All stories by Howard Miller on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Bedwetter" - 6/13/22 by Howard Miller

Your appreciation of the show will depend a lot on your regard for her unconventional comedy style that is streaked with four-letter words and fart jokes. Personally, I loved it. But then, I…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:23AM
Thursday, June 9, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Soft" - 6/9/22 by Howard Miller

Other than the plethora of flowers that are integral to the production, there is nothing remotely soft about Soft, Donja R. Love's hard-hitting play about a group of students at a correction…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:13PM
Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Mr. Parker" - 6/7/22 by Howard Miller

... all told, Mr. Parker is a genuine audience pleaser, filled with humor and warmth. It makes for a wonderfully engaging 90 minutes, thanks to the playwright's insightful dialog, the not-al…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:49PM
Thursday, June 2, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "... what the end will be" - 6/2/22 by Howard Miller

A singular spellbinding performance and a beautifully scripted, deeply moving story of self-determination, redemption, and love lie at the heart of Mansa Ra's ... what the end will be, a pla…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:59PM
Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "A Kid Like Rishi" - 6/1/22 by Howard Miller

Running 80 minutes, the production, translated into English by Tom Johnston from a script by Dutch playwright Kees Roorda, a one-time apprentice to director Ivo van Hove, delves into intervi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:11PM
Friday, May 27, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Fat Ham" - 5/26/22 by Howard Miller

... the newly crowned Pulitzer Prize winner Fat Ham uses Shakespeare's play to kickstart the plot. Our stand-in for the Prince of Denmark is "Juicy" (Marcel Spears), a barely-out-of-his-teen…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:54AM
Saturday, April 30, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Macbeth" 4/30/22 by Howard Miller

Sometimes, the entire production comes off as if it were being performed by a high school class of mixed talents, assigned to read Macbeth by their popular English teacher. Indeed, that role…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:47PM
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Mr. Saturday Night" 4/27/22 by Howard Miller

The main plot may be melodramatic, even corny at times, but mostly Mr. Saturday Night is filled with joy: Crystal's joy of performing for us (the one-liners crackle and gleam), and our joy i…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:17PM
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "A Strange Loop" 4/26/22 by Howard Miller

"Write what you know" is advice that is given to all new writers. But first you need to "know what you know," and what better place is there to find that out than inside your own head? That'…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:51PM
Monday, April 25, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Funny Girl" 4/24/22 by Howard Miller

When you are dealing with an outsize character like Fanny Brice, a certain amount of chutzpah comes in handy. But to be effective, that kind of audacity needs to have a big payoff, with some…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:03PM
Friday, April 22, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Hangmen" 4/21/22 by Howard Miller

A talented cast, funny bits of dark humor, a clever set design, and a dash of Alfred Hitchcock-style suspense add up to an unexpectedly tepid production of Martin McDonagh's Hangmen, opening…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:39AM
Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "How I Learned to Drive" 4/19/22 by Howard Miller

Parker and Morse and Day and Brokaw are back, revisiting and digging ever more deeply into their original roles.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:13PM
Sunday, April 10, 2022

Talkin' BroadwayBroadway Review: "Birthday Candles" 4/10/22 by Howard Miller

... much of the play consists of a ticking off of biographical events. By necessity or by design, it is incumbent on members of the audience to find a personal connection to the ups and down…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:23PM
Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Take Me Out" 4/4/22 by Howard Miller

Go for the naked guys if you'd like, but stay for the wonderful weave of stories performed by a terrific ensemble of actors.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:11AM
Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Chinese Lady" - 3/8/22 by Howard Miller

"... Lloyd Suh's The Chinese Lady, a cleverly conceived satire that stirs its gentle humor with a cutting edge in a beautifully rendered production..."

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:21AM
Monday, October 11, 2021

Talkin' Broadway Review: "Chicken & Biscuits" by Howard Miller

"Family is a loaded word," to quote one of the characters in Douglas Lyons' Chicken & Biscuits, a mashup of broad comedy and domestic drama opening tonight at Circle in the Square. If the pa…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:25PM
Friday, March 6, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Review: "Girl from the North Country" 3/5/20 by Howard Miller

... a perplexing amalgam of thin-as-a-reed storytelling and powerhouse performances of reimagined tunes from the vast songbook of America's Nobel Prize-winning troubadour, Bob Dylan.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:50AM
Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Coal Country" - 3/3/20 by Howard Miller

Coal Country, then, is the forum through which their voices are finally allowed to be heard. And we are there to listen in fellowship to their disquieting recollections.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:06PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Headlands" - 2/24/20 by Howard Miller

,,, an inventive mix of gradually darkening humor, family drama, and the vicissitudes of memory,

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:46AM
Thursday, February 20, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Review: "West Side Story" 2/20/20 by Howard Miller

... t for anyone willing to separate the wheat from the chaff, there is a great deal of enjoyment to be found by focusing on the performances on the stage.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:30PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Mack & Mabel" - 2/19/20 by Howard Miller

... Encores! at New York City Center is back on top, doing what it does best with a beautifully rendered Mack & Mabel...

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:03PM
Monday, February 17, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Animal Farm" - 2/17/20 by Howard Miller

Pulling off Animal Farm with four actors is just the kind of dare Seeing Place would gravitate towards.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:55PM
Monday, February 10, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories" - 2/10/20 by Howard Miller

... a partial success for the Mint. If nothing else, Chekhov/Tolstoy: Love Stories offers the opportunity to view these rarely seen works based on stories by two giants of Russian literatur…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:34PM
Thursday, January 23, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Review: "Grand Horizons" 1/21/20 by Howard Miller

The play is often quite funny in the way that a well-written sitcom can be, but a thick layer of jokes and punchlines cannot cover up the fact that there is little of credible substance here.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:23PM
Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Review: "A Soldier's Play" 1/21/20 by Howard Miller

A rock solid cast and a spit-shine production make for a gripping and altogether outstanding revival of Charles Fuller's 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play...

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:13PM
Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Review: "My Name Is Lucy Barton" 1/15/20 by Howard Miller

... as it stands, the production seems like a staged book-on-tape.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:26PM
Sunday, January 12, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Maz and Bricks" - 1/12/20 by Howard Miller

... what emerges is a quirky yet moving story about the vulnerability of the human heart and the universal need for connection.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:21PM
Friday, December 6, 2019

Talkin' Broadway Review: "Jagged Little Pill" 12/5/19 by Howard Miller

... damn if it doesn't set a new aspirational standard for the subgenre referred to mostly in scoffing terms as the "jukebox musical."

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:18AM
Thursday, December 5, 2019

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "MsTrial" - 12/4/19 by Howard Miller

... having a strong idea for a play is a far cry from being able to translate it into compelling dramaturgy and authentic-seeming dialog. And that is definitely the problem here.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:19PM
Friday, November 22, 2019

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - Einstein's Dreams - 11/21/19 by Howard Miller

,,, the venturesome chamber musical Einstein's Dreams, now on view at 59E59 Theaters.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:50AM
Thursday, November 21, 2019

Talkin' Broadway Review: "A Christmas Carol" 11/20/19 by Howard Miller

Thorne's interpretation, under Matthew Warchus's direction, is darker, more analytical and psychologically probing than we have become accustomed to. As a result, it is also less emotionally…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:12AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards