All stories by Milo Shapiro on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Theater: HARLEM DUET (Coronado Playhouse in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

HARLEM IN CORONADO Coronado Playhouse (CPH), a San Diego Tradition for 75 years, presents Djanet Sears’ Harlem Duet, streaming on-demand from March 19-April 18, 2021. In what could be a pr…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:08AM
Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Theater Review: MARGIN OF ERROR (The Roustabouts) by Milo Shapiro

CATCH THE VIRTUAL WORLD PREMIERE OF MARGIN OF ERROR As with many companies, San Diego’s The Roustabouts have had to restructure due to COVID-19. Now, they are presenting productions and re…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:49PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Theater Review: SHE LOVES ME (San Diego Musical Theatre at Horton Grand Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

SHE LOVES ME…AND WITH GOOD REASON! Ah, love. As hard to find as ever, but so satisfying when it is. But what did the ancients (20th-century people) do to find love before Tinder, eHarmony,…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:38PM
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Theater Review: RED BIKE (Moxie Theatre Company) by Milo Shapiro

WHERE WILL THIS RED BIKE TAKE YOU? Red Bike immediately presents a huge challenge to a director. Caridad Svich’s script contains no stage directions (and little punctuation, even) and read…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:57AM
Monday, January 20, 2020

Theater Review: BABETTE’S FEAST (Lamb’s Players Theatre in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

SIMPLE PLEASURES IN THIS FEAST The Shakers have a song in their hymnal that reads: ’Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free ’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:52PM
Friday, December 13, 2019

Theater Review: A CHRISTMAS STORY (San Diego Musical Theatre at Horton Grand) by Milo Shapiro

A HOLIDAY CLASSIC PUT TO SONG: ONE THAT WON’T SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT While it may seem a bit premature to call the 1983 movie A Christmas Story a “classic,” the near- universal popularity …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:10AM
Friday, December 6, 2019

Theater Review: THE SANTALAND DIARIES (Diversionary Theatre in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

ELF-DEPRECATING HUMOR PAYS OFF It’s hard to go wrong with this script, as writer a David Sedaris’s biting wit, which has made him an NPR favorite for years, delights the cynic in us all.…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:34PM
Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Theater Review: THE LAST FIVE YEARS (Cygnet Theatre Company in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

TWO WAY STREET INTERSECTS AT TOUCHING PERSONAL DRAMA The Last Five Years shares the joys, trials, and failures of two people, Jamie (Michael Louis Cusimano) and Cathy (Racquel Williams), in …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:50AM
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Theater Review: KISS MY AZTEC (La Jolla Playhouse) by Milo Shapiro

SHOULD EVERYONE KISS MY AZTEC? IT DEPENDS… For fans of John Leguizamo, the notion of a full-length musical written by him is a thrilling draw. Whether a fan from his numerous edgy one-man …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:54PM
Monday, August 19, 2019

Theater Review:  33 1/3 – HOUSE OF DREAMS  (San Diego Repertory Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

TRIBUTE TO THE HITS FROM GOLD STAR Gold Star Recording Studio might not be a household name, but the musicians they recorded for certainly are: Tina Turner, Sonny and Cher, and the Beach Boy…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:37PM
Saturday, June 15, 2019

Theater Review: PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER (La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

HOUSE IS IN ORDER, BUT IS THAT ENOUGH? There is so much that is right about Ike Holter’s clever script of Put Your House in Order. Because of that, it is unfortunate that, in the end, it i…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:44AM
Tuesday, June 4, 2019

San Diego Theater Review: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Cygnet Theatre in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

THERE’S HUMOR TO BE PROUD OF HERE, SO DON’T BE PREJUDICED For those who have read or seen Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, there are many nouns that come to mind such as “classic,�…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:16AM
Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Theater Review: YOGA PLAY (Moxie Theatre Company in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

YOGA, GIRL! Which of the following defines yoga to you? A series of gentle exercises meant to relax and invigorate the body; A Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline using breath control and…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:06AM
Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Review: SISTER ACT (San Diego Musical Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

WELL DONE HAVING FUN ON THE RUN AS A NUN Don’t you just hate it when your boyfriend turns out to be a mobster and murders someone right in front of you, forcing you to flee and hide — al…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:54PM
Sunday, April 21, 2019

Theater Review: JAY JOHNSON: THE TWO AND ONLY (Tour) by Milo Shapiro

THE VOICE BEHIND THE VOICES Ventre Loqui: To speak from the belly. This is the etymology of the word ventriloquism, an art as old as … well, it depends who you ask. For some, there is no o…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:56PM
Friday, March 29, 2019

