All stories by Bill Hirschman on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

A Musical Beauty 'Pageant' Like None You've Seen " Probably by Bill Hirschman

The musical comedy Pageant at Island City Stage delivers a lush array of talented contestants in carefully coifed wigs and gowns -- except they're all men. The post A Musical Beauty 'Pageant…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:13PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 24, 2022

Attend the Tale Once Again of Sweeney Todd at PPTOPA by Bill Hirschman

But the complexity of Sweeney Todd with tongue-twisting lyrics and a breakneck score is, far more difficult to master than most civilians appreciate. So render props to Pembroke Pines Theatr…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:55AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 23, 2022

Director Explores Reinventing Jersey Boys for the Maltz by Bill Hirschman

When director-choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge agreed to lead the Maltz Jupiter Theatre's edition of the much-seen Jersey Boys, the challenge was to invest the familiar production with a f…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:03PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 22, 2022

Sensory-Rich, Physicalized Production of Mlima's Tale by Bill Hirschman

Zoetic Stage's Mlima's Tale is a theatrically-lush indictment of illegal ivory trafficking and shared responsibility for the slaughter of animals, not so much for the artistic trinkets that …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:07PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 21, 2022

Milk and Honey Is Charming Musical, But Very Much the '60s by Bill Hirschman

Unabashed charm is not a quality one associates with modern musicals, but it is the predominant and reasonably satisfying virtue if you take the Wick Theatre's time machine back 61 years to …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:03PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Slow Burn and Seymour Feed Audrey II One More Time by Bill Hirschman

Don't feed the plants! Once again, nebbishy Seymour just won't listen, so we get another evening of wackiness in Slow Burn Theatre's edition of Little Shop of Horrors. The post Slow Burn and…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:33PM[SHARE]

Oscar Wilde Rises Again In Thinking Cap's Celebration by Bill Hirschman

A love of language and a love of theatricality meld in Thinking Cap Theatre's ingeniously staged re-interpretation of The Importance of Being Oscar, a celebration of Oscar Wilde. The trio of…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:25AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 16, 2022

Generation Clash Helps Fuel 4000 Miles at Dramaworks by Bill Hirschman

Sometimes, the worthwhile reason to see Palm Beach Dramaworks' mounting of 4000 Miles, the satisfying treat is watching the vibrating depiction by up-and-comer Gabriell Salgado of a deeply …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:07AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 13, 2022

Six Gets The Royal Treatment by Bill Hirschman

The energetic, sexy Six definitely delivers the royal treatment"a lively score, strong singing and a can't miss story. And the opening night audience at the Broward Center were more than rea…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:33AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The Opponent Is In Ourselves at African Heritage Cultural Center by Bill Hirschman

One of the great truisms of human nature is that often our greatest opponent is ourselves. So while the drama The Opponent is set in a boxing ring where an young fighter and his trainer spar…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:25AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Corrected List of Carbonell Noms Has Many Changes by Bill Hirschman

A significantly corrected list of 2021-22 Carbonell Awards nominations was released Monday encompassing added nominees, removed nominees, substitutions and recalculations from the list distr…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:43PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 10, 2022

In Fine Performance, Misery's Annie Wilkes May Seem More Familiar Today Than You Recall by Bill Hirschman

An unintended resonance echoes in Empire Stage's production of Misery that Stephen King likely did not quite foresee. In a world where some people steadfastly, even violently believe whateve…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:33PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 6, 2022

Conolly Adds Dramaworks Role to Seven Decade Career by Bill Hirschman

Patricia Conolly is one of the most prolific actresses you've likely never heard of. But you've very likely seen her: 3 times as Blanche, 1 as Stella, 2 as Hedda, 16 Shakespearean heroines…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:03PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 27, 2022

2021-22 Silver Palm Awards Announced; Gala Set Oct. 17 by Bill Hirschman

A familiar slate of names and talents have been announced as recipients for the newly reconfigured Silver Palm Awards celebrating honoring South Florida theater artists. As with last year, a…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:49PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 26, 2022

Main Street Players' Topdog/Underdog Is Slow Motion Shattering Drama by Bill Hirschman

Main Street Players' version of Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog rewards the patient patron is watching a slow-motion shattering of two brothers struggling with institutionalized racism, po…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:13PM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 25, 2022

Theatre Lab's 'Red Riding Hood' Entertains More than Just Kids by Bill Hirschman

So Allison Gregory's Red Riding Hood is a delightful hoot in which Theatre Lab has mounted a production meant to enrapture young theatergoers, but also liberally peppered with jokes, asides …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:03PM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 15, 2022

