All stories by Alan Smason on BroadwayStars

Monday, June 6, 2022

‘Belfast Girls’: 3 Months on a Slow Boat to Australia by Alan Smason

Between the years 1848 and 1851 over four thousand Irish females took passage on ships from Ireland to Australia under the Orphan Emigration Scheme, established by Earl Grey. This action had…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 12:45PM
Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Beck Center’s ‘Legend of Georgia McBride’ is more drag than drag show by Alan Smason

By ROY BERKO Mathew Lopez, the author of The Legend of Georgia McBride – now on stage in the Studio Theatre at Beck Center – also wrote The Inheritance, which, in 2018 was the most hon…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 10:31AM
Monday, May 23, 2022

Teen angst, revenge entertains in ‘Mean Girls’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Tina Fey’s success as a screenwriter for the film “Mean Girls” was supported by her husband Jeff Richmond’s music. So, w…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 04:42PM
Friday, May 20, 2022

Which Way To the Stage: An Ode to the Theatre, Both On and Off Stage by Alan Smason

By ED RUBIN MCC Theater’s production of Which Way To The Stage running through Saturday, May 28, at the Robert W. Wilson Theater Space at 511 West 52nd Street in Manhattan, is one of the …

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 07:41PM
Thursday, May 19, 2022

McDonel shines in her role as Janis Joplin at Le Petit Theatre by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré has been trying to bring Janis Joplin to New Orleans for more than two years and, as any music …

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 08:02AM
Monday, May 16, 2022

Jason Petty’s ‘Lonesome Tour’ Hank Williams tribute show is a winner by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON Jason Petty strides onto the stage of BB’s Stage Door Canteen wearing a classic white country and western suit. On the sleeves and lapels are black musical notes and staffs …

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 04:39PM
Sunday, May 15, 2022

NOLA Project makes comical landfall in ‘Treasure Island’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Robert Louis Stevenson penned his classic tale of buccaneers and buried booty, “Treasure Island,” he could not have had…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 09:41AM
Saturday, May 14, 2022

Judy Garland impersonator brings back the rainbow in ‘Get Happy’ by Alan Smason

By ANNE SIEGEL (MILWAUKEE, WI.) – The most surprising thing about Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland is that the Milwaukee Repertory Theater has taken so long to bring this sho…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 11:21AM

Kids rule in Rivertown’s production of ‘Matilda’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) It seems children’s writer Roald Dahl and his dark prose will never go out of fashion. More than 30 years after his death, the…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 10:27AM
Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Intimate comedy-thriller ‘Deathtrap’ pleases at Teatro Wego! Theater by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON Most lovers of literature will consider Ira Levin for his best-selling novels “Rosemary’s Baby” “The Stepford Wives,” “A Kiss Before Dying,” and “The Boys from…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 06:32AM
Friday, April 29, 2022

CVREP’s perceptive comedy ‘Native Gardens’ scores on many levels by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS, Desert Local News (PALM SPRINGS, CA.) – As the early scenes of playwright Karen Zacarias’ 2019 comedy play-with-a-bite unfolds, one would think “I’ve seen this play /s…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 05:44AM
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

World premiere puts a different spin on ‘Hamlet’ by Alan Smason

By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – Although it’s not “official,” playwright Bill Cain and Milwaukee’s Next Act Theatre seem to be having a love affair or, at least, a mutual admiration…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 06:55AM
Saturday, April 23, 2022

Terrific ‘Harmony’ extends its NYTF world premiere run by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken 25 years for Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman to birth their baby, but Harmony: A New Musical, with direction and ch…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 10:10AM
Thursday, April 21, 2022

Resplendent ‘Cinderella’ is a singing delight for JPAS by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II set out to write Cinderella, their only musical to be aired over the nascent mediu…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 01:15PM
Thursday, April 14, 2022

Looking for signs of strife in Nina Raine’s ‘Tribes’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The debate over mainstreaming children of special needs has raged in this country for many years with advocates on both sides ma…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 11:04AM
Monday, April 11, 2022

GLT’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ finishes at Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square by Alan Smason

