All stories by Bill Hirschman on BroadwayStars

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight At MNM’s A Funny Thing by Bill Hirschman

MNM Theatre Company’s delightfully silly production of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum is a musical that prides itself on broad low and often ribald humor, pratfalls, double…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:03PM
Sunday, November 24, 2019

Conscience And Culpability Are Focus Of Premiere ‘Watson’ by Bill Hirschman

A central facet of his premiere Watson at GableStage is depicting what may be the world’s first personal information disaster, a horrifying tragedy as American-licensed technology is sold …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:03PM
Friday, November 22, 2019

The Plot Escaped From Margaritaville, But Buffett’s Songbook Remains by Bill Hirschman

Escape to Margaritaville, the Jimmy Buffett musical at the Broward Center would work so much better as a concert version of the singer-songwriter’s infectious songs imploring you, no, dema…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 08:12AM
Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Mystery Author Tackles Deeper Mysteries Of Conscience In GableStage’s Premiere ‘Watson’ by Bill Hirschman

As the writer with 28 best-selling mystery novels, James Grippando is usually focused on whodunits. But the Florida author is about to see the world premiere of his first playscript, Watso…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:42PM

New ‘West Side Story’ Has Winning Strengths, But Weaknesses Too by Bill Hirschman

The West Side Story from the Prather family’s new Broadway Palm series at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center has so much to praise, yet, joins local productions to underscore how there…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:42PM
Sunday, November 17, 2019

Lipstick Is Exactly What It Wants To Be: A Silly, Stupid Sex Farce by Bill Hirschman

Island City Stage, which focuses on gay-themed work, apparently thought it was time to revive the genus of the British sex comedy with the world premiere of Lipstick, whose primary twist is …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:48PM
Saturday, November 16, 2019

Andy And The Orphans: Funny, Poignant And Unsettling by Bill Hirschman

Resulting from Down syndrome as an adult, Andy’s simple, blunt and truthful verbal reactions to the complex statements and relationships swirling around him slice through the theater space…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:33PM
Wednesday, November 13, 2019

There’s More To Johnny Cash’s Story In ‘Ring of Fire’ by Bill Hirschman

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash playing at Actors' Playhouse finds its entertainment in having performers, sing, dance, act and play the instruments much as with the company's succes…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:06PM
Monday, November 11, 2019

‘Lost Virginity Tour’ A Golden Years Trip Down Memory Lane by Bill Hirschman

The Lost Virginity Tour, produced by Pigs Do Fly Productions, tells of four senior women who take a roadtrip across the country to revisit the sites where they.... well, read the title.

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:36PM
Sunday, November 10, 2019

Report From New York: Joshua Henry’s Superb Performance Enhances Powerful Wrong Man by Bill Hirschman

Let’s get it out quickly because this show’s twice-extended off-Broadway run at the MCC Theater ends Nov. 24. The Wrong Man is a superbly wrought, profoundly affecting work, ranking up t…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:03PM
Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Wolves Is Complex, Filled With Dogged Determination by Bill Hirschman

The Wolves fits the bill for Zoetic Stage's Theater Up Close series. It's an up-close, navel gazer. Nine teenaged girls are part of a high school indoor soccer team that meets each Saturday.…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 12:36PM
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Riverside Brings Back The Era With Beehive The 60s Musical by Bill Hirschman

Riverside Theatre hits the mark for a designated demographic with its season opener, Beehive – The 60s Musical. The show is a musical revue of songs from the 1960s made popular by girl gro…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 08:48AM
Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Industrious Maltz Sinks Teeth Into Hoary Dracula Comedy by Bill Hirschman

In the prologue of Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s production of Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, the actors literally throw out the book—chucking their musty copies behind them with the satisfacti…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:42AM
Sunday, November 3, 2019

MND’s Bridge of San Luis Rey Is Highly Theatrical Journey by Bill Hirschman

In this post-9/11 time, we ruminate even more than during the Black Plague about the seeming randomness of blind fate or God’s inscrutable will — and wondering is there a meaning to life…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:03PM
Tuesday, October 29, 2019

We’re a Believer: Charming Shrek Lets Its Freak Flag Fly by Bill Hirschman

Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Shrek the Musical is pure unadulterated fun, not just youngsters in the audience watching familiar fairy tale characters cavort in atypical ways, or older kids …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 04:03PM
Sunday, October 27, 2019

Measure for Measure Delivers A Rousing ‘In the Heights’ by Bill Hirschman

Measure For Measure Theatre’s rousing production in Sunrise brings into focus that Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s musical is, at its heart, about the twin themes of dream…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:03PM
Sunday, October 20, 2019