Recreating A Family is Central to Larsen's Dramedy "The Actors" by Bill Hirschman

Savor an unqualified success with playwright-actor Ronnie Larsen's The Actors. Copious laughs dominate a seemingly silly sit-com situation, but they recede (though never disappear) as the hu…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:49PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Carbonells Name Winners of George Abbot Award and Others by Bill Hirschman

An array of artists and administrators who have helped build South Florida into a nationally-recognized regional theater hub will receive the Carbonell Awards' highest honors this fall. Amon…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:03AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 5, 2022

Bent's Horrors Go Beyond Homicidal Homophobia; Asks What Would You Do If Targeted by Bill Hirschman

Bent deserves honor for putting recognizable human beings amid Hitler's decimation of homosexuals during the Holocaust " and re-reminding the public of this horror. But rising above the gend…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:19PM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 27, 2022

Can't Tell You Why, But Savor 'Now and Then' When You Can by Bill Hirschman

I am begging every critic colleague, everyone who has seen Actors' Playhouse's Now and Then to NOT give away anything! One of the many pleasures in this drama laced with humor is watching th…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:24PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 26, 2022

Diversity Inside Identity Is Central Issue In Fade At GableStage by Bill Hirschman

Fade predictably indicts talent succumbing to ambition, but what's special is how the verbally intense script infuses an insider's incisive depiction of a diversity within modern Latinx life…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:54PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Not So Old as Time: Visionary, Urgent Deconstruction of Beauty and the Beast by Bill Hirschman

Area Stage's Giancarlo Rodaz's visionary, deeply moving new production is still Beauty and the Beast, but it's as radical a restaging as John Doyle's Sweeney Todd. The post Not So Old as Tim…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:48AM[SHARE]
Monday, August 15, 2022

Coconut Grove Playhouse Project Once Again 'Full Steam Ahead,' But Timeline and Ultimate Cost Unknown by Bill Hirschman

Miami-Dade County's long-aborning plan to resurrect the historic Coconut Grove Playhouse is once again underway at full throttle after navigating a complex maze of legal challenges that ende…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:24PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 7, 2022

'one in two' is More Updated Report in the War on HIV/AIDS by Bill Hirschman

More current than the classic AIDS plays written three decades ago, Donja R. Love's 'one in two' examines the challenges of with HIV-positive when talk shows have ads for pills that make the…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:54PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 30, 2022

Playwright-Actor Deray Tells of Real Inner Struggle in Premiere of Educating Asher by Bill Hirschman

Eytan Deray's courageous world premiere Educating Asher at Empire Stage " courageous not only because it has been drawn from the marrow of his being as playwright, but courageous because he …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:54PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 23, 2022

Main Street Players' Facile Black Sheep a Surreal Struggle by Bill Hirschman

Main Street Players struggles bravely to conquer Lee Blessing's satire on race and privilege in Black Sheep, but stumbles on tonal uncertainty. and fails to reach the script's potential. The…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:33PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 18, 2022

Four Decades On, Evita Still Resounds With Relevance by Bill Hirschman

So when the political player at the center of a 1978 musical is a conscienceless, ambitious, charismatic and manipulative "populist" with a media background, 2022 audiences should be forgive…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:48PM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 17, 2022

Country Fusion Pioneer Hank Williams' Rise and Collapse Glow in Playhouse's Lost Highway by Bill Hirschman

A raft of country classics are interspersed in this clear-eyed yet affectionate bio-musical Hank Williams: Lost Highway at Actors Playhouse tracking the rise and collapse of the music legend…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:54PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 15, 2022

84-Year-Old Clown Ruben Rabasa Leads Quirky Comic Ride by Bill Hirschman

In the 84-year-old Ruben Rabasa, a tall skinny but gnome-like looking creature brimming with life and humor, GableStage audiences are treated to a wild and quirky interaction with this winni…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:48PM[SHARE]
Monday, July 11, 2022

Immigrants' Journey Captured in Glorious Song and Story in Miami New Drama's Papa Cuatro by Bill Hirschman

Rarely has the immigrants' connection to their past and future been so fully realized in a passionate embrace as in this premiere of Papá Cuatro at Miami New Drama. It is, by turns, alter…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:42PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 8, 2022

The Merchant of Venice Reinterpreted Through Lens of Race, Time and Place by Bill Hirschman

Darius Daughtry and Grace Arts Center reimagine The Merchant of Venice in 1940s Fort Lauderdale to examine tensions when when infighting exists within the African American community. The pos…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:33AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off