By ROY BERKO Shakespeare, in his comedies, writes of trickery, false accusations, restoration of harmony and romance. He uses lots of double entendre and encourages fun and farce as well as …

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 06:36AM
Saturday, April 9, 2022

Tennessee Williams Theatre Co. finishing three satires of namesake playwright by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON If, as the adage says, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then satire must be the epitome of adoration. Two one-act plays by famed playwright Christopher Durang and …

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 04:03PM
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Swordplay and romance in ‘Cyrano’ at PCT in Palm Springs by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS, Desert Local News Its springtime in Palm Springs, CA. and love is in the air, especially, on stage at the Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) where bravado and bragging go hand in hand …

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 01:06AM
Monday, April 4, 2022

Parker, Broderick open revival of Neil Simon’s ‘Plaza Suite’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken more than two years to finally open the revival of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite at the Hudson Theatre, a show that w…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 04:08PM
Friday, April 1, 2022

Paula Vogel’s ‘Indecent’ Takes on Many Meanings in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre Show by Alan Smason

By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – The Tony-nominated play Indecent, written by noted playwright Paula Vogel, comes vividly to life in this part of the Midwest. Thankfully, Milwaukee has a pe…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 05:06PM
Friday, March 25, 2022

Lin-Manuel Miranda honors the persona of Jonathan Larson in ‘tick, tick… Boom!’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Lin-Manuel Miranda was 17, he was exposed to the musical Rent for the first time and he became attuned to the original cont…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 10:15AM
Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Superb cast guides Rivertown’s ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts announced two years they were mounting The Drowsy Chaperone, there were smiles o…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 05:31PM
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Surprising ‘Pretty Woman’ entertains Cleveland on national tour by Alan Smason

By ROY BERKO The film “Pretty Woman,” with its signature Roy Orbison song, was originally planned to be a tale about class and prostitution, but was re-conceived into a romantic comedy a…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 12:24PM
Saturday, March 12, 2022

Powerful, diverse cast erects ‘House That Will Not Stand’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) There are times when resetting a classic work in an updated time or alternative setting makes sense to breathe new life into sta…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 10:24AM
Sunday, February 27, 2022

Humans play penguins in love comedy ‘Salty’ by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS The country’s pandemic hit the Coachella Valley pretty hard. We lost CoyoteStageWorks, one of our multi-award-winning leading professional theatre companies, who after more t…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 03:09AM
Saturday, February 26, 2022

Black Family Struggles in ‘Pipeline’ to Outrun Social Prophecy by Alan Smason

By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI. – Next Act, one of the city’s longest-running theaters, opens the new year with an exhilarating, funny and disturbing Wisconsin premiere of Dominique Moriss…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 02:30AM
Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Beloved book, film ‘The Garden of the Finzi-Continis’ transformed into opera by Alan Smason

By EDWARD RUBIN Despite countless closings, postponements, cancellations, empty seats, COVID interventions, and the annoying requirements of having to wear a mask, present proof of a vaccina…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 10:57AM
Sunday, February 13, 2022

F-F-F-F-Formula for fun, frivolity found in ‘Frozen’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) One of the most unanticipated closures on Broadway due to the COVID pandemic was the announcement from the Disney Theatrical Gro…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 09:02AM
Saturday, February 12, 2022

Spellbinding ‘Lizzie: The Musical’ rocks at Beck Center by Alan Smason

By ROY BERKO Vickie Bussert, the director of Lizzie: The Musical, an exploration of the Lizzie Borden story, now on stage as a joint production between Baldwin Wallace’s nationally respect…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 12:50PM
Saturday, February 5, 2022

World premiere of ‘Gardens of the Finzi-Continis’ continues in New York by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Times have been very busy both together and separately for the composing team of composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michae…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 02:09PM
Friday, January 28, 2022

‘Mean Girls’ tour raises high school angst to a new level by Alan Smason

By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – Life hasn’t been all unicorns and rainbows for the national tour of Mean Girls, which is playing in Milwaukee January 25-30. Some of its performances in ot…

SOURCE: TheatreCriticsm.com at 07:06AM

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