All stories by FRANK RIZZO on BroadwayStars

Thursday, November 21, 2024

My Variety Review of the New Broadway Musical "Death Becomes Her" by Frank Rizzo

In the new Broadway musical “Death Becomes Her,” a so-so 1992 movie gets a stunning makeover. Headlined by Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and a slew of special effects, the film followed two …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:22PM
Thursday, November 14, 2024

My Variety Review of the New Broadway Musical "Tammy Faye" by Frank Rizzo

It takes more than a holy spirit and revivalist verve to make “Tammy Faye” divinely suited for musical theater. It would take a creative team knowing what their show wants to be: a campy…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:40PM
Sunday, November 10, 2024

Tony Todd, With Hartford Roots, Dead at 69 by Frank Rizzo

Sad news: Actor Tony Todd who had roots — and performed — in Connecticut has died at the age of 69 in California. I wrote several profiles on him — and saw his magnificent performance…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 07:56AM
Sunday, November 3, 2024

My Take: Off-Broadway's "The Counter," directed by David Cromer by Frank Rizzo

The show: “The Counter” by Meghan Kennedy at off-Broadway’s at the Laura Pels Theater in New York City. What makes it special?: I’d run to see whatever David Cromer directs. It also…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 12:26PM
Thursday, October 24, 2024

My Review: Adam Driver in Off-Broadway's 'Hold On To Me Darling' by Frank Rizzo

The show: “Hold On to Me Darling” by Kenneth Lonergan at Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre. What makes it special?: It stars Adam Driver, one of the hottest screen, stage and tele…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:24AM
Sunday, October 20, 2024

My Take: Broadway's "McNeal" Starring Robert Downey Jr. by Frank Rizzo

The show: “McNeal by Ayad Akhtar at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre. What makes it special?: It’s a new play by the Pulitzer Prize winner of “Disgraced,” as well as the Br…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 07:12PM
Friday, October 18, 2024

My Take: Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" Starring Jim Parsons by Frank Rizzo

The show: ”Our Town” by Thornton Wilder at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre. What makes it special?: The production stars Jim Parsons, best known for his TV role in the popular “The Bi…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 02:09PM
Friday, October 11, 2024

Hartford Stage Nearly Halfway Through $20 Million Campaign by Frank Rizzo

With theaters nationwide still staggering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hartford Stage announced today it is nearly halfway through the largest non-capital fundraising campaign …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:28PM
Monday, September 30, 2024

My Conversation with David Sedarias by Frank Rizzo

For David Sedaris, everything is fodder for his slightly twisty and sardonic view of life, whether it’s those annoying post-purchase surveys that flood our emails, the condescending nature…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:41PM
Sunday, September 29, 2024

My Variety Review: "The Hills of California" by Jeb Butterworth by Frank Rizzo

All production photos by Joan Marcus Jez Butterworth’s ambitious, captivating and richly rewarding domestic drama “The Hil…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:51PM
Friday, September 27, 2024

Sad New: Maggie Smith dead at 89 by Frank Rizzo

Sad news about the death of Maggie Smith. Her pre-Broadway performance in "Private Lives" in Boston in 1975 (which I saw nearly 50 years ago -- and wrote a show-off review for a suburban Mas…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:53AM
Saturday, September 14, 2024

Off Broadway: Douglas Lyon's Charming "Table 17" by Frank Rizzo

The show: “Table 17” at Manhattan Class Company in New York City. What is it?: A new play by Douglas Lyons, who last wrote Broadway’s “Chicken and Biscuits” What makes it special?:…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:04PM
Thursday, August 15, 2024

My Broadway Review of 'Once Upon a Mattress' Starring Sutton Foster by Frank Rizzo

The show: “Once Upon a Mattress” at the Hudson Theatre. What makes it special:? Another transfer from the New York City Center’s Encores! series to Broadway. Sutton Foster and Michael…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:55PM
Tuesday, July 30, 2024

My Variety Broadway Review: "JOB by Frank Rizzo

It’s no spoiler to say “JOB”, Max Wolf Friedlich’s electrifying synapse of play, features a highly stressed young woman pointing a gun at a therapist in his office. That’s how the …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:28PM
Sunday, July 21, 2024

