All stories by Robert Shuman on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (154) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: To reproduce feelings you must be able to identify them out of your own experience. But as mechanical actors do not experience feelings they …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:03AM
Sunday, August 20, 2023

ART UNDER ATTACK: HOW RUSSIA DESTROYS UKRAINE’S CULTURAL HERITAGE by Robert Shuman

(Natalia Chekotum’s and Liza Pyrozhkova’s vidieo appeared in the Kyiv Independent, 8/8; Photo: Kyiv Independent.) Launched in February last year, Russia’s war against Ukraine has taken…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:42PM
Saturday, August 19, 2023

‘ENDGAME’ REVIEW – PROM 43, MUSIC BRINGS COMPASSION TO BECKETT’S AUSTERE DRAMA by Robert Shuman

(Tim Ashley’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/19; Dramatic pressure … Endgame. Photograph: Sisi Burn.) Royal Albert Hall, London For its UK premiere, György Kurtág’s opera faced…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:07PM
Wednesday, August 16, 2023

‘SHAKESPEARE’S LADIES AT TEA’ AND ‘SHAKESPEARE’S DEATHS’, FROM FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY—AT  THE 2023 LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (R by Robert Shuman

By Bob Shuman Who is this Shakespeare who needs to be banned in Florida public schools, who dared to write a play called Romeo and Juliet?  Was he decadent?  Was he warped?  Has he really…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:42AM
Sunday, August 13, 2023

PROM 36 A SPACE ODYSSEY: LPO/GARDNER REVIEW – “UNSETTLING AND AWESOME” by Robert Shuman

  PROM 36 A SPACE ODYSSEY: LPO/GARDNER REVIEW Listen (Tim Ashley’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/13. ) Royal Albert Hall, London Intense and finely focused performances of the Liget…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:50AM
Friday, August 11, 2023

CONCERNS OVER SEX CONTENT LEADS FLORIDA SCHOOLS TO PULL SHAKESPEARE by Robert Shuman

(Jeffrey S. Solochek’s article appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, 8/8; via the Drudge Report.) The big story: After Florida adopted its Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking standards i…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:10AM
Tuesday, August 8, 2023

SHAKESPEARE’S ‘LADIES AT TEA’ AND ‘SHAKESPEARE’S DEATHS’ TO PLAY 2023 LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL AT UNDER ST. MARKS, 8/3-8/20 by Robert Shuman

(Via Emily Owens, Emily Owens PR–rehearsal photo from Ladies at Tea.)       First Flight Theatre Company presents Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea or I Thought You’d Never Asp Written by…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:45PM
Monday, August 7, 2023

DARK NOON REVIEW – EXTRAORDINARY OUTSIDER VISION OF AMERICAN HISTORY by Robert Shuman

(Mark Fisher’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/7/2023. Only the merciless survive … Dark Noon. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod) Pleasance @ EICC, Edinburgh South African actors replay the …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 11:54AM
Tuesday, August 1, 2023

REIMAGINING ‘MADAME BUTTERFLY,’ WITH ASIAN CREATORS AT THE HELM by Robert Shuman

(Javier C. Hernandez’s article appeared in The New York Times and Japan Times, 7/27. Photo: Cincinnati Opera’s new production of “Madame Butterfly,” directed by Matthew Ozawa, frames…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:36PM
Sunday, July 30, 2023

***** DRUIDO’CASEY REVIEW – SEÁN O’CASEY’S DUBLIN TRILOGY IN A DAY IS A REVELATION by Robert Shuman

(Clare Brennan’s article appeared in The Observer, 7/30; Photo: ‘Ophelia-like’ Sophie Lenglinger as Nora, with Liam Heslin as Jack, in The Plough and the Stars. Photograph: Ros Kavana…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:17PM
Friday, July 28, 2023

