
By Alix Cohen Donna McKechnie explodes onto the stage, arms shooting out like fireworks. “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim), usually a finale, is here a wake-…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:41AMBy Alix Cohen Adam Gopnik, master of the caffeinated essay (forty years at The New Yorker) and iconoclastic books, navigates culture with fluid elegance and restless curiosity. At the same t…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:24PMBy Alix Cohen The thespian walks onto a stage empty but for a chair and ghost light. “It still smells like stale coffee and opening night nerves…” He drops his bag breathing in familia…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 10:04AMBy Alix Cohen Anna (Danielle Ryan), Denise (Kate MacCluggage) and Cora (Carmen M. Herlihy) were at school together and shared rooms. Over the years, life distanced them. Cora, the neediest o…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:15PMBy Alix Cohen Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the early Romantic era, famous from childhood, known for his melodic elegance and clarity. This i…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:23AMBy Alix Cohen Billie Dawson (Sally Mayes) has returned to Livingston, Texas to clear out her mama’s house after she passed. Her Southern-influenced accent—closer to Louisiana and Arkansa…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:00PMBy Alix Cohen “Jason Graae explores his Graae-ness” is an accurate description for this utterly charming, biographical collage of wit, music and storytelling- not just patter. Graae is a…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:04PMBy Alix Cohen The Grand Ole Oprey began in 1925 as Nashville’s “WSM Barn Dance”, a simple radio show of fiddle tunes and folk songs. A joking, on-air remark gave it the formal name. Qu…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:30PMBy Alix Cohen Brian Stokes Mitchell’s life and career span both artistic triumph and personal resilience. Onstage, he rose to the top of Broadway with standout performances in Ragtime and …
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:33AMBy Alix Cohen Alvin Ailey transformed modern dance by centering Black experience, spirituality, and community in works that speak to universal emotion. His legacy continues to expand access,…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:50PMBy Alix Cohen What makes Sunset Circus different? “Two things: the story and the intimate environment. Ours is a theatrical show (on stage) in which the circus acts help tell the story. Ph…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:20PMBy Alix Cohen Remember the Golden Age of musicals whose plots had a linear beginning, middle and end; thwarted lovers, apparent villains, drama, comedy relief, and lush music? Monte Cristo a…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:28PMBy Alix Cohen Described by friends and associates as gentle, observant, ironic, and emotionally reserved, playwright Anton Chekhov exhibited those qualities in his work. The artist called on…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:23AMBy Alix Cohen This play sneaks up on one, its hero does not. Every minute Jordan Matthew Brown is onstage as Zack is captivating. The actor creates a sweet, bumbling, childlike young man for…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:44PMBy Alix Cohen British director Leigh Carver (Max Baker) practically salivates over having secured Academy Award winning Jay Conway (Michael Broderick) to star in his upcoming production abou…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 06:02AMBy Alix Cohen “Maybe if we stopped chasing grace, we’d learn to love the process of becoming Grace.” Elizabeth Addison apparently has no theater and barely any music training. Like Irv…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:52AMBy Alix Cohen Married 7 years, Bobby (Schoen Hodges) and his second wife, Elise (Leigh Wulff) are on the ropes. Her catering company has imploded; his assistant professorship replaced by sub…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:06AMBy Alix Cohen Charles Strouse (1928-2025) composed music for 14 Broadway musicals, garnering three Tony Awards. An additional 16 musicals were produced elsewhere. Just out of school, playing…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:00AMBy Alix Cohen Henry Darger was an American outsider artist and reclusive writer whose work remained largely unknown during his lifetime. Born in Chicago in 1892 his mother died when he was y…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:52AMBy Alix Cohen The longevity industry in the United States—anti-aging medicine, supplements, biotech research, medical spas, and diagnostics—is worth tens of billions of dollars per year.…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:18AMBy Alix Cohen Lillias White is an amalgam of Etta James, Mae West and Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream.) She sizzles her way onstage with a defiant “I’m Getting’ Along Alright” (Bob…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:22AMBy Alix Cohen Mel Tormé (1925-1999), known as “The Velvet Fog”, impressed audiences and peers alike with his silken voice, innate swing, improvisational skill, and sophisticated arrange…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:29PMBy Alix Cohen Tin Pan Alley originated in the late 19th century on West 28th Street in New York City, where music publishers and songwriters clustered to produce and promote popular sheet mu…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:01AMBy Alix Cohen Kenneth Ard was in bed when he received a text from a former mentee. Cats: The Jellicle Ball was coming to Broadway. Ard had originated the role of Macavity in the 1982 Winter …
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:02AMBy Alix Cohen Prejudice against Chinese women in corporate America often operates at the intersection of race and gender, where stereotypes about both Asian identity and femininity shape wor…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:45AMBy Alix Cohen Playwright Eugene O’Neill had a strong personal connection to the sea from his time as a sailor and an interest in New England’s whaling culture. Though he never went whali…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:21PMBy Alix Cohen Do NOT be put off by title or fight images. There’s nothing gratuitously violent in playwright Ngozi Anyanw’s chronicle of sibling trauma, abandonment and reconciliation. B…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:00PMBy Alix Cohen Parched opens with the recording of an actual public service announcement about conserving water and the song “Waiting on the Rain. ” Lighting (Tyler Kieffer) and Scenic De…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:34PMBy Alix Cohen It’s the 1950s. We meet Charlie, a regular guy with a penchant for swing music, draped across an old (full sized) radio console. A fedora covers his face. One day he spots Ru…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:17AMBy Alix Cohen Thirty five year ago, Laurie Krauz and MD, Daryl Kojak had a regular gig at Danny’s Skylight on West 46th Street. In an effort to recreate those “casual” appearances, the…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:58AMBy Alix Cohen Playwright Brian Dykstra has a habit of sneaking up on one with narratives so topically incisive they startle. His work is a prime example of the aphorism “language holds pow…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:48PM

