All stories by Barry Gordin on BroadwayStars

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Southampton Arts Center by Barry Gordin

Center Stage @ SAC will present THE GLASS MENAGERIE on Saturday & Sunday, January 27 & 28. January 7, 2024:  A staged reading of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie produced…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 07:17PM

The People vs. Lenny Bruce  by Barry Gordin

By: Alix Cohen January 6, 2024: Terrific. Timely.Attorney Martin Garbus has argued cases involving the First Amendment, Constitutional, criminal, copyright and intellectual property law.…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:56AM
Thursday, January 4, 2024

Broadway Update by Barry Gordin

Sunset Boulevard to Transfer; Smash Workshop; Best Play Contenders By: David Sheward January 4, 2024: The minimalist revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard which is about to…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 06:53PM

Paulanne Simmons Unscripted by Barry Gordin

The Journey of a Seder Plate or The Road to Broadway June 4, 2024: Many years ago my mother-in-law, Adele, gave me a seder plate she had purchased in Israel. My mother-in-law placed great …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:19AM
Sunday, December 31, 2023

Death, Let Me Do My Show ****1/2, Less Lonely ****1/2 by Barry Gordin

By: Isa Goldberg December 31, 2023: Today's comedy routines and standup are tragic affairs - self-involved and monotonous. They can be a real downer, especially if you enjoy your own lau…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 03:33PM
Thursday, December 28, 2023

The Night of the Iguana ** by Barry Gordin

By: David Sheward December 27, 2023: The revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana from La Femme Productions at the Pershing Square Signature Center sounded so promising (N…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:24AM
Sunday, December 24, 2023

BroadwayHD by Barry Gordin

Give the gift that Buzzfeed, New York Magazine, Playbill and TheaterLife are raving about, BroadwayHD. December 23, 2023: Not finished with your Holiday shopping or do you want something ex…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 01:20PM
Saturday, December 23, 2023

The Gardens of Anuncia **, Manahatta ** by Barry Gordin

By: David Sheward December 23, 2023: Two Off-Broadway productions meld the past and the present with mixed results. Michael-John LaChiusa’s musical The Gardens of Anuncia at Lincoln Ce…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 03:01PM

Buena Vista Social Club ***** by Barry Gordin

By: Isa Goldberg Buena Vista Social Club @ The Atlantic December 23, 2023: Aged walls, stained with cigar smoke, sing the tale of Buena Vista Social Club. A tale about two sisters torn a…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 09:35AM
Friday, December 22, 2023

PhysFest NYC!  by Barry Gordin

A Festival of Physical Theater - January 5-14-23 By: Alix Cohen December 22, 2023: What IS Physical Theater? Its most obvious definition includes mime/pantomime, dance, circus/clowning,…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:02AM
Thursday, December 21, 2023

Broadway / Off-Broadway Update by Barry Gordin

Sign of the Times, Stranger Things, The Effect, Etc. By: David Sheward December 20. 2023: Yet another jukebox musical is headed our way. A Sign of the Times will feature music from 1960s…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:47AM
Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Broadway Babe by Barry Gordin

Nostalgic picks from Broadway Babe: Kismet, She Loves Me, Joan Rivers, and Frank Sinatra December 19, 2023: Broadway Babe, Randie Levine-Miller, has come up with some nostalgic treasures. …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 04:06PM

Ruth Stage’s Lone Star ** by Barry Gordin

Joe Rosario’s staging of James McLure’s dark comedy mines the pathos over the comedy. By: Patrick Christiano December 18, 2023:  James McLure’s dark comedy Lone Star, a tale about…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 01:21PM

How To Dance In Ohio **** by Barry Gordin

By: Isa Goldberg December 19, 2023: “We all like to socialize,” is a challenging premise to the new Broadway musical, How to Dance in Ohio. Challenging because many adults have yet to…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 09:46AM
Monday, December 18, 2023

Appropriate ***** by Barry Gordin

By: David Sheward December 18, 2023: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate premiered at the Actors Theater of Louisville in 2013 and subsequently opened Off-Broadway at the Signature Thea…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 11:10PM

Buena Vista Social Club ***** by Barry Gordin

By: Samuel L. Leiter December 18, 2023: Two recently opened shows raise the question: how do you turn a popular documentary film into a successful stage musical? The creators of Broadway�…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:36PM

