All stories by FRANK SCHECK on BroadwayStars

Monday, April 25, 2011

Broadway Expands its Stage With Movie Theater Shows by Frank Scheck

If you can't come to Broadway, Broadway is going to come to you.That's the philosophy behind the upcoming nationwide movie theater showings of two current Broadway shows.

SOURCE: Backstage at 01:27AM
Friday, April 22, 2011

Review: Jerusalem by Frank Scheck

Considering his brilliant comic turn earlier this season in the revival of La Bete and now his titanic performance in Jez Butterworth's new play Jerusalem at the same theater, we might as we…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:45AM
Thursday, April 21, 2011

Review: Sister Act by Frank Scheck

There’s fun, if not musical comedy heaven, to be found in Sister Act, the new Broadway musical adaptation of the hit 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg. Featuring plenty of talent bot…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 10:32AM
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Review: Clint Holmes by Frank Scheck

The charismatic performer delivers a wonderfully entertaining show at Feinstein's at Loews Regency.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 09:58AM

Review: High by Frank Scheck

That former sexpot Kathleen Turner, who so memorably raised temperatures in such films as Body Heat and Crimes of Passion, has become a formidable presence in middle age. Her body thickened …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:33AM
Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Review: Sleep No More by Frank Scheck

Attention, theatergoers. Sitting in a seat and watching a show is so yesterday.   The truth of that statement is well demonstrated by Sleep No More, the wonderfully immersive theatrica…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:53AM

Nothing novel in this comedy by Frank Scheck

Heavy drinking, vicious cat fights and some hot girl-on- girl action would seem the perfect ingredients for a reality TV show. That all that and more are perpetrated by a women's book clu…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:41AM
Monday, April 18, 2011

Review: Wonderland by Frank Scheck

Down the rabbit hole indeed.   Wonderland is the sort of horrifically bad Broadway musical that doesn’t come along too often these days. Based on-- you guessed it—AliceR…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:26AM
Friday, April 15, 2011

'Western' circus a gold mine by Frank Scheck

The Wild West gets even wilder in "Boom Town," the new children's show by the clever Cirque Mechanics troupe. It's set in an 1860s mining town that's literally a springboard for circus ac…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:54PM

Review: War Horse by Frank Scheck

Stage wonders of the most magisterial sort are delivered in War Horse, the hit London production that has been remounted by the Lincoln Center Theater. This epic drama about the bond between…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:45AM
Thursday, April 14, 2011

A puppetry team Equus to the task by Frank Scheck

There are puppets, and then there's Joey -- the tail-flicking, snorting, galloping star of "War Horse." It's almost impossible to believe he's just cane and cloth and metal. "It's up-t…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:14PM
Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Review: The Motherf**ker With the Hat by Frank Scheck

The Motherf**ker With the Hat has at least two things going for it right off the bat. The first is that marvelously profane--albeit generally unprintable--title. The second is the coup of ha…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:21AM
Sunday, April 10, 2011

Drama's not all the rage by Frank Scheck

You'll never hear "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" the same way again after seeing "Born Bad." The traditional gospel hymn takes on ominous overtones in this frustratingly abstract drama abo…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:07PM
Friday, April 8, 2011

Take advantage of rich 'Benefactors' by Frank Scheck

Basuto Road. That South London address is con stantly invoked like a mystical chant in Michael Frayn's "Benefactors," now receiving a sterling revival by the Keen Company. This bleak 1984 co…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:05PM
Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Review: Can't Help Lovin' by Frank Scheck

Tony Award winner Lonette McKee's new cabaret show at the Oak Room offers both lustrous singing and awkward patter.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00PM
Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Promising performance a keeper by Frank Scheck

'I made her a promise, I will not speak," the central character repeatedly vows in Douglas Maxwell's play "The Promise." But speak she does -- and for 90 engrossing minutes, Joanna Tope d…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 01:15AM
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

'Tomorrow' is only day-to-day by Frank Scheck

With all the relationship dramas and mu sicals playing out on city stages, it's a wonder couples' therapists have anything left to do. New case in point: the York Theatre Company's "Tomor…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:45PM
Monday, March 28, 2011

Macbeth doesn't cast much of a spell by Frank Scheck

That Shakespeare describes the three witches in "Macbeth" as "hirsute" wasn't lost on the Theatre for a New Audience, since the meddlesome crones in its new revival are played by shaggily be…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:41AM
Saturday, March 26, 2011

Literature wit brains by Frank Scheck

Considering its main characters are Martin Luther, Doctor Faustus and Hamlet, "Wittenberg" seems about as exciting a prospect as audi ting a graduate school lecture. But the Pearl Theatre's …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 08:09AM
Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Written by Shakespeare? It's Bard to tell by Frank Scheck

There's a fascinating mystery unfurling onstage at the Classic Stage Company, and it has little to do with the play itself. The issue is whether "Double Falsehood" is really a long-lost w…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:51PM

Odd couple by Frank Scheck

It’s hard not to be excited about the return of “Marie and Bruce,” particularly with Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley in the title roles. Wallace Shawn’s scathing comedy about a failing…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:58AM
Monday, March 21, 2011

Just the music is of note by Frank Scheck

No matter how much ten der loving care's been lavished upon it, the 1951 musical "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" stubbornly refuses to bear fruit. The Peccadillo Theater Company's new revival has…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:39PM

Relatively wonderful by Frank Scheck

There aren't many plays that can simul taneously pull off rau cous comedy, poignant emotion -- and the most memorable encounter with a bear since "The Winter's Tale." But "Kin," which ope…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:37PM
Saturday, March 19, 2011

‘Cheers’ to new Gomez by Frank Scheck

Roger Rees is on a roll. The Welsh actor, writer and director will slip into Gomez Addams’ spooky shoes in Broadway’s “The Addams Family” starting on Tuesday. It’s a high-profile r…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:35PM
Friday, March 18, 2011

Ibsen: unorthodox -- and intriguing by Frank Scheck

It's not often that a produc tion of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" begins with a Purim party. But that's the case in "A Doll House," presented by 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company. Transplant…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:01PM
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Teddy's tale shocking, but grin and bear it by Frank Scheck

The terror suspect is considered a threat to society -- "the mastermind of a global conspiracy" responsible for thousands of crimes, including bombings and mass murder. He also happens to…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:35AM
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The 'Spy' that talked too much by Frank Scheck

There's not much to do in limbo except talk. And talk. And talk. And that's exactly what the three historical characters in "Spy Garbo" do. By the end of this long-winded evening of philosop…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:57AM
Sunday, March 13, 2011

Nerve Griffin by Frank Scheck

'Let's talk about the 'Real House wives,' " says Kathy Griffin, con spiratorially. And for the rest of her shamelessly titled "Kathy Griffin Wants a Tony," which opened its very brief run on…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:34PM

No EMTs Required by Frank Scheck

“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” may never get around to officially opening on Broadway. But no fewer than three new Spider-Man musicals opening this week are willing to go where that $65…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:49AM
Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Murky Irish stew by Frank Scheck

Any doubts that the Irish are in love with words are quickly dispelled by "Mimic." The sheer torrent of language that Raymond Scannell spews out in his one-man show will leave you numb and b…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:20AM
Monday, March 7, 2011

Little pleasure in 'Treasure' by Frank Scheck

The swashbuckling pirates of "Treasure Island" burst into song often enough to make it feel like a musical. But despite repeated choruses of "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum," this new adaptati…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 01:08AM