Sunday, December 19, 2021

Step Aside, Superstar: Charlie Brown was a Concept Album Pioneer by Howard Sherman

Conventional wisdom is difficult to alter, but here goes: contrary to what has been widely written, Jesus Christ Superstar was not the first concept recording of a musical to spawn a wildl…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 12:30PM
Thursday, December 16, 2021

NYC 2021: My Year in My Pictures by Howard Sherman

First Responder, 1 train, September 2021 (photo © Howard Sherman) Perhaps because I am hyperverbal – in person, in my writing, in my consumption of information, in my choice of entertainm…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 01:46PM
Wednesday, December 15, 2021

In 2022, “Broadway” and “Sex” Are Free by Howard Sherman

Take careful note of the quotation marks, because the headline above doesn’t nod to theatre tickets or the wholesale embrace of casual fornication. The reference, sorry to disappoint you, …

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 02:49PM
Thursday, January 28, 2021

For My Friend Who Will Never Read My Book by Howard Sherman

Kaki Marshall and Howard Sherman, on their last in-person visit, December 2019 Today, my book is published. This is the realization of a dream that I had given up on long ago. But my most ov…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 12:00AM
Monday, December 28, 2020

My Pandemic Year in Pictures by Howard Sherman

Taking extreme care during the pandemic, particularly when New York was the first and hardest hit in the earliest days, my journeys beyond my apartment and the immediate surroundings put sig…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 11:30AM
Friday, April 17, 2020

“Our Town” in Our Moment by Howard Sherman

“So friends, this is the way we were in our growing up and in our marrying and in our doctoring and in our living and in our dying.” Pull out a copy of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 11:18AM
Thursday, December 20, 2018

Setting Free The Plays Of 1923 by Howard Sherman

While the phrase “public domain” may hold little meaning for you (or make your eyes glaze over), January 1, 2019 will mark a significant milestone in that seemingly arcane distinction. T…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 06:28PM
Monday, June 11, 2018

In A Times Square Renovation, New Version of the Past by Howard Sherman

There are many who remain upset with the owners of the Hotel Edison for their ejection of the Edison Cafe several years ago, and you can count me among them, because along with the cafe went…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 09:53AM
Monday, January 1, 2018

In a Teacher’s Declaration, Discouraging Words and A Smidgen of Insight by Howard Sherman

Of the many criteria one might apply when considering what makes a great teacher, I think it’s fair to say that the ability to see and encourage something in a student that they do not yet…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 05:09PM
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Keynote: School Theatre Can Be More by Howard Sherman

The Florida Association for Theatre Education invited me to be the keynote speaker at their annual conference, held in Orlando October 12-14, 2017. The text below represents an edited versio…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 04:19PM
Monday, July 24, 2017

David Mamet Doesn’t Feel Well by Howard Sherman

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal published an essay by the playwright and screenwriter David Mamet, entitled “Charles Dickens Makes Me Want To Throw Up.” As it turns out, the essay w…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 10:59AM
Wednesday, March 29, 2017

In Hell, Damning That Accursed Howard Sherman by Howard Sherman

I cannot claim that I was completely surprised. By the same token, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. A press release first made me aware of Diva: Live From Hell, and I lingered on it …

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 08:55AM
Monday, February 27, 2017

 Zeros and Ones Don’t Add Up To Live Action by Howard Sherman

For those who work in the theatre, the idea of defending the term “live action” would seem an unnecessary task. But as movie marketers, abetted uncritically by the entertainment press, s…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 02:11PM
Monday, February 20, 2017

Supposition Is No Support As NEA Is Threatened by Howard Sherman

Let’s start with the positive, though I’m afraid that won’t last long. In her New York Times article, “Might Ivanka Trump Speak Up If Her Father Guts The Arts?,” Robin Pogrebin mak…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 12:13PM
Monday, February 6, 2017

Long Before “Ragtime,” Musical Lessons From Lynn Ahrens by Howard Sherman

Two weeks ago, the musical Ragtime came under fire at a high school in Cherry Hill, New Jersey for its deployment of racial slurs in telling a anti-racism story that is intended to evoke th…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 05:00PM
Monday, December 26, 2016

Times Square Weirdness: 2016 In Review by Howard Sherman

Given that it was merely a stray amusement that became a popular offshoot of my photography hobby, "Times Square Weirdness" went worldwide this year with my discovery of Mike Hot-Pence (ak…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 09:21AM
Friday, December 23, 2016

