Thursday, January 5, 2012
Heidi Schreck and Adam LeFevrePhoto: Carol Rosegg After her life in New York falls apart, Susan Pierce (Heidi Schreck) ends up in Plainview, KS, teaching science to high schoolers whose town…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:00PMFriday, December 30, 2011
2011 continued my personal trend of seeing many more Off-Off-Broadway shows and considerably fewer Broadway Shows, with Off-Broadway holding steady. In fact, of over 70 shows, only eight wer…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:37AMSaturday, December 17, 2011
Is it too much to say that Stephen Sondheim is our Shakespeare? I don't think so. His range of topics is epic; he's endlessly surprising; his work is deep and textured enough for dozens of i…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:00PMReviewing Barbara Cook is as easy as one, two, three.1. Barbara Cook is an incomparable interpreter of theAmerican Songbook.2. Barbara Cook lives her songs as freshly and honestly thehundret…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:32PMMonday, December 12, 2011
What happens when jazz and musical theatre singers and siblings Ann Hampton Callaway (Swing) and Liz Callaway (Baby) decide to explore the music of the sixties and early seventies? You get t…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:32PMSunday, December 4, 2011
Anton Chekhov considered The Cherry Orchard to be a comedy. Its first director, Stanislavski, believed it was a tragedy. Since its first production over a hundred years ago, directors have b…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:11PMTuesday, November 22, 2011
[spoilers below]I'm not exactly sure what Thomas Higgins is trying to say in his intriguing play Wild Animals You Should Know (currently at the Lucille Lortel Theatre). He's clearly interest…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:30PMOnce upon a time, it was considered risky for performers to play homosexual characters because people might think that they were homosexual. Once upon a time, homosexual characters were path…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:01PMMonday, November 14, 2011
Why would King Lear do something as foolish as give up his kingdom? What if he were secretly aware that he has early signs of dementia? Sam Waterston seems at first to take this approa…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:19PMSunday, November 13, 2011
There are few things as purely joyful as watching an excellent version of a superb show. The New York University Tisch Drama Stageworks production of Violet fits that description perfectly, …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:22PMFriday, November 11, 2011
The CD of the Sweet Bye and Bye is a complete and total treat. The people at the invaluable PS Classics have not only presented us with the world premiere recording of a musical by Vernon Du…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:07PMMichael John LaChiusa is unique among musical writers. He often writes the book and the lyrics and the music for his shows, and his interests are wide and varied: perception, fame, sex, lack…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:05PMWednesday, November 9, 2011
Is it fair to have high expectations of a preview? Medium expectations? Any expectations? What if the preview ticket is full priced? Discounted?Previews live in a gray area, particularly in …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:37PMTuesday, September 27, 2011
As I traveled to the Clurman Theatre to see the Keen Company's revival of Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky, I took a mental tour through other Wilson plays I've seen: Hot L Baltimore, Balm in Gile…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:44PMThursday, September 22, 2011
Where do I start? Okay, here's where I start:The record-breaking performance of A Chorus Line. This review/description by Frank Rich will tell you why. I get goosebumps just reading about it…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:38PMSome of the Show Showdowners, myself included, are going to answer this question. We'd love to hear your answers too. Just click on "comments" below. Thanks!
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:45PMTuesday, September 20, 2011
Photo: Steven MenendezThe four musicians are elegant and graceful. The bass player is cool and contained. The piano and drum players banter with the singer. The trumpet player may be her lov…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:01PMWednesday, September 14, 2011
There’s no way I could limit myself to one “star in the making.” New York theatre is just too full of riches. I did however manage to limit myself to seven. Lemp and KautzSarah Lemp an…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:31PMTuesday, September 13, 2011
Laila Robins, J. Smith-Cameron and Maryann PlunkettPhoto by Joan MarcusWhile watching Richard Nelson's Sweet and Sad at the Public Theatre, I found myself thinking of how much I admire Tony …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:15PMWednesday, September 7, 2011
The "him" that Kate Baldwin loves is the amazing Sheldon Harnick, lyricist of such classic shows as She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Apple Tree, and honored guest on this CD. And w…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:09PMMonday, August 29, 2011
One of the best things about seeing a musical Off-Off-Broadway is hearing unmiked voices--when you can hear them. Unfortunately, only some of the cast members in the Sweet&Tart-Art of Wa…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:25PMWednesday, August 24, 2011
Ryan Worsing, Charlotte d'Amboise, and Michael Cusumano (Photo: Jeremy Daniel)
With its 6138th performance on August 22, Chicago became the fourth longest running show in Broadway history.&n…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:17PMWednesday, August 10, 2011
Gershwin Hotel
After watching the Amoralist production of HotelMotel, a pair of one-acts on site at the Gershwin Hotel, I was left with two questions. For Pink Knees on Pale Skin, written a…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:00PMThursday, August 4, 2011
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cheyenne JacksonPhoto: Kerry LongIf you are at all interested in musical theatre you must see One Night Stand, a documentary about four short musicals that are written,…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:31PMKatharine Houghton, Loren Dunn, Robert EliPhoto: Ben HiderOn YouTube you can find faux coming attractions that morph famous films into different genres. The Dark Knight becomes a Pixar carto…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:38PMSaturday, July 23, 2011
Jessica Delbridge and Allison Hirschlag(Photo: Eli Sands)In Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare meets Beckett and a good time is had by all--except Rosencrant…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:57PMMonday, July 11, 2011
Death Takes a Holiday is a lovely, old-fashioned musical, with an inviting score by Maury Yeston (which sounds somewhat like his Titanic). The frequently charming book by Thomas Meehan and&n…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:22PMMonday, July 4, 2011
Jessica Hecht (photo: T. Charles Erickson) Jessica Hecht has everything an actress could need to be a brilliant Blanche DuBois: talent, sensitivity, compassion, and intelligence. That's why …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:22PMWednesday, June 29, 2011
The magic of Zarkana begins as soon as you enter the gorgeous lobby at Radio City Music Hall. It may take a moment to notice amid the hubbub of the crowd, but there's a white-faced muscular …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:00PMThursday, June 23, 2011
[spoilers below] Sol is in trouble. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot write anymore. He can drink. He can make a mess. He can whine. He can speak with great eloquence. He can have a ner…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:41PMSunday, June 19, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor as Elizabeth TaylorThe one-woman show Finding Elizabeth Taylor started late today because of technical difficulties. At one point, the star and playwright, Elizabeth Taylor,…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:38PM 