Buena Vista Social Club *** by Barry Gordin

By: Paulanne Simmons This is going to be a short review. The material does not need acute analysis. December 18, 2023: Buena Vista Social Club, developed and directed by Saheem Ali, has…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 01:54PM

Fools Mass – Unexpected Solace by Barry Gordin

By: Alix Cohen December 19, 2023: The Trickster and The Fool are alive within all of us. The Fool is an archetype that holds universal wisdom, crosses mutable boundaries, and speaks trut…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:22AM
Friday, December 15, 2023

Christine Ebersole @ 54 Below **** by Barry Gordin

Two-time Tony Winner, Christine Ebersole, shines at 54 Below with Billy Stritch. By:  Patrick Christiano December 15, 2023:  Performing together for 20 years, Christine Ebersole and Bill…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 02:12PM
Thursday, December 14, 2023

How To Dance In Ohio *** by Barry Gordin

By: Mark Rifkin December 15, 2023: “Will I be totally humiliated if I mess it up?” Remy (Desmond Luis Edwards) asks in the Broadway premiere of Rebekah Greer Melocik and Jacob Yandur…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:24PM

How To Dance In Ohio **1/2 by Barry Gordin

By: Samuel L. Leiter December 15, 2023: In 2015 Alexandra Shiva created a bittersweet but heartwarmingly inspiring documentary, How to Dance in Ohio, about a group of autistic persons, ra…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 03:12PM
Wednesday, December 13, 2023

How to Dance in Ohio ****, Buena Vista Social Club ****, I Can Get It for You Wholesale **** by Barry Gordin

By: David Sheward December 13, 2023: Two new musicals are inspired by real events and by documentaries which are readily available for viewing on the Max streaming services. This provides…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:20PM

Circus Vasquez by Barry Gordin

Circus Vasquez Can’t Get Enough of NY and NY Can’t Get Enough of Circus Vasquez, Now in Queens through January 7.    By: Ellis Nassour   December 14, 2023: On what has become …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 10:56AM
Monday, December 11, 2023

The Gardens of Anunica ***1/2 by Barry Gordin

By: Paulanne Simmons December 11, 2023: Graciela Daniele is an Argentina-born dancer, choreographer and director who has worked in theater, dance and opera throughout the United States. I…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 09:27AM
Sunday, December 10, 2023

The Gardens of Anuncia ***1/2 by Barry Gordin

By: Isa Goldberg December 10, 2023: Unusual, in the world of musical theater, The Gardens of Anuncia is a delightfully understated work, and a departure for the writer/composer Michael Jo…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 09:00AM
Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Brandon Victor Dixon @ 54 Below **** by Barry Gordin

“Dixon’s Soul of Broadway,” an intimate evening with the Dynamic Brandon Victor Dixon @ 54 Below. By: Patrick Christiano December 5, 2023: Making his solo debut at 54 Below with a …

SOURCE: theaterlife at 09:00AM

Here We Are ****, Hell’s Kitchen ***1/2 by Barry Gordin

By: David Sheward December 5, 2023: It should come as no surprise that Here We Are, the final effort by Stephen Sondheim, is unlike any other work from the late master of the American mus…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:24AM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Broadway / Off Broadway Update by Barry Gordin

Hell’s Kitchen Transfers; Busch and Izzard Return Off-Broadway By: David Sheward December 5, 2023: Hell's Kitchen, the new musical employing the songs of and inspired by the life of po…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:00PM

I Can Get It For You Wholesale **** by Barry Gordin

By: Paulanne Simmons December 5, 2023: I Can Get It for You Wholesale, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome and book by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same name, is set i…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 04:28PM

Sally Mayes at The Green Room42 by Barry Gordin

By: Alix Cohen December 5, 2023: Sally Mayes, too rarely on a Manhattan stage, intends this to be the first of four distinctively different cabaret evenings. Heads up. Those of you unini…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 08:03AM
Monday, December 4, 2023

All the Devils Are Here ***** by Barry Gordin

How Shakespeare Invented the Villain By: Paulanne Simmons December 4, 2023: When it comes to evil, no one understood it better than the incomparable William Shakespeare. In his solo show…

SOURCE: theaterlife at 03:17PM