All stories by FRANK SCHECK on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Got rhythm, got music — could ask for more by Frank Scheck

‘The City Club” has everything you’d want in a 1930s-set musical: a deeply flawed nightclub-owner hero, long-limbed chorus girls in a frequent state of undress, vicious fedora-wearing …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:48PM

Review: Emily Bergl: NY I Love You by Frank Scheck

The pixiesh performer applies a distinctly modern stamp to a surprising range of material in her superb cabaret show at the Café Carlyle.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 02:30PM

‘Fat Camp’ plus-size entertainment by Frank Scheck

‘Glee” meets “Hairspray” in “Fat Camp,” a diverting musical about a group of overweight teens who find love and friendship at Camp Overton, where “You’ve got nothing to gain …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:33AM
Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Football horrors tackled by Frank Scheck

The most haunting character in “Headstrong” isn’t onstage. He’s Ronnie, a 35-year-old ex-football player who killed himself after sustaining head injuries while playing in the NFL.Hi…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:20AM
Friday, April 27, 2012

Review: Leap of Faith by Frank Scheck

Raul Esparza is one of the few leading men who can carry a Broadway musical, but even his formidable talents are adrift in Leap of Faith. This musical adaptation of the little-seen 1992 Stev…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:33AM
Thursday, April 26, 2012

Review: The Columnist by Frank Scheck

In his first significant effort since his Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, playwright David Auburn delivers a biographical drama about a once famous figure little known today: Joseph A…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:38AM
Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Review: Nice Work If You Can Get It by Frank Scheck

The dissolute playboy played by Matthew Broderick in Nice Work If You Can Get It is frequently inebriated, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be in a similar state to enjoy the slight ch…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:43AM
Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Review: Ghost the Musical by Frank Scheck

 The current spate of Broadway musicalizations of hit movies hits another nadir with Ghost. This adaptation of the 1990 Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore film is mainly notable for its extravag…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 03:56AM
Monday, April 23, 2012

A toast to family horror by Frank Scheck

‘I sense bad vibes,” someone says early on in “Festen (The Celebration),” and, boy, is she on target, as a 60th-birthday party turns into a maelstrom of horrific accusations and lite…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:30PM

Review: A Streetcar Named Desire by Frank Scheck

The new Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire presents a particular dilemma. Its multiracial cast could well attract new audiences for this seminal 20th century dra…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 02:54AM
Friday, April 20, 2012

Review: Clybourne Park by Frank Scheck

Its Pulitzer Prize not withstanding, Clybourne Park still seems to me a better idea for a play than it actually is. Bruce Norris’ dark comedy, which has now arrived on Broadway after h…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:32AM

Gives new meaning to ‘Roll’ play by Frank Scheck

So many plays seem arbitrary, as if the writer were rolling dice to decide what happens next. But “Die: Roll To Proceed” cuts out the middle-man. In Joe Kurtz’s endlessly variable, int…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:14AM
Thursday, April 19, 2012

‘Ninth’ outing Philly awful by Frank Scheck

The opening line of “Ninth and Joanie” is “It’s dead out . . . there’s nobody nowhere” — and boy, is that the truth. The characters in Brett C. Leonard’s suffocating drama ar…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 01:22AM
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Review: One Man, Two Guvnors by Frank Scheck

  With the notable exception of Noises Off, theatrical farce is far more often labored than amusing. But One Man, Two Guvnors, newly arrived on Broadway from London’s West End, is…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 11:37PM
Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Review: In Masks Outrageous and Austere by Frank Scheck

Tennessee Williams certainly doesn’t make it easy to be generous.   The common perception about the legendary playwright’s later works is that they were sad reflections of …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:37AM
Sunday, April 15, 2012

Poignant memories make worthy ‘Divorce’ by Frank Scheck

The Civilians, the downtown documentary theater troupe, have tackled such socially and politically charged topics as the evangelical movement and Brooklyn’s controversial Atlantic Yards pr…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:57PM
Friday, April 13, 2012

Review: Evita by Frank Scheck

“Tasteful” is not a word that springs to mind when thinking about Eva Peron, and it shouldn’t when it comes to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Evita either…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:14AM
Thursday, April 12, 2012

Review: Magic/Bird by Frank Scheck

If you’re going to write a play about two legendary sports figures it would help if more than one of them was interesting. Such is the dilemma of Eric Simonson’s second attempt t…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:54AM
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Review: Clint Holmes: This Thing Called Love by Frank Scheck

The singer brilliantly juxtaposes and combines the work of Cole Porter and Paul Simon in his wonderful new show at the Cafe Carlyle.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00AM
Friday, April 6, 2012

All’s Will, ends well by Frank Scheck

If this whole showbiz thing doesn’t work out, Simon Callow would make a great professor. The British performer, best known here for such films as “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” just br…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:49PM
Thursday, April 5, 2012

Finely tuned ‘Strad’ by Frank Scheck

One of the two characters in “The Morini Strad” is a violin restorer who loves what he does. Watching him painstakingly repair a damaged Stradivarius is to see a true craftsman at work. …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:19AM

Icelandic love story frozen by whimsy by Frank Scheck

At one point during “Out of Iceland,” Lea DeLaria, playing a male troll named Thor, steps onstage in a swan outfit and belts out “Bali Hai” in Icelandic. And that’s one of the even…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:14AM
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Review: End of the Rainbow by Frank Scheck

It may be time to let Judy Garland rest in peace. The beloved entertainer has been a never-ending subject of fascination since her untimely death. Since then, she’s been portrayed on s…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:14AM
Monday, April 2, 2012

Review: Gore Vidal's The Best Man by Frank Scheck

You may be wondering why Gore Vidal’s politically-themed drama The Best Man needed another revival a mere twelve years after its last Broadway outing. The better question is why hasn&#…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:37AM

Even in death, Michael Jackson’s a thriller by Frank Scheck

There’s a surreal quality to Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour,” which played this weekend at Newark’s Prudential Center, and it’s not just because its…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:47AM
Friday, March 30, 2012

Review: Newsies by Frank Scheck

It’s a hard knock life for the newsboys in Newsies, the stage adaptation of the flop 1992 Disney musical film that has become a cult favorite. When the ragtag group of orphans and runa…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:47AM
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Review: Now.Hear.This by Frank Scheck

Those impish wags from [title of show] are back to their meta-theatrical tricks in their new, similarly whimsically titled new musical. Starring Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenst…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:54AM
Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Review: Regrets by Frank Scheck

Rising British playwright Matt Charman reveals a fascination with the darker aspects of ‘50s era American society in Regrets, now receiving its world premiere from the Manhattan Theatr…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:52AM
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Soft-soaping a real horror story by Frank Scheck

Holocaust deniers are a reprehensible lot. But they can be transfixing. That’s the uncomfortable message one takes away from “The Soap Myth,” presented by the National Jewish Theater.…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:36AM
Monday, March 26, 2012

Review: 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by Frank Scheck

The last time I checked, incest between a brother and sister was still considered relatively abhorrent.   So it naturally comes as a surprise that the Cheek by Jowl production of John …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:11AM
Sunday, March 25, 2012

Simon’s ‘Lost’ proves quite a find by Frank Scheck

When Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” opened back in 1991, all three of its leads — Mercedes Ruehl, Irene Worth and Kevin Spacey — won Tony Awards. Now it’s the children’s hour.…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:40PM