All stories by Joel Benjamin on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Ain’t Done Bad by Joel Benjamin

Jakob Karr conceived, choreographed and directed his full-length dance/drama, "Ain’t Done Bad" currently heating up the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center just wes…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:12PM
Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Introdans: Energy (triple bill) by Joel Benjamin

The Netherlands-based dance troupe Introdans (Roel Voorinthoff, artistic director) exploded onto The Joyce Theater stage in an aptly titled program, "Energy," making a very welcome return to…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 07:25PM

Titanic by Joel Benjamin

The tapestry Stone weaves with his multitude of characters—too many to mention here—is always fascinating in its subtle details.  Each person stands on his or her own helped by superb p…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:42PM
Friday, June 7, 2024

Party Clown of the Rich and Famous & The Hungry Mind Buffet by Joel Benjamin

There’s so much fascinating material in "Party Clown of the Rich and Famous" and its companion compendium of four short works, "The Hungry Mind Buffet" that it pains me that the works aren…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:07PM
Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Christopher Caswell: Listen to My Heart by Joel Benjamin

Christopher Caswell: "Listen to My Heart" took the audience into his confidence as he opened up about his personal life: friends, loves, children and, of course, show business.  His show ha…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:13AM
Monday, May 20, 2024

Chris Caswell: Listen to My Heart by Joel Benjamin

Christopher Caswell: Listen to My Heart took the audience into his confidence as he opened up about his personal life: friends, loves, children and, of course, show business.  His show had …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:49PM
Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Bettye and the Jockettes Spinning Records at the Holiday Inn by Joel Benjamin

Christie Perfetti Williams’ genial new play "Bettye and the Jockettes Spinning Records at the Holiday Inn" transports the audience back to the moment Elvis Presley became an international …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:26AM
Monday, May 13, 2024

The Heart of Rock and Roll by Joel Benjamin

"The Heart of Rock and Roll" at the James Earl Jones Theatre is one of the more pleasant entries in the jukebox musical derby.  Using the musical catalog of Huey Lewis and the News, Tyler M…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:44PM
Thursday, May 9, 2024

Mother Play, A Play in Five Evictions by Joel Benjamin

"Mother Play," though based on Vogel’s own life, is her most schematic, more an outline barely fleshed out with lots of details rather than the intense emotional revelations of her earlier…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:49PM
Sunday, May 5, 2024

Mary Jane by Joel Benjamin

The play is an expression of the quiet whirlwind within Mary Jane’s soul, exquisitely expressed by the warm McAdams, surrounded by the boundless support of the others. Director Anne Kauffm…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:34PM
Friday, May 3, 2024

Suffs by Joel Benjamin

The transfer to Broadway has brilliantly expanded the show.  The new production designed by Riccardo Hernández (scenery), Paul Tazewell (costumes), Lap Chi Chu (lighting) and Charles G. La…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:27PM
Saturday, April 27, 2024

Stereophonic by Joel Benjamin

David Adjmi’s "Stereophonic" at the Golden Theatre, a transfer under the auspices of Playwrights Horizons, is a minutely detailed, almost minute-by-minute recreation of a recording session…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:59PM
Saturday, April 13, 2024

Dali’s Dream by Joel Benjamin

The four patients’ stories occupy the bulk of "Dali’s Dream" in an uneven stream of oddball activities which divert the plot from the more important consideration of the Freud/Dali inter…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:03PM
Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Oh, Mary! by Joel Benjamin

No one should be sacrosanct or above satirical treatment, not even our heroes.  Everyone has feet of clay.  Cole Escola in their huge hit "Oh, Mary!" at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in Green…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:28PM
Friday, April 5, 2024

Travels by Joel Benjamin

"Travels" at Ars Nova isn’t just a story of the many places James Harrison Monaco has been.  That’s part of it, the most superficial part. "Travels" is far more:  a deep look at the pe…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:28PM
Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Stalker by Joel Benjamin

Peter Brynolf and Jonas Ljung, two coolly elegant Swedes—who wrote the show with Edward Af Sillén (also the show’s director)—perform one mind-boggling feat after another, fed by infor…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:08PM
Friday, March 29, 2024

