All stories by Joel Benjamin on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Cats by Joel Benjamin

The debonair resident of posh St. James, and Gus, the theatre cat, are both played with finesse by Christopher Gurr, whose "Gus the Theatre Cat" who nearly steals the show away from the more…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:50AM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 30, 2016

Takarazuka in "Chicago" by Joel Benjamin

This Japanese version lacks the passion and darkness necessary to make this morality tale pop. The two leading ladies, Wataru Kozuki as Velma and Hikaru Asami as Roxie looked too wide-eyed …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:06PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 29, 2016

The Mushroom Cure by Joel Benjamin

In the course of 90 minutes, we follow the ups and downs of Strauss' professional, mental health and romantic lives in great detail. To his credit, Strauss gives the impression of delivering…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:23AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Bridgman|Packer Dance by Joel Benjamin

At times, Hopper's paintings"mostly the moody ones"were inhabited by the dancers who took on the iconic, emotionally laden poses so brilliantly painted by Hopper, helped by Frank DenDanto II…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:23AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Twyla Tharp and Three Dances by Joel Benjamin

From 1976, "Country Dances" represented the post-experimental avant-garde phase after breakout success with her ballets for major dance companies. From 1980, there was "Brahms Paganini," he…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:31PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 9, 2016

DELIRIOUS Dances: To Begin the World Over Again by Joel Benjamin

Edisa Weeks' DELIRIOUS Dances company presented "To Begin the World Over Again," an ultimately hopeful, informal look at American values filtered through the words of Thomas Paine, the Revol…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:28PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 6, 2016

On the Verge by Joel Benjamin

As the women find themselves further and further in the future, it is how each reacts and is forever changed that give the play its emotional weight. Two manage to adjust quite well; one no…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:59PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 30, 2016

RIOULT Dance New York 2016 by Joel Benjamin

The New York City premiere of "Polymorphous" to Bach was a coolly elegant work that featured ever shifting black and white projections (by Brian Clifford Beasley) matched by the witty leotar…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:39PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Florencia en el Amazonas by Joel Benjamin

This production had two brilliant design/directoral conceits that worked hand in glove with the musical elements to tell the story. The first involved twelve dancers from Ballet Hispanico's…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:50PM[SHARE]

Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All that Followed by Joel Benjamin

"Shuffle Along..." follows the travails and triumphs of the creators of the 1921 David that fought what was at first a losing battle against the Goliath of the Broadway powers-that-be. The …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:56AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 27, 2016

Othello (American Sephardi Federation) by Joel Benjamin

Sad to say, the American Sephardi Federation's production of a greatly compressed "Othello" at the beautiful Center for Jewish History was a disappointment. This was the third of a series o…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 07:44PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 17, 2016

Ballet Tech presents Kids Dance by Joel Benjamin

However, the main thrust of this troupe is to stimulate a gentle discipline and the ability to work effectively with others. It's clear that these youngsters who range from seven or eight y…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:55PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Indian Summer by Joel Benjamin

Gregory S. Moss' "Indian Summer" at Playwrights Horizons is an uneasy mix of two stories, the first about the doomed romantic encounter between two teens and the second concerning the quiet …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:43PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 9, 2016

Paramour (Cirque du Soleil) by Joel Benjamin

"Paramour," the Cirque du Soleil's stab at producing a Broadway style musical at the Lyric Theatre, is the circus equivalent of a jukebox musical. Instead of songbook"Beach Boys, Four Seaso…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:01AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 6, 2016

The Total Bent by Joel Benjamin

Stew and Ms. Rodewald's command of the musical genres of the 1960's and 1970's"gospel, Motown, soul, glam-rock, funk, R&B, blues, etc."is astounding. The songs are organic extensions o…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:53PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 1, 2016

American Ballet Theatre: La Fille mal gardée by Joel Benjamin

Leading this bucolic tale of amor interruptus were Gillian Murphy (her usual strong technique subsumed in girlish sweetness) as the farm girl, Lise, the "badly guarded girl" of the title, an…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:05AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 30, 2016

Signature Plays by Joel Benjamin

It's clear why Edward Albee's "The Sandbox" (1959), María Irene Fornés' "Drowning" (1986) and Adrienne Kennedy's "Funnyhouse of a Negro" (1964) are considered modern absurdist classics. …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:53PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 28, 2016

Ariel Rivka Dance's Ninth Season Festival by Joel Benjamin

Ms. Grossman's three works were all world premieres: "Hallelujah Eva" to the famous Leonard Cohen song, "Beatrice's Rainbow" to the Yip Harburg/Harold Arlen classic "Over the Rainbow," and …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:11PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Daphne's Dive by Joel Benjamin

Although Quiara Alegría Hudes' "Daphne's Dive" follows the lives of seven fascinating people for whom Daphne's North Philly bar is their true home, it is no "Cheers" and definitely no "Th…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:56PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 22, 2016

Chita Rivera at the Café Carlyle by Joel Benjamin

She ran down the list of her Broadway co-stars: Ricardo Montalban, Donald O'Connor (the disastrous Bring Back Birdie), Antonio Banderas (upon whose shoulder she placed a shapely leg in Nine…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:57PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 19, 2016

American Ballet Theatre: Shostakovich Trilogy by Joel Benjamin

His Shostakovich Trilogy may have been too much of a good thing, somewhat weakened by too many overlapping themes, generally dark moods (with some bright moments, of course) and a sameness o…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:49AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 16, 2016

Still Standing You by Joel Benjamin

The duo that makes up and has created 'Still Standing You" consists of the charmingly suave Guilherme Garrido from Portugal and the dour, heavily bearded Pieter Ampe from Belgium, neither of…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:10PM[SHARE]

Bianco by Joel Benjamin

Frankly, the main difference between Bianco and its sister circuses is its ambiance and not the acts, wonderful as they are. Every circus has jugglers, tightrope walkers, silk artists and h…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:55PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 13, 2016

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Joel Benjamin

Director Dev Bondarin cleverly enlisted scenic designer Tim McMath to transform the APAC's theater into a high school gymnasium, complete with posters ("No Bullying Allowed," "Today is a gre…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:58AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Dear Evan Hansen by Joel Benjamin

The way Mr. Levenson keeps things moving is both clever and exhausting. The songs mostly explore the inner emotional lives of the characters: "Waving through a Window" (Evan's feelings of…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:43PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 6, 2016

The Place We Built by Joel Benjamin

As Hungary took a turn to the extreme right in recent years, anti-Semitism and xenophobia not only raised their heads, but became de facto pillars of the new government. The Place We Built …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:38PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 30, 2016

Waitress by Joel Benjamin

The musical's new libretto, written by Jessie Nelson, riffs broadly on Shelly's quietly poignant storyline and her very human, finely etched characters. The characters, broadened and amped …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:37PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Ballet Preljocaj: "Empty Moves" by Joel Benjamin

Testing the patience and understanding of both the audience and the dancers, Ballet Preljocaj, Angelin Preljocaj's modern troupe from Aix-en-Provence, performed the complete version of his "…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:38PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 22, 2016

Les Fêtes Vénitiennes by Joel Benjamin

At turns beautifully silly, dreamy, exquisitely moving and always delightful, "Fêtes" is a sweeping, if daffy, look at life in eighteenth century Venice. Christie and his director Robert…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:03PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Miami City Ballet by Joel Benjamin

I cannot remember the last time a ballet company so completely blew me away as the Miami City Ballet did during its recent, depressingly short season at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:29AM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 16, 2016

Eclipsed by Joel Benjamin

An opportunity to see the luminous Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o live on stage may be the reason most people are rushing to the Golden Theatre, but, thrilling as that may be, "Eclipsed…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:55PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off