FRANCE 24 TALKS TO THE FRENCH THEATRE DIRECTOR ORGANISING THE 2024 PARIS OLYMPIC CEREMONIES by Robert Shuman

(Marion Chaval’s, Magali Faure’s, and Eve Jackson’s article appeared on France24, 7/26.) Just over 100 years ago, painters, sculptors, writers and musicians battled for gold, silver an…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:23PM
Wednesday, July 26, 2023

NEW DAWN: THEATRE AFFIRMATIONS by Robert Shuman

NEW DAWN: THEATRE AFFIRMATIONS I got a show to do, remember, baby?  Oh baby, I got a show to do. (Dreamgirls) I’m all right, right now (from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle) I love my e…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:11PM
Tuesday, July 25, 2023

***** GRENFELL: IN THE WORDS OF SURVIVORS REVIEW – A MASTERPIECE OF FORENSIC FURY by Robert Shuman

(Mark Lawson’s article appeared in the Guardian, 7/20; Photo: Gripping … Sarah Slimani in Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors at Dorfman theatre, London. Photograph: Myah Jeffers.) Dorf…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:27PM
Monday, July 24, 2023

LOST PLAYS OF GERTRUDE ROBINS, BERNARD SHAW RIVAL, TO BE REVIVED A CENTURY ON by Robert Shuman

(Dalya Alberge’s article appeared in the Guardian, 7/23; Photo: Gertrude Robins, pictured in 1911: she depicted women’s often limited choices between second-rate marriages and independen…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:49PM
Sunday, July 23, 2023

REVIEW: DANCING WITH DICTATORS IN DAVID BYRNE’S ‘HERE LIES LOVE’ by Robert Shuman

(Jesse Green’s article appeared in The New York Times, 7/20; Photo: Jose Llana, left, and Arielle Jacobs as Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos in “Here Lies Love” at the Broadway Theater in M…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:14PM
Friday, July 21, 2023

LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, NY: ‘LADY CAPULET’ (BAREFOOT SHAKESPEARE COMPANY ) by Robert Shuman

(Via Emily Owens PR) Barefoot Shakespeare Company PRESENTS LADY  CAPULET    Written by Melissa Bell Directed by Emily Gallagher   Presented as part of the 2023 Little Shakespeare Festiva…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:09PM
Thursday, July 20, 2023

THE PLAY’S THE THING – BUT ITS SUCCESS DEPENDS ON THE THEATRE TOO by Robert Shuman

(Michael Billington’s article  appeared in the Guardian, 7/18.Photo: ‘The power to draw the audience together’ … the Swan Theatre at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon. Photograph: Tris…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:10PM
Tuesday, July 18, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (153) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: It is important to know what you are feeling on the stage, because it often happens that even the most experienced actors work out at home an…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:14PM
Monday, July 17, 2023

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND BRITISH VOICES TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT 77TH AVIGNON THEATRE FESTIVAL by Robert Shuman

(via France24, 7/14/2023) We bring you a special edition from the 77th international theatre festival in the southern French city of Avignon, where change is in the air under its new Portug…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:28PM
Sunday, July 16, 2023

NEW YORK THEATER BEHIND TRUMP ASSASSINATION STAGING OF ‘JULIUS CAESAR’ LAYING OFF 19 PERCENT OF STAFF by Robert Shuman

(David Ng’s article appeared on Breitbart, 7/15.) New York’s prestigious Public Theater — which staged the assassination of President Donald Trump in its infamous 2017 production of Sh…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:30PM
Saturday, July 15, 2023

RICHARD II IN A HOT TUB, MUCH ADO DONE ANEW: CANADA’S STRATFORD FESTIVAL PUTS SHOCKS INTO SHAKESPEARE by Robert Shuman

(Chris Wiegand’s article appeared in the Guardian, 7/4; Photo: Divine … Stephen Jackman-Torkoff as Richard II. Photograph: David Hou.) A disco king hits the dancefloor, Beatrice and Bene…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:09PM
Friday, July 14, 2023