Theater Review: CHAPS (Lamb’s Players in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

CHAPSCHTICK It’s 1944. The war is raging across the English Channel and the Germans could invade at any moment. Britain needs levity to get through these tough days. Miles (Charles Evans, …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:23PM
Monday, March 25, 2019

Review: FREAKY FRIDAY (San Diego Musical Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

THANK GOD IT’S FREAKY FRIDAY On the weekend of her mother’s everything-must-be-perfect second wedding, teenager Ellie (Rivers Harris) is in a funk: little brother Fletcher (John Perry Wi…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:17PM
Monday, March 4, 2019

San Diego Theater Review: GABRIEL (North Coast Repertory in Solana Beach) by Milo Shapiro

TENSION, HUMOR, AND INTRIGUE IN BEGUILING WWII DRAMEDY There would be much better places to live in 1943 than on the German-occupied British island of Guernsey, especially if you are shelter…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:15AM
Sunday, February 17, 2019

Theater Review: TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS (The Old Globe in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

LETTERS FROM THE LOVELORN LEAP OFF THE PAGE Dear Sugar, I have a problem. My editor assigned me to review a play that does not follow conventional theater techniques, has only one known char…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:47PM
Saturday, February 16, 2019

Theater Review: CRAZY FOR YOU (San Diego Musical Theatre in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

A SWEET EMBRACEABLE SHOW In 1930, a musical called Girl Crazy, with a score by George and Ira Gershwin, opened on Broadway to moderate success, running 272 performances. The rarely-revived s…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:35PM
Tuesday, October 16, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: HIR (Cygnet Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

WHO DOES HE THINK SHE IS? Him…Her…Them…Zir…Hir?  In the transgender and non-binary community, the struggle with pronouns almost rivals the struggle with civil rights. Hir, now in a…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:24PM
Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Theater Review: BLITHE SPIRIT (North Coast Rep) by Milo Shapiro

LET THE SPIRIT MOVE YOU TO NORTH COAST REP Is it bigamy if you’re still seeing your first wife while married to your second? Does your answer change if the first wife has been dead for…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:15PM
Monday, August 13, 2018

Theater Review: HAIRSPRAY (San Diego Musical Theatre at Horton Grand Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

EVEN WHEN YOU’RE HAIR CAN’T HOLD UP, THIS MUSICAL CAN To say you like Hairspray really doesn’t cut it. Do you mean the 1988 John Waters film starring Devine and newcomer Ricki Lake…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:58AM
Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Theater Review: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (North Coast Rep in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

A FUNNY THING’S HAPPENING AT NORTH COAST REP Only in Ancient Rome! Pseudolus, the wise-cracking slave (Omri Schein), can earn his freedom if he can somehow get the pretty, bubble-heade…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:55AM
Tuesday, July 10, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: SPAMALOT (Cygnet Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

THE HOLY GRAIL OF SILLY MUSICALS The tales of King Arthur and his knights of the round table stand as icons of literature, leaving them ripe for outrageous parody in Monty Python’s 197…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:10AM
Monday, June 25, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: ROMEO, ROMEO & JULIET (Roustabout Theatre Co. at Moxie Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW AFTER A PLAY THIS GOOD “What’s in a name?” Juliet famously asks. A lot, if the name is Ruff Yeager. Yeager, a co-founder of Roustabouts, has be…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:36PM
Tuesday, June 5, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (Diversionary Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

FROM ORANGE JUICE TO A PIE IN THE FACE “What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alter…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:22AM
Monday, May 14, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: SOUTH PACIFIC (San Diego Musical Theatre) by Milo Shapiro

SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, INDEED Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1949 Broadway hit South Pacific is so full of familiar, classic numbers that it almost feels like a Broadway review in itself �…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:56PM
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: NOISES OFF (Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado) by Milo Shapiro

ONE COULD GO ON AND ON FOR OFF Half the fun of theater is in the performance; the other half is in the rehearsal. Rehearsal is the time for experimenting, bonding, and watching everything co…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:40PM
Sunday, April 15, 2018

Tour Theater Review: SOUL DOCTOR (Lyceum Theatre in San Diego) by Milo Shapiro

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: A JOYFUL MESSAGE There is an ancient Chinese proverb: “The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher.” In the musical Sou…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:44PM
Tuesday, March 27, 2018

San Diego Theater Review: KING CHARLES III (Coronado Playhouse) by Milo Shapiro

WOULD SHAKESPEARE BY ANY OTHER PLAYWRIGHT SMELL AS SWEET? If the title King Charles III sounds rather Shakespearean, yet you cannot recall a “Charles” among all his Henrys and …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:43AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards