All stories by Bill Hirschman on BroadwayStars

Friday, April 22, 2022

Hollywood’s Homophobic Hypocrisy Examined in The Code by Bill Hirschman

The soul-killing inherent in the film dream factory’s deconstruction and then sanitized reconstruction of its icons has been a popular topic, from 1932’s What Price Hollywood to four ver…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:36PM
Monday, April 18, 2022

Area Stage’s This Is Our Youth Examines A Lost Generation by Bill Hirschman

Area Stage Company travels back to 1982 on an exploration of the sociological jungle of Manhattan as born-rich 20-somethings give birth to the Me Generation in the issues oriented drama with…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:18PM
Friday, April 15, 2022

Critics’ Bestows Thousands of Dollars In New Play Award by Bill Hirschman

More than $40,000 awarded to four playwrights in the Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award. The post Critics’ Bestows Thousands of Dollars In New Play Award first…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:36PM
Monday, April 11, 2022

2022 Cappies Noms Announced by Bill Hirschman

The South Florida Cappies program honoring student achievement in high school theater and criticism, which had to present awards online last year, will return in a live gala celebration at 7…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:24PM
Sunday, April 10, 2022

New Look at SNL Behind the Scenes is a Work In Progress by Bill Hirschman

Not Ready for Prime Time, a play by Miamians Erik J. Rodriguez and Charles A. Sothers, have continued working on its script about the creation and early years of Saturday Night Live, postpon…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:54PM
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

You Still Can Have A Jellicle Ball at Strong Cats Tour In Broward by Bill Hirschman

There is still a lot of life in these Cats as the Broadway Across America tour at the Broward Center still manages to charm and, oddly, seem fresh as the various lithe, limber dancer fill th…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:42PM

Despite Fine Moments, Guys and Dolls Doesn’t Quite Land by Bill Hirschman

Despite being one of the greatest musicals of all time, Guys and Dolls always poses a difficult make-or-break challenge that determines if a production is mildly entertaining or sublime. So,…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:48AM
Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Dreams Form The Core Of Dramaworks’ Intimate Apparel by Bill Hirschman

Lynn Nottage’s incisive Intimate Apparel explores a dozen themes simultaneously and all viewed through the prism of race at the turn of the century. But this Palm Beach Dramaworks edition …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:36AM
Sunday, April 3, 2022

Sorry, Can’t Resist: PPTOPA’s Gleeful ‘Something Rotten’ Isn’t by Bill Hirschman

You don’t have to know that Sondheim and Webber share the same birthday to adore the broad send-up of musical comedy tropes melded with an equally wicked spoof of Shakespeare in PPTOPA's S…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:33PM
Friday, April 1, 2022

Maltz Reopens With Welcome Cons of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by Bill Hirschman

Sometimes all you want out of an evening of theater is not Lear or Seurat. But just fun. Escapist laughter-laden fun. Dovetailing with the re-opening of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, the daffy …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:12PM
Thursday, March 31, 2022

Broadway Comes to Miami & Fort Lauderdale Next Season by Bill Hirschman

Some of the hottest ticket titles on Broadway right now will be within driving distance next season as the Broadway Across America tours stop off in Miami and Fort Lauderdale: Six, Hamilton,…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:54AM
Monday, March 28, 2022

Slow Burn Gives New Life To Matilda Musical by Bill Hirschman

Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Matilda is a lesson in theater education, showing how a regional director takes a successful Broadway show and road tour and makes it his own highly entertainin…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:18AM
Sunday, March 27, 2022

Post-Partum Woes Turn to Madness in Theatre Lab’s Bow Overactive Letdown by Bill Hirschman

Buckle up if you’re attending the world premiere run of Overactive Letdown at Theatre Lab as a new mother spirals out of control in a harrowing descent into madness. Crumbling under the po…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:48PM
Saturday, March 26, 2022

Ben Butler About Race Relations Gains Added Spin at Boca Stage by Bill Hirschman

The comedy-drama Ben Butler was meant to explore race relations when it was first produced in 2014. But this tale about a runaway slave seeking refuge on the cusp of the Civil War has taken…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:18PM
Monday, March 21, 2022

Island City Wrestles Challenging Suddenly Last Summer by Bill Hirschman

Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer presents a considerable challenge for theaters to pull off with its quirky characters, its quirkier premise and its total abandonment of theatrical…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:36PM
Saturday, March 19, 2022

Zoetic’s Sondheim: It Doesn’t Get Much Better Thak This by Bill Hirschman

Some of the most skilled theater artists in the region deliver a gloriously funny and moving celebration of the work of the finest musical theater genius of the 20th and 21st Century in Zoet…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:07PM
Tuesday, March 15, 2022

