All stories by Matthew Murray on BroadwayStars

Sunday, August 17, 2014

FIRE DANCE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

No one knows you quite the way a sibling does.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:58AM
Saturday, August 16, 2014

OVER HERE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

In the grand roster of significant eternal warfare, “man versus woman” surely must be at the top of the list. But likely not too far behind is “Arab versus Jew,” which encapsulates o…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:16PM
Thursday, August 14, 2014

LANCELOT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Youthful fantasies may be a vital part of growing up, but just as with the influence of teachers, parents, and friends, their effects can linger — and do considerable damage — once you'v…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:50PM
Wednesday, August 13, 2014

REVOLUTION IN THE ELBOW OF RAGNAR AGNARSSON FURNITURE PAINTER - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

To dwell too much, too quickly, on the many, many things wrong with the musical titled Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter, which just opened at the Minetta Lane Th…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:28PM
Thursday, August 7, 2014

PHOENIX - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

You've heard of seduction in a bar, but... an abortion clinic?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:02PM
Tuesday, August 5, 2014

KING LEAR at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

For a god, he's certainly not in control, is he?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:02PM
Thursday, July 31, 2014

BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

For a man burdened with so many crippling problems, Walter Washington certainly is easygoing.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:03PM
Wednesday, July 30, 2014

SEX WITH STRANGERS - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Is there much point in discussing the content of Laura Eason's play Sex With Strangers, which just opened at Second Stage?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:31PM
Tuesday, July 29, 2014

MALA HIERBA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Women who are trapped in loveless marriages because of the financial security their husbands provide may no longer seem like a scintillating, or even relevant, topic for a play.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:01PM
Saturday, July 26, 2014

MADAME INFAMY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

For a generation now, Les Misérables has been providing young women (especially belters) with choice material, but it wouldn't really be correct to say it's a woman's show.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:30PM
Thursday, July 24, 2014

WIKIMUSICAL - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Though they based their New York Musical Theatre Festival entry on a profound idea, Frank Ceruzzi, Blake J. Harris, and Trent Jeffords for some reason want you to think WikiMusical is shallo…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:14PM
Wednesday, July 23, 2014

MOTHER JONES AND THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

If you need a charismatic leading lady who’s at once lovable and caustic, seeming as prone to beat you senseless as to give you her life savings, why wouldn’t you cast Lynne Winterstelle…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:13PM
Monday, July 21, 2014

DEPLOYED - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

No one would ever confuse Jessy Brouillard’s musical Deployed, which is playing through Tuesday as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, with Les Misérables.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:10PM

PIECE OF MY HEART: THE BERT BERNS STORY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Once upon a time, jukebox and songwriter-showcase musicals didn’t pretend to be much more than they are.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:44PM

THE GIG - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

There’s more to music — and to life — than sounding perfect.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:13PM
Saturday, July 19, 2014

OPRAHFICATION - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Rachel Dunham may not look much like Oprah Winfrey, but from the instant she opens her mouth at the start of the New York Musical Theatre Festival production of Orpahfication, she sure sound…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:07PM

DER GELBE STERN - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Subtlety is not typically a feature of Germany-in-World-War-II properties; when Cabaret (the original, thank you, not the Sam Mendes rethink) is about as close as you can get in terms of the…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:06PM

THE SNOW QUEEN - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Disney’s animated movie musical Frozen had barely begun its white-hot life when The Snow Queen, based on exactly the same Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, opened at San Jose Repertory T…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:26AM
Thursday, July 17, 2014

PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Fluffy is not always a bad thing.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:38PM
Wednesday, July 16, 2014

RESCUE RUE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Love at first sight is as cliché and useless as storytelling can get, right? Maybe.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:26PM

THE MAPMAKER'S OPERA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The beauty and magic of both the Yucatán and the wild possibilities of romance charge the impressively conceived musical The Mapmaker's Opera, which plays its final performance today as par…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:07PM
Monday, July 14, 2014

PAGEANT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Who was the last famous Miss America? When's the last time you even watched the telecast?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:04PM
Sunday, July 13, 2014

THE LONG SHRIFT - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

You think you know the depths to which men and women will sink to get what they want from each other? Think again.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:02PM

ATOMIC - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

It was, perhaps, the most important achievement in scientific history: when, for the first time, the line between humanity and deity was blurred beyond recognition.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:01PM
Saturday, July 12, 2014

COMING OF AGE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

There are as many stories about the exact instant at which children become adults as there are adults.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:02AM

SOMEWHERE WITH YOU - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

It can’t be easy to write a musical about poverty and hopelessness that doesn’t leave you wanting to slit your wrists on the way out of the theater, but with Somewhere With You, playing …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:24AM
Tuesday, July 8, 2014

WAYRA: FUERZA BRUTA - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

The rat race is looking pretty well run at Wayra, the new spectacular from the creators of De La Guarda and Fuerza Bruta that just opened at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:01PM
Wednesday, July 2, 2014

RANDY NEWMAN'S FAUST - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Maybe the devil should be in the details rather than sitting at the keyboard?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:41PM
Thursday, June 26, 2014

THE LION - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Music's ability to articulate the world around us is well documented, but it can be easy to forget the deeper potential it carries.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:33PM
Thursday, June 19, 2014

HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Matthew Murray

Tired of overly slick, sanitized, and synthetic musicals that don't deliver feelings when "feelings" will do?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:13PM