, New York is less so. It makes you wonder if this show is meant as a comment on 21st-century conservatism, just as Arthur Miller's drama The Crucible examined the morality of witch hunting at the time of the McCarthy hearings. That part works well. However, the rest makes for a dark and dreary musical."
MD Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...I recommend this new musical for the performances alone. The short story, if you’ve read it, may leave you a little hollow, but the songs and acting will thrill you to the core."
DCTheatreScene - Somewhat Recommended
Who is that boogeyman scaring the gullible and accommodating? Is it the headless Hessian wreaking terror on the residents of Sleepy Hollow, immortalized in Washington Irving’s classic 1820 tale, or playwright Hunter Foster through his world premiere musical The Hollow, at Arlington’s Signature Theatre?
BroadwayWorld - Somewhat Recommended
"...The Hollow is based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" takes place in Tarrytown, New York. (What are the odds that I'd be attending a wedding in Tarrytown this week-end!) I loved composer Matt Connor's Nevermore (based on the poem of Edgar Allen Poe) which was presented at Signature many years ago. He like Gwon, is a very talented composer. The book is written by Hunter Foster. I thoroughly enjoyed his book of the musical The Summer of '42. But I found The Hollow uninspired."