All stories by Bill Hirschman on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Scores of Cappies High School Awards Given in 20th Year by Bill Hirschman

Those who believe that theater is dying would have seen a vibrantly healthy future Tuesday when hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of teenagers and their families and friends cheered and …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:06PM

Report From New York: Stagecraft is, Indeed, Magical In Revamped Harry Potter Play by Bill Hirschman

In theatrical world when the tired complaint persists about reliance on chandeliers and helicopters, the revamped Harry Potter and the Cursed Child isn’t going to please those folks much. …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:12AM
Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Report From New York: ‘American Buffalo’ Again Dives Into the Nation’s Lower Depths by Bill Hirschman

In a cold analysis, nothing much actually happens in the narrative sense during  David Mamet’s 1975 dive into the social gutter of the 20th Century United States, the classic American Buf…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:03AM
Monday, May 16, 2022

FGO’s Unique Vision Of Handel’s Agrippina Is Humorous by Bill Hirschman

It’s unlikely that Handel imagined his Baroque opera Agrippina, rooted in the Roman transfer of power from Claudius to Nero, quite like this: Set in Regency England, staged with laughter a…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:03PM
Sunday, May 15, 2022

M Ensemble Sings the Harlem Blues for an Alabama Sky by Bill Hirschman

If it’s possible to capture the depth and breadth of a tumultuous vibrant time and place by just focusing on the intersecting lives of five ordinary people, in this case Harlem in 1930, th…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:06PM
Friday, May 13, 2022

Report From New York: Pitch Black Comedy ‘Hangmen’ Is Classic McDonough by Bill Hirschman

Report From New York: When the playwright is Martin McDonough, it is a given that there will be pitch black darkness inside the drama and copious gallows humor (cheap pun intended in this Br…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:18PM
Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Report From New York: How I Learned to Drive Remains a Harrowing Trip 25 Years Later by Bill Hirschman

The horror in the revival of How I Learned to Drive is only in the audience. The characters in this drama about child abuse almost never raise their voice, least of all the middle-aged victi…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:06PM
Monday, May 9, 2022

Carbonells Seek Noms For New Vinnette Carroll Award; Zoetic Names Finstrom Winners by Bill Hirschman

The Carbonells is soliciting nominations for the Vinnette Carroll Award that will be given out for the first time at the 45th annual ceremony in November, and Zoetic Stage has announced the …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:24PM
Sunday, May 8, 2022

Kim Ostrenko Gifts Benchmark Performance in The Sound Inside by Bill Hirschman

Kim Ostrenko’s performance under the direction of Keith Garsson in Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside at Boca Stage is simply one of the most outstanding we’ve seen in this banner year of ex…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:36PM

Dark, Funny Rollercoaster Ride Through Adolescence In Zoetic’s Our Dear Dead Drug Lord by Bill Hirschman

Miami native Alexis Scheer's Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, a stygian dark and terribly funny play about modern day adolescence executed by Zoetic Stage, is a stunning – a carefully chosen word …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:06AM
Friday, May 6, 2022

Damaged Souls Seek Redemption in New City Players’ Water by the Spoonful by Bill Hirschman

How do human beings in extreme pain provide compassion and support for each other when such connections risk even more pain alongside the possibility of resurrection? The answer is depicted …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:12PM
Thursday, May 5, 2022

Cuban Vote Captures Essence of Miami Politics, People, Places by Bill Hirschman

A fight-to-the-finish Miami-Dade mayoral campaign meets gentle romance, a bit of Shakespearean inspiration and lots of affectionate satire in The Cuban Vote by Carmen Peláez, commissioned b…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:42PM
Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Art is in the Eye of the Beholder in Empire Stage’s Production by Bill Hirschman

A respectable production of an English language translation of the multi award-winning play, Art, is on stage through May 15 in Empire Stage’s extremely intimate playing space in Ft. Laude…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:24PM
Thursday, April 28, 2022

GableStage’s Comedy “Boca” Would Gladden The Golden Girls by Bill Hirschman

GableStage takes a break from race relations and Arthur Miller to create Boca, a chuckle-fest as well-constructed and skillfully executed as any episode of The Golden Girls, the Mary Tyler M…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:03AM
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Main Street Players’ “Rapture, Blister, Burns” Misses Mark by Bill Hirschman

Main Street Players has gifted South Florida audiences with some memorable evenings such as a ferocious True West. But its current production of Rapture, Blister, Burn executed by earnest h…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:07PM
Sunday, April 24, 2022