SoFla Theaters Begin Relaxing Covid Measures For Patrons by Bill Hirschman

A sea of unmasked faces at FGO’s opening Saturday signaled South Florida theaters on the cusp of relaxing restrictions, some only for certain productions and some cautiously gingerly peer…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:12AM
Sunday, March 13, 2022

Revenge Still Isn’t Sweet But Sympathetic in FGO’s Rigoletto by Bill Hirschman

Time changes how we view classic works: In this edition of Rigoletto at Florida Grand Opera, the title “villain” who gets his comeuppance at the end of this revenge tragedy seems for mor…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:37PM
Friday, March 11, 2022

Frozen Is A Successful Heart Warmer by Bill Hirschman

No doubt most critics will try to weave in the title or lyrics of “Let It Go” in their reviews of the Broadway Across America production of the Disney’s Frozen at the Broward Center. I…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:33PM
Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Facts and Fiction Inspire Incisive Inquiry in Miami New Drama’s When Monica Met Hillary by Bill Hirschman

If you’re expecting Miami New Drama’s world premiere When Monica Met Hillary to be some D.C. spin on an Andy Cohen catfight, you’re going to be disappointed. Playwright Winter Miller, …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:06PM
Monday, March 7, 2022

Pigs Do Fly’s 2 Across Is No Puzzle, Just a Warm Comedy by Bill Hirschman

You may never view crossword puzzles the same way again after watching Jerry Mayer’s romantic, touching, and hilarious character-driven comedy, 2 Across. Fortunately, the Ft. Lauderdale-ba…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:54AM
Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Naples’ Gulfshore Playhouse Breaks Ground on $60 M Venue; Admitted To LORT Ranks by Bill Hirschman

Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples has used dependable artistic vision and generous patronage to defy the economic m breaking ground on a $60 million venue and being admitted to the League of Res…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:24PM
Monday, February 28, 2022

Shattering is Just One Way to Describe The White Card by Bill Hirschman

Shattering. Penetrating. Upsetting. Only a few of the adjectives elicited by Claudia Rankine's drama The White Card at GableStage, a searing if polemic evening cross-examining progressive wh…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:37AM
Saturday, February 26, 2022

Nothing is Simple in Boca Stage’s Thought-Provoking Luna Gale by Bill Hirschman

Social workers face tragedies in which there may be no satisfying solutions and in which the warring parties truly want “what’s best for the child.” Those dilemmas echo larger question…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:42PM
Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Dramaworks’ Duration Poses Troubling Questions About Who We Are Post 9/11& Today by Bill Hirschman

Bruce Graham’s world premiere The Duration developed at Palm Beach Dramaworks is an intellectually and emotionally powerful drama rooted deep in a post 9/11 world, but also in a timeless i…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:33PM
Sunday, February 20, 2022

MNM’s Sister Act Surprisingly Better Than Past Editions by Bill Hirschman

MNM Theatre Company’s Sister Act, is a work that you may not have taken to the first time or two, but can surprise you when a company invests freshness, energy and skill. You see it as if …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:12PM
Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Estefan Musical On Your Feet is Triumph at Actors Playhouse by Bill Hirschman

The moment after the house lights go down at Actors Playhouse, there’s a percussive warmup of Latin beat and then the auditorium explodes with a blinding almost deafening assault of light,…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:06AM
Monday, February 14, 2022

Maltz Reopens With Comical Romp on Acting, I Hate Hamlet by Bill Hirschman

The art of acting – alternately glorious and mundane – is celebrated in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s return to live production after 700 days with Paul Rudnick’s delightfully comical …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:37PM
Saturday, February 12, 2022

Female Army Combats Colonialism in The Dahomey Warriors by Bill Hirschman

For the majority of white Americans, the word “colonialism” is an abstract term usually confined to college history courses. But in Layon Gray’s consciousness-expanding new drama The …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:48PM
Thursday, February 10, 2022

The Temptations Musical is Inarguably a Tempting Treat by Bill Hirschman

Bio-jukebox musicals hinges on the strength of the music and the audience’s connection. Music takes you back to where you were and who you were. The exuberant production of Ain’t Too Pro…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:33PM
Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Be More Chill Is Uneven (But Mega-Pop) Sci-Fi Fantasy About the Hell of Being a Teen by Bill Hirschman

A nerdy teenager struggling with being an outsider takes a pill with a dangerous computer that advises him on dealing with high school hell in Area Stage Company's intriguing but flawed sci-…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:18PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime