All stories by Frank Scheck on BroadwayStars

Thursday, August 8, 2013

First Date: Theater Review by Frank Scheck

Zachary Levi of TV's "Chuck" and Krysta Rodriguez star in this Broadway romantic musical comedy.read more

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter at 07:00PM
Monday, August 5, 2013

‘B’ shorts brings its A-game by Frank Scheck

A man and woman meet on a blind date. She’s a struggling freelance writer, he’s a struggling actor. Gradually — over potent cocktails and “Asian soul food” oddities like cornbread …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:42AM
Sunday, August 4, 2013

Point Break Live!: Theater Review by Frank Scheck

This wacky theatrical version of Kathryn Bigelow's cult film features its trademark silly dialogue and over-the-top action.read more

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter at 09:37AM
Friday, August 2, 2013

Off with their heads! by Frank Scheck

‘the King’s Whore” bills itself as “a modern/historical mash-up of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s debacle of a relationship.” But Rob Santana’s play — the first effort by …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:59PM
Thursday, August 1, 2013

Mystery takes a B’klyn stroll by Frank Scheck

We were told to meet at a phone booth at the Montague Street entrance to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, near the famous Low Mansion. There, a man in blue-rimmed glasses introduced himself a…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:48AM
Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Take off, Gipper! by Frank Scheck

In 1981, President Reagan famously fired some 11,000 air traffic controllers after they went on strike in defiance of their contract. Now, “I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan” is doing to hap…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:15AM
Thursday, July 25, 2013

Lady & the tramp by Frank Scheck

Charlie Chaplin would be proud: The Lincoln Center Festival’s “Murmurs,” conceived and directed by his daughter Victoria Thiérrée Chaplin and starring his granddaughter Aurélia Thi�…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:11PM
Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Nawlins flavor on-key, but a note short on plot by Frank Scheck

You can practically feel the humidity wafting from “Story-ville.” Set in the final days of the famed New Orleans neighborhood — a notorious red-light district that’s also considered …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:49PM

Let It Be: Theater Review by Frank Scheck

This theatrical concert by an expert Beatles cover band follow in the heels of such similar predecessors as "Beatlemania" and "Rain"read more

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter at 07:00PM

Girls serve up angst in NYMF's "VOLLEYGIRLS" by Frank Scheck

SUSAN BLACKWELL of "[title of show]" winningly plays an English teacher pressed into coaching them.

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 04:45PM
Monday, July 22, 2013

Girls serve up angst by Frank Scheck

After the cheerleader musicals “Bring It On” and “Lysistrata Jones,” it’s nice to see girls finally take the court. And they do so — winningly — in “Volleygirls,” about a h…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:39PM

'Marry Harry' isn't worth the commitment by Frank Scheck

A romantic comedy that’s light on both romance and comedy, this New York Musical Theatre Festival offering concerns the travails of Little Harry (Robb Sapp), a chef who yearns to leave his…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 04:49PM
Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Designated Mourner: Theater Review by Frank Scheck

Wallace Shawn stars in a revival of his landmark 1996 play about a bourgeois society of intellectuals who fall victim to a totalitarian regime.read more

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter at 01:53PM
Saturday, July 20, 2013

Abe’s war, bravely sung by Frank Scheck

For a conflict responsible for the most casualties in American history, the Civil War had one heck of a soundtrack. “Dixie,” “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” “The Battle Cry of F…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:16AM
Wednesday, July 17, 2013

All the whirl is a stage by Frank Scheck

If the actor’s nightmare is finding himself onstage without knowing his lines, the theatergoer’s is realizing he’s actually part of the play. That’s the dizzying idea behind “roger…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:41PM
Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Weary knights lose their ladies in Howard Barker's 'The Castle' by Frank Scheck

In Howard Barker’s “The Castle,” weary soldiers return home from the Crusades to discover that their wives are hardly awaiting them with open arms. Indeed, the women have gone on to es…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 02:54PM
Friday, July 12, 2013

Suicidal stranger 'Julian Po' is the talk of the town by Frank Scheck

A drifter wanders into a small town and changes the lives of its inhabitants. No, it’s not “Picnic” or “The Rainmaker” but “Julian Po,” the strange, intriguing new musical, par…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 02:49PM
Thursday, July 11, 2013

One cold, really beautiful corpse by Frank Scheck

For a show that touches on sadomasochism, self-mutilation and disfigurement, “Shun-kin” is awfully decorous. Director Simon McBurney’s Complicite theater production is as gorgeous and …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:49PM
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Still sexy, 200 years later by Frank Scheck

The sexual gamesmanship in Christopher Hampton’s “Les Liaisons Danger-euses” has never seemed quite so viciously amoral as it does in the hands of John Malkovich. The actor, who made …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:39PM
Saturday, July 6, 2013

Getting the Willys by Frank Scheck

Just how universal is Willy Loman, the doomed soul of “Death of a Salesman”? We’re about to find out, with “This Great Country,” a new theatrical reimagining of Arthur Miller’s 1…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:22AM
Thursday, July 4, 2013

Get off Scot-free by Frank Scheck

With more than 2,000 new shows each summer, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world. But if you don’t feel up to flying off to Scotland and digging through …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:52PM
Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Queer doings in the choir by Frank Scheck

The young man onstage is singing the traditional spiritual “Trust and Obey.” But just as we’re settling into his sweet, lilting voice, we hear the taunts of “Sissy,” “F - - - - t…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:37PM
Wednesday, June 26, 2013

‘Banana Monologues’ has very little appeal by Frank Scheck

No, “The Banana Monologues” isn’t a male rejoinder to Eve Ensler’s feminist classic. Rather, in this solo turn, John R. Brennan tells the story of an ill-fated relationship starring …

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

Sextet fails to score by Frank Scheck

‘Swapping is the new cheating,” declares one of the partner-swapping marrieds in Jeff Gould’s play. Perhaps, but one thing’s for certain: “It’s Just Sex” is the same old sex c…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:35PM
Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Tiny troupes try to break the ice at theater fest by Frank Scheck

When the Ice Factory Festival opens its 20th season tonight, no one will be happier than Robert Lyons, its artistic director: That’s because he’ll finally get to see the shows. The Obie…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:21PM
Monday, June 17, 2013

Ready, willing and disabled by Frank Scheck

The acclaimed troupe Theater Breaking Through Barriers offers something you won’t find anywhere else: Its works revolve around disability — which is only appropriate, since some of its m…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:58PM
Sunday, June 16, 2013

Dysfunction at ‘Home’ by Frank Scheck

A famous American composer proves an unlikely mediator between a violinist dad and his basketball- loving daughter in “Charles Ives Take Me Home.” Jessica Dickey’s three-character fant…

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

‘Ulysses’ re-Joyced in ‘Gibraltar’ by Frank Scheck

Time to fess up. You never did get around to reading James Joyce’s epic-length “Ulysses,” did you? You meant to, but something else always came up . . . like life. Fortunately, Patrick…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:39PM
Saturday, June 15, 2013

All sorts of shorts by Frank Scheck

There’s a serious “ick” factor at the final roundup of Ensemble Studio Theater’s “34th Marathon of One-Act Plays.” From the elderly gentleman groping his wife’s breasts to a bl…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:02AM
Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Actors go postal by Frank Scheck

It's a post office — New York’s main branch — on its way to becoming an Amtrak train station. For now, though, the historic James A. Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue is also a theat…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:49PM

Fine work about failing biz by Frank Scheck

J.B. Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls” was a surprise hit when it was revived on Broadway nine years ago. Now comes Priestley’s “Cornelius,” which vanished after its 1935 West End…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:56PM

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