All stories by Bob Rendell on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"Light Up The Sky" in NJ by Bob Rendell

If anyone knew the legendary chaos and aggravation of opening a new show on the road in preparation for Broadway, it was Moss Hart.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:03PM
Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"The Last Days of Mickey and Jean" Bickford Theatre in New Jersey by Bob Rendell

Richard Dresser certainly knows how to engage our emotions and tickle our funny bones. With "The Last Days of Mickey and Jean," he has come up with a witty and compact little comedy which is…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:40PM
Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"Newsies The Musical" at Paper Mill Playhouse by Bob Rendell

Disney's "Newsies The Musical" has roared into the Paper Mill Playhouse in a sharp, snazzy, complex production which thrillingly integrates book, music and lyrics, choreography, scenery and …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:41AM
Sunday, September 25, 2011

"Donna Orbits the Moon" - New Jersey Rep by Bob Rendell

Andrea Gallo is a talented, vivacious and charming actress. This certainly comes through as she employs her charms to try to bring life to the world premiere of Ian August's overly contrived…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:48PM

"Much Ado About Nothing" - Two River Theatre, NJ by Bob Rendell

Director Buntrock's view of the play has led him to tone down the level of exuberance and farcicality usually seen in productions of "Much Ado." The comedy is still amusing, but it never is …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:47PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011

"Ten Cents a Dance: The Music and Lyrics of Rodgers and Hart" by Bob Rendell

The man sits down at the piano and plays some notes from "Blue Moon" as five women, identified in the program as Miss Jones One through Five, appear at the top of the staircase and descend s…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:51AM
Saturday, September 17, 2011

"Othello" - Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey by Bob Rendell

It is the clear and thoughtful approach that director Bonnie J. Monte has taken to the exposition leading up to "Othello"'s grand climaxes that distinguish the production at hand.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:59PM
Sunday, September 11, 2011

"Hannah" at New Jersey's Premiere Stages by Bob Rendell

annah Senesh was a young Jewish woman who fled from Hungarian anti-Semitism and emigrated to Palestine in 1939. There, she first joined the Haganah, and, thereafter, she enlisted in the Brit…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:23PM
Friday, August 12, 2011

"Accidental Death of an Anarchist" at Shakespeare Theatre of NJ by Bob Rendell

Very few of the pro-Communist, anti-American plays of the Vietnam War area that were particularly popular among young people were sufficiently artful or insightful to be successfully produce…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:40AM
Thursday, July 28, 2011

"Follow Me to Nellie's" - Premiere Stages in Union, NJ by Bob Rendell

"Follow Me to Nellie's" is the new play by Dominique Morisseau now playing in a developmental production at Premiere Stages. Although not the freshest or best constructed of such efforts, it…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:18PM
Sunday, July 24, 2011

New Jersey Premieres for Two FringeNYC Successes by Bob Rendell

"The Judy Holliday Story," enthusiastically received at last summer's FringeNYC is receiving its official world premiere at the New Jersey Repertory Theatre ... The Theater Project informs u…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:44PM
Thursday, June 30, 2011

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" - Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey by Bob Rendell

When word gets out that the play is back in such fine fettle, I expect that grateful and appreciate New Jersey families will be flocking in droves to see the thoroughly entertaining, artisti…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:48PM
Friday, June 17, 2011

"The Misanthrope" at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey by Bob Rendell

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey returns to the stage in fine fettle with the opening production of its 2011 season, The Misanthrope, Moli�re's witty and insightful seventeenth century …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:02PM
Sunday, May 22, 2011

The God of Carnage Shines in Spirited, Rapier Sharp Production by Bob Rendell

Yasmina Reza has a great gift for sophisticated, semi-absurdist dialogue which hilariously skewers the self-satisfied, self-aggrandizing, (until recently) rapidly expanding very upper middle…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:35PM

Musical Sleeping Beauty Wakes Cleverly Updates Classic Fairy Tale by Bob Rendell

Even as it now stands, Sleeping Beauty Wakes is a most intelligent and entertaining musical which is well worth a destination trip to Princeton. However, it would be a shame if the creative …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:23PM
Wednesday, May 11, 2011

New York 1821: The African Company Presents Richard III by Bob Rendell

The Theatre Project (in its last production at Union County College) is presenting a heartfelt production of The African Company Presents Richard III, an imaginative recounting by Carlyle Br…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:45AM

Amazingly Deceptive Night Train Speeds into Long Branch by Bob Rendell

The less that you know about Night Train before you board the better that you will enjoy it. Even telling you how or why it works, or even the genres which it encompasses, will reduce your p…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:45AM
Sunday, May 8, 2011

I Hate Hamlet: Pleasant and Likely to Please by Bob Rendell

Paul Rudnick's 1991 Broadway comedy I Hate Hamlet is a pleasant, gracefully written, gently humorous, old-fashioned comedy. Rudnick has written sharper and better plays, including at least f…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:28AM
Thursday, May 5, 2011

Curtains Old Fashioned Murder Mystery Musical Comedy Lavishly and Lovingly Revived at Paper Mill by Bob Rendell

As with Paper Mill's lavish 2007 production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Curtains is a co-production with Houston's Theatre Under the Stars. The benefits of such collaborations will b…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:41PM

When the World Trade Center Became The Tallest Building in the World by Bob Rendell

Is it possible to contain the monumental story of the more than decade long struggle to build the World Trade Center in a conventional two act play? This is a difficult question to answer. H…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:39PM
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Review - "The Bald Soprano" by Bob Rendell

The Bald Soprano is currently being revived, sort of, by Teaneck's Garage Theatre. Director Michael Bias has written a new translation and adaptation which moves the setting from a mid twent…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:05PM
Monday, April 25, 2011

Neil LaBute Trilogy Makes a Soft Landing with reasons to be pretty by Bob Rendell

reasons to be pretty is not the most theatrical or dramatically lacerating of the Neil LaBute trilogy (with The Shape of Things and Fat Pig) on immature and hurtful behaviors among romantica…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:57PM
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Enchanting April a Perfect Fit For the Spring Season by Bob Rendell

Enchanted April seems to be a property for all seasons. It began its life as a 1922 English novel by Elizabeth von Arnin which was exceptionally popular in England and the United States. It …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:49PM
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011

Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart Revived at the McCarter by Bob Rendell

For much of the evening, this reincarnation of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning play is not as engaging and buoyant as it might have been.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:42PM

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