All stories by Frank Scheck on BroadwayStars

Friday, October 14, 2011

Review: The Mountaintop by Frank Scheck

One of history’s greatest ironies is that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his soaring “I’ve have been to the mountaintop” speech on the very night before his death.…

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Mondays can be murder by Frank Scheck

'Any Given Monday" is a dark comedy so offensive, so amoral and so generally unpleasant that you'll hate yourself for laughing at it. The problem is, you'll hate yourself a lot. The play by …

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Review: Clint Holmes: Remembering Bobby Short by Frank Scheck

The popular singer's new show at the Cafe Carlyle proves to be a fitting and extremely entertaining tribute to the late, great performer.

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Review: The Lyons by Frank Scheck

Contemporary playwrights seem forever bent on proving Tolstoy’s line that “all families are unhappy in their own way.” The latest example is Nicky Silvers, who has mined su…

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Chatty mime spills all by Frank Scheck

For a mime, Bill Bowers has a lot to say. And that's all to the good. In his new one-man show "Bill Bowers Beyond Words" -- a mix of mime and spoken vignettes -- he presents a portrait of s…

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Review: Man and Boy by Frank Scheck

Terence Rattigan’s Man and Boy was written in the 1960s and is set in the 1930s, but it would unfortunately resonate in any decade. This portrait of a desperate business tycoon was ins…

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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Moving musical proud of its agender by Frank Scheck

As touching as it is idiosyncratic, "Southern Comfort" effectively redefines the term "family musical." Based on a 2001 Sundance award-winning documentary about transgender people in rural G…

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Sunday, October 2, 2011

One hit, two misses by Frank Scheck

Even the most ardent musical-theater lovers would be hard-pressed to catch all 25 shows at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, running though Oct. 16. Here are a few of the more intriguin…

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Friday, September 30, 2011

Review: The Submission by Frank Scheck

Playwright Jeff Talbott clearly knows the territory that he explores in The Submission. Having had his previous efforts presented at numerous theater festivals, he’s well in a position…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:52AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 29, 2011

Dear New York: thanks for being in this play by Frank Scheck

New York's streets teem with such chaotic vitality that stepping into a theater can seem anticlimactic. So it's exciting to enter 3LD and encounter floor-to-ceiling windows exposing lower Gr…

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Review: The Bald Soprano by Frank Scheck

With some exceptions, absurdism doesn’t age particularly well. The impact of what was shocking and avant-garde decades ago is reduced by the endless mediocre imitations that have follo…

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Swedish Invasion: An Interview with Jonas Hassen Khemiri by Frank Scheck

Last season, the Play Company’s production of Invasion! at Soho Rep left made quite an impact, garnering an OBIE award for playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri, in his debut as a playwright…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:24AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 26, 2011

Songs and star scoop 'Newsies' story by Frank Scheck

It's a hard-knock life for the newsboys in "Newsies," the stage adaptation of the flop 1992 Disney musical film that's become a cult favorite. When this ragtag group of orphans and runaways …

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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Friendly musical tuneup by Frank Scheck

When it comes to pressure, panic and pain, no one said it better than Larry Gelbart: "If Hitler's alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical." The pressure's even worse for those who dare…

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

One-acts sink and swim in 'Rivers' by Frank Scheck

Female playwrights are woe fully underrepresented on our stages -- women of color particularly. Helping to correct that sorry state of affairs is the Ensemble Studio Theatre's "The River Cro…

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Monday, September 19, 2011

Do ask for 'Directions' by Frank Scheck

Imagine being able to see Eugene O'Neill's obscure one-acts, minus all those long monologues. Now you can. Enter "The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Volume 1: Ea…

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Review: The Select (The Sun Also Rises) by Frank Scheck

Try as I might, I find it impossible to appreciate the Elevator Repair Service’s aesthetic. This enterprising downtown troupe has made a significant name for themselves in recent years…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:02AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Jesse's turn by Frank Scheck

They say that in Hollywood, everybody wants to direct. Apparently, in the theater, what everybody wants to do is write. Exhibit A: Jesse Eisenberg, whose play, "Asuncion," previews Oct. 12 a…

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Review: Follies by Frank Scheck

It’s been a mere ten years since the last Broadway incarnation of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies, but that ill-conceived version was lamentable enough to warrant an…

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Monday, September 12, 2011

They're turning trouble into a kin-do situation by Frank Scheck

Theater rarely gets more intimate -- or more immediate -- than Richard Nelson's follow-up to last year's "That Hopey Changey Thing," set on the eve of the last presidential election. Once…

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Friday, September 9, 2011

Belfast & furious (and funny) by Frank Scheck

There are plenty of one-liners in "A Night With George," and they're even more hilarious if you can un derstand them. Donna O'Connor's one-woman show, part of the1st Irish Festival, featu…

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Monday, August 29, 2011

'Balloon' is a buoyant ride by Frank Scheck

In case you wondered what role balloons played in the US military during World War I, there's an off-Broadway show that's only too happy to tell you all about it. Enroll in "Captain Fergu…

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Review: Bluebird by Frank Scheck

It seems almost criminal to take one of the English speaking theater’s finest classical actors, have him appear in a play in a tiny basement theater, and then make the run so limited t…

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

In short, 'Fall' is the highlight of 'Summer' by Frank Scheck

Evenings of one-act plays can cause theatrical whiplash. That's certainly the case with "Summer Shorts 5: Series B." Now running in rep with the recently opened Series A, featuring work b…

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Review: Olive and the Bitter Herbs by Frank Scheck

If Charles Busch’s artistic to the late Charles Ludlam was made evident by such parodies as Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and Red Scare on Sunset, then his latest effort reveals the influe…

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Monday, August 15, 2011

Review: Rent by Frank Scheck

Anyone who saw Rent in its original incarnation at the New York Theatre Workshop will no doubt be discomfited to see that it has now become a theatrical brand. Just three years after it clos…

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Sunday, August 14, 2011

'Midlife Crisis' is mostly a pain in the butt by Frank Scheck

Sitting through "Herman Kline's Midlife Crisis" is likely to bring on a midlife crisis of your own. Its principal plot element is the retrieval of a bag of crack cocaine from the rectum of a…

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Best one-act is child's play by Frank Scheck

Parents of teenage girls should probably avoid "Carrie & Francine," the opener of the one- act fest Summer Shorts 5: Series A. Written by 17-year-old playwright Ruby Rae Spiegel, it depicts …

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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Can these upstarts reboot Rent? by Frank Scheck

It was a musical that spoke to a new generation " and its dramatic backstage story became theatrical legend. On Jan. 25, 1996, the night before "Rent" played its first preview off-Broadway, …

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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

'Mother & Father' still OK by Frank Scheck

Several years back, Steve Solomon scored a surprise off-Broadway hit with his solo comedy show "My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm in Therapy!" An account of his dysfunctional fam…

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A 'Pretty' solid Williams one-act by Frank Scheck

The centenary of Tennessee Williams' birth has prompted a flood of productions of obscure works from his vaults. Perhaps the most intriguing is "The Pretty Trap," an early one-act version of…

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All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off