FGO’s Fellow Travelers Depicts Gay Love In McCarthy Era by Bill Hirschman

Florida Grand Opera’s Fellow Travelers has no overweight heroines or bearded villains. This 2016 intimate-scale opera is set during the McCarthy Era when gays were hunted down. But this af…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:33AM
Friday, April 22, 2022

Hollywood’s Homophobic Hypocrisy Examined in The Code by Bill Hirschman

The soul-killing inherent in the film dream factory’s deconstruction and then sanitized reconstruction of its icons has been a popular topic, from 1932’s What Price Hollywood to four ver…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:36PM
Monday, April 18, 2022

Area Stage’s This Is Our Youth Examines A Lost Generation by Bill Hirschman

Area Stage Company travels back to 1982 on an exploration of the sociological jungle of Manhattan as born-rich 20-somethings give birth to the Me Generation in the issues oriented drama with…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:18PM
Friday, April 15, 2022

Critics’ Bestows Thousands of Dollars In New Play Award by Bill Hirschman

More than $40,000 awarded to four playwrights in the Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award. The post Critics’ Bestows Thousands of Dollars In New Play Award first…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:36PM
Monday, April 11, 2022

2022 Cappies Noms Announced by Bill Hirschman

The South Florida Cappies program honoring student achievement in high school theater and criticism, which had to present awards online last year, will return in a live gala celebration at 7…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:24PM
Sunday, April 10, 2022

New Look at SNL Behind the Scenes is a Work In Progress by Bill Hirschman

Not Ready for Prime Time, a play by Miamians Erik J. Rodriguez and Charles A. Sothers, have continued working on its script about the creation and early years of Saturday Night Live, postpon…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:54PM
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

You Still Can Have A Jellicle Ball at Strong Cats Tour In Broward by Bill Hirschman

There is still a lot of life in these Cats as the Broadway Across America tour at the Broward Center still manages to charm and, oddly, seem fresh as the various lithe, limber dancer fill th…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:42PM

Despite Fine Moments, Guys and Dolls Doesn’t Quite Land by Bill Hirschman

Despite being one of the greatest musicals of all time, Guys and Dolls always poses a difficult make-or-break challenge that determines if a production is mildly entertaining or sublime. So,…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:48AM
Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Dreams Form The Core Of Dramaworks’ Intimate Apparel by Bill Hirschman

Lynn Nottage’s incisive Intimate Apparel explores a dozen themes simultaneously and all viewed through the prism of race at the turn of the century. But this Palm Beach Dramaworks edition …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:36AM
Sunday, April 3, 2022

Sorry, Can’t Resist: PPTOPA’s Gleeful ‘Something Rotten’ Isn’t by Bill Hirschman

You don’t have to know that Sondheim and Webber share the same birthday to adore the broad send-up of musical comedy tropes melded with an equally wicked spoof of Shakespeare in PPTOPA's S…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:33PM
Friday, April 1, 2022

Maltz Reopens With Welcome Cons of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels by Bill Hirschman

Sometimes all you want out of an evening of theater is not Lear or Seurat. But just fun. Escapist laughter-laden fun. Dovetailing with the re-opening of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, the daffy …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:12PM
Thursday, March 31, 2022

Broadway Comes to Miami & Fort Lauderdale Next Season by Bill Hirschman

Some of the hottest ticket titles on Broadway right now will be within driving distance next season as the Broadway Across America tours stop off in Miami and Fort Lauderdale: Six, Hamilton,…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:54AM
Monday, March 28, 2022

Slow Burn Gives New Life To Matilda Musical by Bill Hirschman

Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Matilda is a lesson in theater education, showing how a regional director takes a successful Broadway show and road tour and makes it his own highly entertainin…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:18AM
Sunday, March 27, 2022

Post-Partum Woes Turn to Madness in Theatre Lab’s Bow Overactive Letdown by Bill Hirschman

Buckle up if you’re attending the world premiere run of Overactive Letdown at Theatre Lab as a new mother spirals out of control in a harrowing descent into madness. Crumbling under the po…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:48PM
Saturday, March 26, 2022

Ben Butler About Race Relations Gains Added Spin at Boca Stage by Bill Hirschman

The comedy-drama Ben Butler was meant to explore race relations when it was first produced in 2014. But this tale about a runaway slave seeking refuge on the cusp of the Civil War has taken…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:18PM
Monday, March 21, 2022

Island City Wrestles Challenging Suddenly Last Summer by Bill Hirschman

Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer presents a considerable challenge for theaters to pull off with its quirky characters, its quirkier premise and its total abandonment of theatrical…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:36PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic