Thursday, August 16, 2012
Because I spent so much time at NYMF this summer, I didn't really have plans to take in any shows at the NY Fringe Festival. I think it's partly because I'm kind of over the four-hour bus ri…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 02:13PMWednesday, August 15, 2012
The idea of setting by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods in the actual woods may seem, at first, to be a stroke of genius, or at the very least an obvious but cool idea. It …
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 06:04PMTuesday, August 14, 2012
One of the great things about getting down to New York City as frequently as I do now is having the opportunity to catch revivals of obscure shows at some of the Off-Broadway non-profit thea…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 04:32PMWednesday, August 8, 2012
Here's the fourth and final installment of my capsule reviews from this year's New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). Click here to read my first, second, and third installments. My since…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 06:47PMMonday, August 6, 2012
Here's my third of what will be four installments of capsule reviews from the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). Click here for my first and second installments. One of the break…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 01:26PMThursday, August 2, 2012
Here's the latest of my reviews for TheaterMania. This time it's a production of Carousel at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. There are those who think, in terms of the innova…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 07:45PMGoodspeed serves up a genuinely thrilling production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic musical.
SOURCE: TheaterMania at 02:45PMThursday, July 26, 2012
My latest review for TheaterMania. It's of a production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons out at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, Mass. The last time I saw this play, it was the 2008 Broadway re…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 09:47PMMy students at the Boston Conservatory are always looking for new songs to add to their "rep" books: basically three-ring binders filled with sheet music that they use for auditions, singing…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 03:54PMHere's installment number two of my capsule reviews for the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). Click here to read my first set of reviews. Watch for at least one additional insta…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 02:48PMTuesday, July 24, 2012
Barrington Stage presents a genuinely thrilling and cathartic production of Arthur Miller's play.
SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:10PMThursday, July 19, 2012
It will probably come as a surprise to many of my readers that I have never been to the New York Musical Theatre Festival(NYMF) before this year. I mean, I've been almost singularly devoted …
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 05:36PMThursday, July 5, 2012
During its current season, the York Theatre Company has been featuring what it describes as "classic shows from Off-Broadway." Currently playing at the York is Closer Than Ever, a …
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 03:43PMSaturday, June 30, 2012
The owner of the North Shore Music Theatre talks about turning around the beloved institution's forces.
SOURCE: TheaterMania at 08:00AMThursday, June 21, 2012
We all know about how Jonathan Larson, the author of Rent, died suddenly the night before the show premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop. It's the stuff of theatrical legen…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 02:45PMWednesday, June 20, 2012
Here's my second big-boy review with TheaterMania. This time it's Fiddler on the Roof at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass. Fiddler is easily one of my all-time favorite music…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 11:37AMTuesday, June 19, 2012
Barrington Stage Company presents an uneven production of the near-perfect Sheldon Harnick-Jerry Bock musical.
SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00PMThursday, June 14, 2012
Maybe the Tonys aren't a total sham after all. That was my first thought when I got home Sunday night and saw the results of the 66th Annual Tony Awards. I didn't watch the show live, becaus…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 03:11PMTuesday, June 5, 2012
The Independent Theater Bloggers Association (the “ITBA”) is proud to announce the 2012 recipients of the Fourth Annual Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Awards, (the “the Patricks”). Patr…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 12:33PMSaturday, May 26, 2012
Regular readers of my blog will likely know two things about me: 1) In selecting shows to see, I tend to stick to the musicals. 2) I teach full-time, and toward the end of each semester, I t…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 02:21PMThursday, May 24, 2012
What if you gathered together some of the most profound thinkers and artists of the 20th century, and then didn't give them anything particularly profound to say? That's pretty much what we …
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 04:28PMMonday, May 21, 2012
I have genuinely mixed feelings about "songbook" shows like Crazy for You, My One and Only, High Society, Never Gonna Dance, etc. One the one hand, the fact that all of these songs can be re…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 05:20PMFriday, May 18, 2012
Want to know what's wrong with contemporary musical theater? Then sidle over to the Lunt-Fontanne Theater and catch a performance of Ghost the Musical. Yes, the show is yet another in a long…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 01:50PMSaturday, May 12, 2012
The recently ended Broadway season certainly saw its share of musical flops, notably Lysistrata Jones and Bonnie & Clyde. Although each of those shows had its champions, I was not among them…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 11:50AMThursday, May 10, 2012
I've been reviewing musicals and other theatrical productions on this blog for over six years now. For the most part, I've been doing it for the sheer love of theater, and musical theater in…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 04:38PMLouise Pitre gives a vibrant and heartfelt performance in the title role of Goodspeed Musical's revival of the beloved tuner.
SOURCE: TheaterMania at 02:30PMTuesday, May 8, 2012
A few weeks back, I had a chance to revisit the two musical revivals from last season, and it was a stark study in contrasts. My second visit to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Try…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 06:14PMMonday, May 7, 2012
I hated the movie "Newsies." Hated hated hated it. I found it plodding, forced, cloying, and resolutely earthbound. My roommate at the time, Todd, has a father who's an actor, and his father…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 12:34PMTuesday, May 1, 2012
I got a call yesterday from a producer at Marketplace on National Public Radio. She wanted to know what I thought about the impending Tony Award nominations, and specifically what I thought …
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 01:11PMTuesday, April 24, 2012
How much of a difference can one performer make? That's the question I was left to ponder while walking out of the strangely lifeless revival of Evita that's currently packing them in at the…
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 06:40PMFriday, April 6, 2012
The current theater season has provided me with ample opportunities for wistful nostalgia: Godspell, Evita, Follies. These were some of the recordings that I and other show-tune queens of a …
SOURCE: Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals at 07:02PM 
