All stories by Frank Scheck on BroadwayStars

Friday, December 9, 2011

A nice hello by ‘Bai’ by Frank Scheck

If there was ever a show that should begin with the disclaimer, “Kids, don’t try this at home,” it’s the Cirque Shanghai’s “Bai Xi.” This Chinese acrobatic spectacle — the ti…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:45PM

Review: Stick Fly by Frank Scheck

It’s a long weekend’s journey into night at Stick Fly, Lydia R. Diamond’s overstuffed play about an African-American family’s tumultuous reunion at their summer home …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:34AM
Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Hurt’s so good at BAM by Frank Scheck

Could there be an actor more perfectly suited for Samuel Beckett’s works than John Hurt? Not only does his gaunt face and wiry hair recall the playwright, but he has the ravaged look of a …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:10PM

Review: Once by Frank Scheck

When the indie film musical Once was released five years ago, it became a critical and box-office sensation. This touching tale of the relationship between a Dublin Irish street musician and…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:25AM
Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Review: The Cherry Orchard by Frank Scheck

The stifling languorousness that so often afflicts contemporary productions of Chekhov is thankfully nowhere in sight in this Classic Stage Company’s revival of The Cherry Orchard. Dir…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:18AM
Sunday, December 4, 2011

‘Dinner’ guest too restrained by Frank Scheck

In the classic 1939 comedy “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” an outrageously obnoxious character wears out his welcome. The same can be said for the Peccadillo Theater Company revival that o…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:41PM
Friday, December 2, 2011

Review: Bonnie & Clyde by Frank Scheck

One might think that true-life, murderous outlaws wouldn’t exactly be a likely choice for musical treatment, but then again composer Frank Wildhorn has already put songs in the mouths …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:03AM
Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Review: Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook by Frank Scheck

The pair's second show at Feinstein's at Loews Regency displays both their brilliant musical chops and their hilarious comic chemistry.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00AM
Tuesday, November 29, 2011

There’s very little to knock in solid ‘Door’ by Frank Scheck

Two men sit in a sparsely appointed waiting room. The silence is periodically broken by the sound of a banging door, so loud it feels like a gunshot. “Drives you ’round the bloody bend,…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:24PM
Sunday, November 27, 2011

This ‘Horse’ really bucks by Frank Scheck

In case you didn’t know it yet, drugs are bad. That’s the not-very-revelatory message of Dael Orlandersmith’s “Horsedreams,” her “Reefer Madness”- style drama about the evils o…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:29PM
Friday, November 25, 2011

Review: Radio City Christmas Spectacular by Frank Scheck

There’s a chill in the air. The tourists are packing the streets. And the Christmas decorations are blanketing the stores. It can only mean one thing. The Radio City Christmas Spectacu…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:15AM
Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Review: An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin by Frank Scheck

There’s a lot of love being expressed at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Not only by the audience towards Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, the veteran musical stars who have been performi…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:02AM
Monday, November 21, 2011

CIA intrigue adds up to Afghani-standout by Frank Scheck

With so many playwrights indulging in theatrical navel gazing, it’s exciting to find someone who’s looking out at the world. That’s the case with J.T. Rogers, whose last play, “The O…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:26PM

Review: Seminar by Frank Scheck

In the opening minutes of Theresa Rebeck’s new play, four young students nervously await the arrival of a famous novelist who they’ve hired to conduct a series of private seminar…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:34AM
Sunday, November 20, 2011

The cotton is high and shakin’ at Encores! show by Frank Scheck

In the opening number of “Cotton Club Parade,” Duke Ellington’s “Daybreak Express,” the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra re-creates the sound of a railroad train loudly barreling d…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:18PM
Friday, November 18, 2011

Review: Private Lives by Frank Scheck

It’s not surprising that Noel Coward’s Private Lives is so often produced on Broadway. This delicious 1930 comedy, which has been seen here no less than four times in the last th…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:37AM
Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Mucho clowning around by Frank Scheck

Language isn’t the only thing separating the new theatrical production of “La Strada” from its inspiration. This Spanish-language adaptation of Federico Fellini’s classic 1954 Italia…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:50PM

Review: Bebe Neuwirth: Stories with Piano #3 by Frank Scheck

The Tony-winning star shows off her strong interpretive skills in her show at Feinstein's at Loews Regency.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00AM
Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Review: Burning by Frank Scheck

Thomas Bradshaw’s new play Burning is playing at the New Group’s theater on 42nd Street, but it would have been right at home on the old 42nd Street as well. This sprawling, ambi…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:06AM
Sunday, November 13, 2011

Minimalist approach maximizes Beckett’s bits by Frank Scheck

‘Fragments” is both an accurate and deceptive name for the evening of Samuel Beckett pieces being presented by Theatre for a New Audience. These five short works, collectively lasting un…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:15PM
Friday, November 11, 2011

Review: Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway by Frank Scheck

There’s a mass seduction going on nightly at the Broadhurst Theatre. In his one-man show Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway, the Aussie performer has the audience eating out of the palm of…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:14AM
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Punting in the burbs by Frank Scheck

At the start of “All-American,” a father coaches his teenager in the fine art of the quarterback sneak as his other child watches in bored silence, smoking a cigarette. As it happens, th…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:10PM
Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Review: Godspell by Frank Scheck

Just in case you didn’t you didn’t get your hippy-dippy fix with the recent revival of Hair, there’s now the 40th anniversary production of Godspell to help you get your gr…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:26AM
Monday, November 7, 2011

‘Suicide’ comes to a bad end by Frank Scheck

Andrew Hinderaker’s “Suicide, Incorporated” is at first wickedly satirical, almost Kafkaesque: It concerns a firm called Legacy Letters, which specializes in crafting suicide notes. Si…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:56PM

Review: Sons of the Prophet by Frank Scheck

Santino Fontana continues to emerge as one of the great talents of the New York stage in Sons of the Prophet, the latest confident from Stephen Karam. As some might remember, it was another …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:14AM
Sunday, November 6, 2011

Not worth taking plunge for Niagara Falls tale by Frank Scheck

As musical subjects go, Anna Edson Taylor’s hardly the Unsinkable Molly Brown. In 1901, the real-life heroine of Michael John LaChiusa’s new show went over Niagara Falls in a barrel at a…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:49PM
Thursday, November 3, 2011

Don’t let this wind instrument pass you by by Frank Scheck

The title of the show is “The Fartiste.” There will now be a brief pause; the review will resume after you’ve stopped tittering. All right then. You may be surprised to learn that th…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:51PM

Review: Asuncion by Frank Scheck

Jesse Eisenberg certainly hasn’t written an attractive part for himself in his debuting playwriting effort, now being presented by the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. In his dark come…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:54AM

Review: We Live Here by Frank Scheck

I don’t envy actress-turned-emerging-playwright Zoe Kazan; it’s hard to write a family play that steers clear of the usual tropes of long-simmering resentment and buried history.…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:52AM
Wednesday, November 2, 2011

If only ‘Charity’ had stayed home by Frank Scheck

Titling your play “A Charity Case” is just asking for it, and Australian playwright Wendy Beckett doesn’t make it any easier to resist. This play about adoption “from the adoptee’s…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:29PM

‘Milk’ it for all it’s got by Frank Scheck

Cellphones ring incessantly during “Milk Like Sugar,” but don’t bother to check whether you’ve left yours on. They belong to the teenage girls at the heart of Kirsten Greenidge’s e…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:18AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis 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