Advice To The Wick’s Hot Shoe Shuffle: Don’t Stop Dancing by Bill Hirschman

To paraphrase A Chorus Line for the Wick Theatre’s Hot Shoe Shuffle: Dance 10, Books 3. Whenever this troupe of supremely talented terpsichoreans start tapping in precision sync, backed by…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:12PM
Thursday, October 17, 2019

National Black Theatre Festival Underscores Love Of Theater by Bill Hirschman

This past summer, tens of thousands of African-Americans from around the U.S. and other countries as well jammed 12 venues in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to savor more than 30 tragedies, m…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:33PM
Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Dramaworks’ Streetcar Delivers Own Scalding Vision Of Classic by Bill Hirschman

Even for Palm Beach Dramaworks, its A Streetcar Named Desire creates a category of its own with an emotionally scalding portrait of flawed human beings scraping each other raw until the ine…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:48AM
Saturday, October 12, 2019

Family Struggles With Autism In New City Players’ Falling by Bill Hirschman

Underneath, Falling is not just about a family dealing with the complex challenge of living with an autistic adult. New City Player’s profoundly moving production seems to be as much about…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:36PM
Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Forget The Film When Watching Dramaworks’ Own ‘Streetcar’ by Bill Hirschman

When tackling A Streetcar Named Desire, it’s impossible for artists to ignore the 1951 film that made a movie icon of Marlon Brando and provided the last great role for Vivien Leigh. But d…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 06:18PM
Monday, October 7, 2019

Harrowing Depiction Of Evil: An Evening With John Wayne Gacy by Bill Hirschman

You may find this hard to believe, but An Evening With John Wayne Gacy Jr., -- easily the most off-putting title for a theater piece in many years – is a surprisingly effective, harrowing …

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:33AM
Saturday, October 5, 2019

Boys Of A Certain Age Examines Gay Lives In The Trump Era by Bill Hirschman

Flawed as it is, few would place Boys of a Certain Age in the same ranks as The Normal Heart and The Boys In the Band. But Dan Fingerman’s script being presented by Empire Stage is an inci…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 02:33PM
Thursday, October 3, 2019

News Roundup: Dramaworks, Jan McArt / Lois Pope, Wick, Playgroup LLC, Slow Burn by Bill Hirschman

Lots of news about Palm Beach Dramaworks' new play festival, Lois Pope teams up with Jan McArt, Playgroup LLC to close, fundraisers for Slow Burn, GableStage and Insight for the Blind

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 09:48PM
Saturday, September 28, 2019

Blood, Beer And Toasters: Main Street’s Ferocious True West by Bill Hirschman

With the fearful ferocity of twin jackhammers running amok, the brothers of Main Street Players’ True West clash and crash, attack and retreat in an anguish-fueled release of pent-up frust…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 03:54PM
Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Funny & Poignant Grindr Mom Turns A Wife’s Life Inside Out by Bill Hirschman

Crucial to know about Grindr Mom is that while the heroine is a middle-class pearl-wearing politically conservative Mormon who volunteers once a week at the local school, “The Wife” as s…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:33PM
Monday, September 23, 2019

Wiesenthal Challenges Us To Prevent Tragedy Once Again by Bill Hirschman

Over and over, Simon Wiesenthal’s words spoken in a biographical play written a decade ago based on a man who died 14 year ago, words about events that occurred more than 75 years ago, tho…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 07:48PM
Saturday, September 21, 2019

Musical Boca Bound Is Totally For Condo Dwellers It Portrays by Bill Hirschman

The world premiere of the musical Boca Bound written by, about and for well-heeled senior condo residents of what is called here a “country club” summons up a raft of adjectives intermit…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 01:42PM
Friday, September 20, 2019

Silver Palm Awards To Honor 26 Recipients In November by Bill Hirschman

The South Florida Silver Palm Theatre Awards, founded twelve years ago to honor theatrical excellence in South Florida, has announced 26 individuals and organizations receiving the honor Nov…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 10:42AM
Thursday, September 19, 2019

Breaking News: Maltz Theatre Withdraws From Carbonells by Bill Hirschman

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, one of the state’s most artistically and fiscally successful companies, has withdrawn its upcoming shows from consideration for Carbonell Awards for the coming s…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 05:18PM
Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Matilda Will Charm The Kids, But Will Resonate With Their Folks by Bill Hirschman

Area Stage Company's Matilda is not really a children’s musical, although children will have a fine time when they are not storing up nightmarish images for future midnights. Matilda’s w…

SOURCE: Florida Theater On Stage at 11:54PM

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