Sunday, June 29, 2025
Frank Loesser (1910–1969).June 29, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
One hundred fifteen years ago today, composer-lyricist Frank Loesser was born on the Upper West Side o…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 01:00PMThursday, June 26, 2025
Review by Alex Eichholz . . . With Emmanuelle Mattana’s new play Trophy Boys, Danya Taymor once again cements herself as a whisperer for the Gen Z voice in theatre. Fresh off the directi…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:18AMTuesday, June 24, 2025
Advertisement for the one-night only “Hello, Dolly” in Concert at Carnegie Hall.June 24, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
Last night at Carnegie Hall, those in attend…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 06:47PMFriday, June 20, 2025
By Ron Fassler . . . Actor-Director Brandon J. Dirden has made something of a home for himself at Red Bank’s Two River Theatre over the past decade or so. A New Jersey resident himself, he…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:03PMThursday, June 19, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . The first glimpse that this was going to be a special night at 54 Below honoring the 50th anniversary of the original production of Chicago was that everyone wa…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 07:05PMWednesday, June 18, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . “I’m booked and blessed,” shouted Stephanie Pope in a joyous moment during her autobiographical show at 54 Below Tuesday night. Having taken a self-impo…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:39PMTuesday, June 17, 2025
Review by Alex Eichholz . . . With no background reading on its subject matter or any expectations, Jordan Tannahill’s new play Prince Faggot, which opened tonight at Playwrights Horizons…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:06PMFriday, June 13, 2025
Review by Samuel L. Leiter . . . No, Jean Smart, the star of Call Me Izzy, now at Broadway’s Studio 54, does not portray a Borough Park yeshivah boy in this one-woman play. The Izzy she p…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:15AMThursday, June 12, 2025
Paul Deo Jr as Bertram and Anique Clements as Helena in “All’s Well That Ends Well.”June 12, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
This piece ran yesterday on the Theater…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 10:52AMWednesday, June 11, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . The recently closed Broadway production of Othello, which starred Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, had been charging the record-breaking top ticket price o…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:52PMTuesday, June 10, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . If someone was in the mood this week on June 9th to celebrate Cole Porter’s birthdate, then if they headed to West 44th Street in Manhattan, their wish would ha…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:06PMMonday, June 9, 2025
Photo taken from my seat in the Front Mezzanine at Radio City Music Hall last night.June 9, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
The Tony Awards have been broadcast on nation…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 03:49PMTuesday, June 3, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . For more than forty years, playwright Donald Margulies has been delighting audiences with thought-provoking plays on a range of subjects and issues. The recipient…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:01PMMonday, June 2, 2025
By Ron Fassler . . . Satirical comedy has been around a long time (Plautus, anybody?) which often means contemporizing Golden Oldies is essential so we can be in on the jokes. Of late, playw…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:01PMThursday, May 22, 2025
Performing in a cabaret setting can be accomplished successfully in a variety of ways. With someone like Marilyn Maye, who’s put in the hours and is still going strong at ninety-seven, you…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:07PMTuesday, May 20, 2025
By Ron Fassler . . . For someone who has put themselves front and center entertaining audiences for nearly fifty years, the question “Who is Richard Skipper?” still has an air of mystery…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:27AMFriday, May 16, 2025
Charles Strouse (1928–2026).May 16, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Composer Charles Strouse died yesterday at the age of ninety-six, just shy of his ninety-seventh birt…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:29AMSaturday, May 3, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . For more than a few years now, scenic design on Broadway has been obsessed with video projections. And it’s here to stay, too. Sometimes the effects are tacky, …
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:37PMFriday, May 2, 2025
Interview by Ron Fassler . . . Though Ann Kittredge is well known as a consummate cabaret singer, she is also a lifelong performing artist who has performed on Broadway and Off-Broadway, …
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:06PMThursday, May 1, 2025
“Buena Vista Social Club” has reason to celebrate with its ten Tony nominations announced today.May 1, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
It’s always a thrill for me to…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 01:27PMMonday, April 28, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . On the wings of angels comes The Billy Stritch Trio for a six-performance engagement at Birdland Jazz Club. Joined by Michael O’Brien on bass and Eric Halvorson…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 06:26PMReview by Ron Fassler . . . At the age of twelve, I began weekly sojourns into Manhattan from my home on Long Island with the mission of seeing every Broadway show possible. Keeping strict r…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:15PMSunday, April 27, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . With the Tony Awards deadline fast upon us, two final shows are slipping in under the wire, Dead Outlaw and Real Women Have Curves, both opening tonight (I’l…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:49PMFriday, April 25, 2025
A pensive Al Pacino, circa the 1970’s, his most defined decade as an actor.April 25, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
I’ve written about him before, but there’s alwa…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:50AMThursday, April 24, 2025
By Ron Fassler . . . Having made her Broadway debut at the age of eight as a replacement in the title role of Matlida at the Shubert Theatre, actress Fina Strazza has returned to the nei…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:20PMTuesday, April 22, 2025
Donna McKechnie onstage at 54 Below in her new Sondheim show.April 22, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
In her current three-performance engagement at 54 Below, the amazin…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 04:50PMMonday, April 14, 2025
Chita Rivera and Dick Van Dyke perform “Rosie” in “Bye Bye Birdie” (1960).Producer Edward Padula was worried. He liked the show he was working hard to raise money for, but he was ta…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 10:28AMSunday, April 13, 2025
Eleven of the twelve beauty contestant combatants in JR2 Spotlight Musical Theatre Company’s production of “Smile” (Photo by Russ Roland).April 13, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 06:57PMFriday, April 11, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . One time, at the finish of one of the gatherings in his honor that Stephen Sondheim received regularly in his later years, the master composer-lyricist took to th…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:56PMThursday, April 10, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . When a truly old-fashioned musical like Boop! The Musical opens, offering a beatific heroine, dazzling choreography, and hummable tunes that send you out into t…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:40PMWednesday, April 9, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . A dozen or so years ago, when journalist Patrick Bringley found himself unsure of what to do with the rest of his life, his restlessness caused him to quit his hi…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:17AM 