Orson’s Shadow by Joel Benjamin

For those interested in both theatrical history and the lives of our former artistic heroes, Pendleton doesn’t disappoint, even if he exaggerates and manipulates the facts a bit.  He does…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:44PM
Wednesday, March 27, 2024

The Look of Love (Mark Morris Dance Group) by Joel Benjamin

"The Look of Love" was filled with Morris’ least complex choreography, relying on repetition, walking, running and soft leg extensions along with simple arm gestures.  Considering the sop…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:56AM
Monday, March 25, 2024

Dongpo: Life in Poems by Joel Benjamin

Dongpo’s travels through life is set forth in the lovely poems—projected in Chinese script and in English—full of observations of nature, sad inner monologues and thoughts intimating t…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:45PM
Thursday, March 21, 2024

Doubt: A Parable by Joel Benjamin

In this Roundabout/Scott Ellis production, Amy Ryan’s Sister Aloysius (stepping in for the originally cast Tyne Daly) comes across as less absolute in her suspicions while Liev Schreiber�…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:23PM
Sunday, March 17, 2024

Fair Winds and Winds of War by Joel Benjamin

Kahn has a good ear for the subtleties of each character and the period.  However, "Fair Winds" doesn’t handle all the major themes smoothly and the use of the narrator sometimes feels li…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:42AM
Friday, March 8, 2024

Pontus Lidberg: “On the Nature of Rabbits” by Joel Benjamin

How the metaphor of rabbits fit into this was puzzling, yet the dreamlike (nightmarish?) rabbit imagery was the strongest visual idea and pervaded the work, from a toy stuffed bunny to grote…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:54PM
Wednesday, March 6, 2024

The Maid and The Mesmerizer by Joel Benjamin

Lynn’s dialogue is astute and subtle, following the heartbeat of this strange, but understandable couple lifting it out of soapiness and melodrama.  She has written a very modern drama. .…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:14AM
Sunday, March 3, 2024

A Sign of the Times by Joel Benjamin

This York Theatre Company production at the New World Stages, following a presentation at Goodspeed Musicals in 2016, shoehorns these songs into a book by Lindsey Hope Pearlman from a story …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:52PM
Thursday, February 29, 2024

This is not a time of peace by Joel Benjamin

"This is not a time of peace" has a stream of consciousness feel effectively handled by the director Jerry Heymann. There is never any confusion about who is who and what they represent des…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 07:05PM
Monday, February 26, 2024

Jelly’s Last Jam (New York City Center Encores!) by Joel Benjamin

Does the New York City Center Encores! new production of "Jelly’s Last Jam" hold up against the original Broadway production (1992-1993) which starred Gregory Hines (Tony Award), Savion Gl…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:04PM
Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Twyla Tharp Dance: Winter Season 2024 by Joel Benjamin

Like her masterful Sinatra solo for Mikhail Baryshnikov, “Brel” takes Cornejo from a strolling meditating figure (“Quand On N’A Que l’Amour”) to an anguished lover (“Ne Me Quit…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:53PM
Friday, February 16, 2024

White Wave: 2024 SoloDuo Dance Festival by Joel Benjamin

The host company, WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company ended the short, well-run program with the longest work, the three-part “Eternal NOW.”  It also had the most complex costumes, …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:56PM
Thursday, February 8, 2024

The Good Soldier Švejk and His Fortunes in the First World War by Joel Benjamin

The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) is presenting “an innovative re-interpretation of a classic, combining live performances with puppets” at the resourceful Theater for …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:30PM
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Once Upon a Mattress (New York City Center Encores!) by Joel Benjamin

Of course, in true American musical theater form the elegant Princess has been transformed into the bedraggled and uncouth Winnifred (Foster, in her best goofy guise, proving her talent know…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:05PM
Thursday, January 25, 2024

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI: “Sol Invictus” by Joel Benjamin

This hotbed of virtuosity, indeed, made his troupe one gorgeous community of physically exuberant and fearless citizens.  Whether he communicated any deeper existential or human truths prob…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:35PM

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