HOW THOMAS LANIER WILLIAMS BECAME TENNESSEE by Robert Shuman

(Casey Cep’s article appeared in the New Yorker, 7/10,17/23; Photograph by Vandamm Studio © Billy Rose Theatre Division / NYPL for Performing Arts.) A collection of previously unpublished…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:22PM
Thursday, July 13, 2023

DATE RAPE DRUG PLAY SHOCKS TOP FRENCH FESTIVAL by Robert Shuman

(Rana Moussaoui’s article appeared on Barron’s, 7/12; via Drudge Report; Pictures by Clement Mahoudeau.) Brazilian performer Carolina Bianchi was herself raped after being drugged on a n…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:51PM
Wednesday, July 12, 2023

MILAN KUNDERA: THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING AUTHOR DIES AGED 94 by Robert Shuman

(Richard Lea’s and Sian Cain’s article appeared in the Guardian, 7/12 Photo: Questions, not answers … Milan Kundera in 2002. Photograph: -/AFP.) The Czech novelist found himself silenc…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:14AM
Tuesday, July 11, 2023

ALES PUSHKIN, BELARUSIAN ARTIST AND POLITICAL PRISONER, DIES IN PRISON by Robert Shuman

(from Radio Free Europe, 7/11; Photo: Ales Pushkin in his workshop in Minsk in June 2020.) Belarusian artist and political prisoner Ales Pushkin has died in intensive care under unknown circ…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:47PM
Sunday, July 9, 2023

IBSEN’S ‘EMPEROR AND GALILEAN’. PART 2: EMPEROR JULIAN (BBC DRAMA ON 3–LINK BELOW) by Robert Shuman

Listen Drama on 3 The second part of Ibsen’s epic two-part stage play telling the story of Julian the Apostate and his ill-fated attempt to abolish Christianity in the Roman Empire. In the…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:51PM
Saturday, July 8, 2023

GERMANY’S ETERNAL DISSIDENT: SINGER WOLF BIERMANN by Robert Shuman

(Laura Döing’s article appeared on DW, 7/7; Photo: Wolf Biermann in Cologne in November 1976: He didn’t even play his most critical songs — out of caution Image: Wilhelm Bertram/dpa/…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:01PM
Friday, July 7, 2023

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR THE 3RD ANNUAL ‘LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL’ PRESENTED BY FRIGID NEW YORK AUGUST 3-19 AT UNDER ST. MARKS by Robert Shuman

(via Emily Owens PR) PRESENTED BY FRIGID NEW YORK AUGUST 3-19 AT UNDER ST. MARKS  FRIGID New York has announced the schedule of performances for their 3rd annual Little Shakespeare Fest…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 07:10PM
Wednesday, July 5, 2023

THE TRAUMA OF CARY GRANT: HOW HE THRIVED AFTER A TERRIBLE CHILDHOOD – AS TOLD BY HIS DAUGHTER by Robert Shuman

(Emma Bockes’s article appeared in the Guardian, 7/5; Photo:  ‘All the neglect he suffered meant he made sure that that was not my life’ … Jennifer Grant. Photograph: Andrzej Lawnik…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:14PM
Tuesday, July 4, 2023

THE ANCIENT KYRGYZ PUPPET THEATER WHERE DANCING MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE STARS by Robert Shuman

(from Radio Liberty, 7/2.) A Kyrgyz artist is keeping alive a puppet theater tradition that dates back centuries. Esenbek Mairykov, 71, learned to carve his dancing mountain goats from his g…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:20AM
Monday, July 3, 2023

IBSEN’S ‘EMPEROR AND GALILEAN’, PART 1: YOUNG JULIAN (NOW ON BBC RADIO 3–LINK BELOW) by Robert Shuman

Listen  Henrik Ibsen’s epic two-part stage play was versioned by Ben Power for the National Theatre in 2011. Set in the 4th century AD, it tells the story of Julian the Apostate and his f…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:26PM

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
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