Of Pleas, Pants, Race, Rights and Lin-Manuel: My Top Blog Posts of 2016 by Howard Sherman

In some ways, it might make more sense if I wrote this post about some of my least-read pieces of 2016, because I value almost everything I write equally and never quite know why some get w…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 04:59PM
Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Considering An Unsweetened “Charity” Review   by Howard Sherman

Last week was not the first time I’ve been puzzled by Hilton Als’s writing on theatre. I didn’t understand the rather cruel rationale by which he described the late playwright Wendy Wa…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 04:29PM
Saturday, December 3, 2016

The Incredibly True Origins of Mike Hot-Pence, Times Square Icon by Howard Sherman

For those unfamiliar with “Times Square Weirdness,” my series of photos of the odder denizens of Times Square, shared frequently on my Facebook page, you may be surprised to learn of my …

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 10:22PM
Monday, November 14, 2016

The 24 Hour Plays On Broadway: Warren Leight, Christopher Oscar Peña and Jonathan Marc Sherman by Howard Sherman

Having spent 13 of the past 21 hours embedded at the American Airlines Theatre with The 24 Hour Plays, I'm reaching my natural state of exhaustion, without the participatory exhilaration of …

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 06:23PM

The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway: From Hansol Jung, David Lindsay-Abaire & Bess Wohl by Howard Sherman

The best laid plans: any effort to write meaningfully about being embedded with The 24 Hour Plays will have to wait. All I can manage to do is process some of the many photos I've taken – …

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 04:53PM

The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway: Meet and Greet by Howard Sherman

Having long been intrigued by the 24 hour play concept, it was a stroke of fortune that when I affiliated with The New School a year ago, I was provided with office space that is shared with…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 12:16PM
Friday, November 11, 2016

At An NYC Bat Mitzvah, “Hamilton” Becomes A Hymn by Howard Sherman

How to describe how I’ve felt this week? In approximate order: anxious, worried, heartsick, afraid, resolved, exhausted, embraced. But it wasn’t until this morning that I felt something …

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 10:10AM
Wednesday, November 9, 2016

A Post-Election Plea, To The Theatre And Its Artists by Howard Sherman

I wish that I could write a play, but I haven’t the talent. I wish that I could compose a musical score, but I haven’t the gift. I wish that I could dance, but I have neither the freedom…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 10:50AM
Monday, November 7, 2016

Jeanine Tesori: “Press Against The Thing That Divides Us” by Howard Sherman

On November 4, composer Jeanine Tesori was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual "Stage The Change: Theatre as a Social Voice" event, co-sponsored by the Tilles Center at Long Island Univ…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 10:35AM
Thursday, November 3, 2016

Overwhelming Disruptors To Make A Joyful Noise at Juilliard by Howard Sherman

New York, NY, November 3, 2016 – Music students at The Juilliard School gave a well-received sunrise performance – “God Loves Jazz” – this morning on West 65th Street, on the easte…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 10:44AM
Monday, October 31, 2016

Questioning Fugard About “Master Harold,” 28 Years Later by Howard Sherman

After its US debut at Yale Repertory Theatre in March 1982, and before it opened on Broadway in early May of that year, Athol Fugard’s MASTER HAROLD…and the boys played a one-week engage…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 11:29AM
Thursday, October 27, 2016

I Really Was a Teenage Singing Zombie by Howard Sherman

Long after I stopped acting in school productions (which was November 1981 at the University of Pennsylvania, to be precise), my mother would periodically say how much she wished that my sho…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 08:13AM
Friday, October 21, 2016

Before Broadway’s “Falsettos,” Hartford Stage’s Changed Lives by Howard Sherman

When I speak about it with people who saw it, the phrase that comes up most often is, “It was life-changing.” When I speak about it with people who have read about it, but didn’t see i…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 02:17PM
Thursday, October 13, 2016

In New Musical About Amputee, Faking Disability by Howard Sherman

If you look at photos or video from Marathon of Hope, a new musical that just premiered in Waterloo, Canada, about an hour outside Toronto, something seems off. The musical is based on the l…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 11:58AM
Thursday, September 8, 2016

When Deaf Voices Are Left Out Of “Tribes” by Howard Sherman

“Unfortunately, no deaf actors showed up to the auditions.” The statement above was made yesterday in a public statement to the Deaf and hard of hearing community by Leslie Charipar, art…

SOURCE: Howard Sherman at 12:48PM

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