All stories by Michael Portantiere on BroadwayStars

Thursday, September 7, 2017

A Bronx Tale: The Musical by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2017 (Ghostlight) In 1989, Chazz Palminteri told the story of his youth in the Bronx as a one-man play, chronicling his conflicting loyalties to his working-class fat…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:44PM

Once by Michael Portantiere

Film Soundtrack, 2007 (Columbia) This is the deservedly popular soundtrack album of a gorgeously bittersweet indie film, set in Dublin, about the brief but intense romance and songwriting pa…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 05:25PM
Monday, September 4, 2017

Rothschild and Sons by Michael Portantiere

Off Broadway Cast, 2016 (Jay Records) Here is a major revisal of the 1970 musical The Rothschilds, cut down to one-act and including several previously unheard Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick son…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 12:17PM
Thursday, August 24, 2017

PRINCE OF BROADWAY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Michael Portantiere

When it was first announced that there would be a show celebrating the Broadway career of Harold Prince, some people expressed the opinion that this did not sound like a good idea.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:04PM

THE SUITCASE UNDER THE BED - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Michael Portantiere

In Michael Moore's Broadway show, he makes the powerful point that a single person can effect tremendous change for the better in our world, and he gives several examples. . . .

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:51PM
Thursday, August 10, 2017

MICHAEL MOORE: THE TERMS OF MY SURRENDER – Talkin’ Broadway’s Review by Michael Portantiere

Have you seen the electoral map of New York City for the 2016 Presidential election?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:36PM
Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2016 (Ghostlight) In 1939, Irving Berlin imagined a themed revue set at an inn that opens only on holidays, with songs highlighting seasonal celebrations. It didn’t…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 06:08PM

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas by Michael Portantiere

Premiere Recording, 2006 (Ghostlight) Librettists David Ives and Paul Blake based this Irving Berlin songfest on the 1954 film of the same title, which starred Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as …

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 05:29PM
Tuesday, July 18, 2017

It Shoulda Been You by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2015 (Ghostlight)   Weddings have inspired musicals since at least as early as the 1920s (often with multiple couples overcoming ridiculous obstacles before tying th…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 09:51AM
Thursday, June 29, 2017

MARVIN'S ROOM - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Michael Portantiere

Dark comedies don't get much darker that Scott McPherson's funny, sad, beautiful play Marvin's Room, about a caregiver who contracts a serious illness herself.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:12PM
Thursday, June 22, 2017

1984 - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Michael Portantiere

The dystopia depicted by George Orwell (real name, Eric Arthur Blair) in his chillingly prescient novel 1984 has not come true in all of its nightmarish particulars, at least not to the…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:01PM
Saturday, June 10, 2017

Anastasia by Michael Portantiere

Film Soundtrack, 1997 (Atlantic) Just as Disney Animation was beginning to see a decline in its musical renaissance in the mid-’90s, Fox Animation decided to try its hand with the Princess…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 12:06PM
Monday, June 5, 2017

Waitress by Michael Portantiere

Sara Bareilles:  What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress, 2015 (Epic)  The idea of Sara Bareilles writing a musical wasn’t so far-out, even before it happened. The 21st century has seen sev…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 10:33AM

Dear Evan Hansen by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2017 (Atlantic ) A musical that unapologetically wears its heart on its sleeve, Dear Evan Hansen is the most high profile theater work to date from the songwriting te…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 10:10AM
Thursday, May 11, 2017

THE GOLDEN APPLE - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Michael Portantiere

The current, wish-come-true, New York City Center Encores! presentation of The Golden Apple will have seven performances over a five-day period.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:39PM
Sunday, February 19, 2017

Pretty Filthy by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2016 (Ghostlight) Here’s a musical comedy about the porn industry, created by the New York-based theater company The Civilians, with music and lyrics by Michael…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:52PM
Thursday, January 26, 2017

YOURS UNFAITHFULLY - Talkin' Broadway's Review by Michael Portantiere

It's not surprising that Yours Unfaithfully, Miles Malleson's 1933 play about a couple's attempt to successfully negotiate the terrain of what we would now call an “open marriage,” was n…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:26PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Cagney by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2016 (Broadway Records) First seen at the York Theatre Company’s home at St. Peter’s Church and then in a commercial run at the Westside Theatre, this show wa…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 11:00AM
Saturday, November 5, 2016

The Story of My Life by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2009 (PS Classics) The Story of My Life is an intimate, unusual, two-character musical with songs by Neil Bartram and book by Brian Hill. The strengths of the cast al…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 05:44PM
Sunday, October 30, 2016

Giant by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2013 (Ghostlight) Texas is big. Edna Ferber’s 1952 novel, Giant, is big, spanning decades and two generations of rancher families. The 1956 movie version is big…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 12:18PM
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Dogfight by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2013 (Ghostlight) Many musical scores can stand perfectly well as cast recordings, separate from their staged productions. Others lose something when deprived of …

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 02:53PM
Monday, October 17, 2016

The Scottsboro Boys by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2010 (JAY) In several of their shows, John Kander and Fred Ebb have used various types of entertainment as the contextual setting for exploring historical and soc…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 10:33AM
Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Shrek by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2010 (Verve) Not to be outdone by Disney, the Dreamworks company decided to come to Broadway with a musical adaptation of its Oscar winning animated film Shrek, about…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 01:47PM

Curtains by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast, 2007 (Manhattan Records) Part backstage satire and part whodunit, Curtains was a long-gestating property. At the time of its opening, the show was touted as having th…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 11:22AM

Yank! by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2014 (PS Classics) Musical theater fans look back with affection at the Off-Broadway shows of the early- to mid-sixties — small, unique productions whose distin…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 09:49AM
Friday, September 30, 2016

Death Takes a Holiday by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2011 (PS Classics) On paper, Death Takes a Holiday probably looked like a wonderful idea for a musical. Composer-lyricist Maury Yeston has done some very admirabl…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 09:56AM
Thursday, September 29, 2016

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by Michael Portantiere

Original Broadway Cast 2005 (Ghostlight) David Yazbek’s Broadway scores are just plain fun, whether it’s the frenetic farce of Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown or the blue-colla…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 11:53AM
Friday, September 23, 2016

Daddy Long Legs by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2015 (Ghostlight) In Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs, Jerusha Abbott is an orphan whose intelligence prompts orphanage trustee Jervis Pendleton to pay…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 07:26PM
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Adding Machine by Michael Portantiere

Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2008 (P.S. Classics) You might think The Adding Machine, Elmer Rice’s 1923 expressionist drama, an unlikely candidate for musical adaptation. It’s a bleak tal…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 10:44AM
Sunday, September 18, 2016

An American in Paris by Michael Portantiere

Film Soundtrack, 1951 (MGM/Rhino-Turner/Watertower Music) In the 1990s, Turner Entertainment restored one of MGM’s greatest musicals, An American In Paris. The restoration turned up the st…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 09:53AM
Monday, August 29, 2016

Newsies by Michael Portantiere

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1992 (Walt Disney) Listening to the soundtrack recording of  this 1992 movie that starred a young Christian Bale (well before his days headlining much da…

SOURCE: castalbumreviews.com at 05:33PM

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