Can Connecticut Theaters Be Saved? by Frank Rizzo

The site of the former Long Wharf Theatre By FRANK RIZZO It's Saturday night at the New Haven Food Terminal complex. The park…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:41AM
Thursday, July 18, 2024

My Variety Review: 'Choice' by Winnie Holzman at the McCarter by Frank Rizzo

Making life-altering decisions is no small matter, especially for the characters in “Choice,” Winnie Holzman’s provocative but imperfect play, which just completed a run at Princeton�…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:46AM
Saturday, July 13, 2024

My Afternoon with Dr. Ruth by Frank Rizzo

Sad news about the death of Dr. Ruth Westheimer at the age of 96. I remember fondly spending an afternoon with her in her Washington Heights apartment in NYCm in 2013 to advance a production…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 01:13PM

'Mystic Pizza" -- Back in Connecticut -- Is Now A Musical by Frank Rizzo

First "Mystic Pizza" was a hit film which launched Julia Roberts’ career, now it's a musical which will run at the Ivoryton Playhouse in Essex, just a 20 minute drive from the film’s nam…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:50AM

Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary by Frank Rizzo

A scene from “13” at the Norma Terris Theatre. Tucked away in the cozy Connecticut town of Chester, sits the Terris Theatr…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:13AM

Connecticut Critics Awards The Best of '23-'24 Season by Frank Rizzo

An innovative production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge at Long Wharf Theatre and a high-spirited, buoyant production of Summer Stock at Goodspeed Musicals took top honors at th…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:20AM
Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Some Bali-Ha'i Thoughts on 'South Pacific' at Goodspeed by Frank Rizzo

The show: “South Pacific” at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT. , through Aug. 11. What is it?: A Rodgers & Hammerstein musical based on James A. Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-w…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:17PM
Friday, May 24, 2024

Catching Up With Tony Kushner by Frank Rizzo

Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright of “Angels in America” and Steven Spielberg’s go-to screenwriter over the last 20 years, is never short of opinions t…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:40PM
Monday, May 13, 2024

Randall Beach Is a (Connecticut) People Person by Frank Rizzo

Randy Beach is a character witness. For more than 40 years the veteran journalist has chronicled some of Connecticut’s most colorful, passionate, and often unsung people, in his columns f…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:04PM
Monday, April 22, 2024

My Variety Review: New Musical "The Heart of Rock and Roll by Frank Rizzo

When a character in the new musical “The Heart of Rock and Roll” tries to convince his ex to leave her job at a factory that makes shipping materials, he is stunned: “Oh, my god. It’…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 10:35PM

My Variety Review: "Patriots" on Broadway by Frank Rizzo

In Peter Morgan’s tantalizing but disappointing new play “Patriots,” Boris Berezovsky is presented as a larger-than-life oligarch in a post-Soviet Russia who transforms Vladimir Putin …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:57PM
Saturday, April 20, 2024

My Variety Review: New Broadway Musical "Lempicka" by Frank Rizzo

To the list of larger-than-life, survivalist women in musical theater, add Tamara de Lempicka — but with an asterisk. The name of the Polish-born portraitist who died in 1980 might not be …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:55AM

My Variety Review: "Stereophonic" by Frank Rizzo

There’s a moment in David Adjmi’s play “Stereophonic” when a discordant, mid-’70s band-on-the rise hears one of its songs played back to them in the recording studio for the first …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:25AM
Thursday, April 18, 2024

My Variety Review: New Musical "Suffs" on Broadway by Frank Rizzo

A musical that captures the sweep of history in all its complexities without sacrifice of character or credibility is no easy feat.   But “Suffs,” which tells the story of the final pus…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 11:50PM
Sunday, March 31, 2024

Off-Broadway Review: "Corruption" by Frank Rizzo

The show: “Corruption” by J.T. Rogers at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre …

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 03:03PM

Jose Llana: Here Lies Pride by Frank Rizzo

It was an awkward moment for Jose Llana when he told his family that he would be starring in the new stage musical "Here Lies Love." But Llana would not be playing heroic Philippine politici…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:56AM

'Fellow Traveler' Jelani Alladin Is His Own Man by Frank Rizzo

When Jelani Alladin (pictured left) read the description of his character in the Showtime/Paramount + series “Fellow Travelers,” the romantic leading man of the stage musicals “Frozen�…

SOURCE: ShowRiz at 08:37AM

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