All stories by Mark Dundas Wood on BroadwayStars

Monday, February 5, 2024

Talkin' Broadway - Book Review: "Beyond Ridiculous: Making Gay Theatre with Charles Busch in 1980s New York" - 2/4/24 by Mark Dundas Wood

Beyond Ridiculous: Making Gay Theatre with Charles Busch in 1980s New York, the new study by Kenneth Elliott, touches on things that many readers will be curious about. Certainly, anyone int…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:57AM
Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Two Can Play by Mark Dundas Wood

However, it’s not until the second act that the play generates many laughs. Here, the tables turn on Jim. Gloria, returning to Kingston, has gained self-assurance from her escapades in the…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:47PM
Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Birthday in the Bronx by Mark Dundas Wood

If the show seems at times to be a bit of a mess, it’s an often entertaining and always lively one, thanks in good part to members of the acting ensemble, most of whom play multiple roles.…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:54PM
Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Look Back in Anger by Mark Dundas Wood

This current New York City revival, directed by Aimée Fortier, shifts the focus largely away from Jimmy and onto Alison (Elizabeth Scopel). Critics have described this character as passive,…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:39PM
Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Chasing the River by Mark Dundas Wood

The subject matter of "Chasing the River" is, of course, viable, but the play is not as nuanced and insightful as one would hope—nor is it particularly gripping. Sometimes the action feels…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:36PM
Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Border People by Mark Dundas Wood

Hoyle has brought his most recent play, "Border People," to New York City in a production directed by Nicole A. Watson. It’s a work dedicated to people who dwell along borders of various s…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:25PM
Friday, January 31, 2020

Really Really Gorgeous by Mark Dundas Wood

"Really Really Gorgeous" has an often-amusing absurdist and surrealistic sensibility. Plot turns take on the illogical quality that exists in dreams or in kids’ games of “Let’s pretend…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:14AM
Thursday, January 23, 2020

17 Minutes by Mark Dundas Wood

The play succeeds in large part because it begins in the aftermath of a school shooting. There are a few bits of dialogue describing the terror of the incident itself, but there is no onstag…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:26AM
Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Love, Medea by Mark Dundas Wood

The production is unapologetically irreverent. At the beginning, we see a masked Greek chorus wearing long robes, shuffling ever-so-slowly around the stage of the Center at West Park (the sa…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:34PM
Tuesday, December 31, 2019

The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu (NYGASP) by Mark Dundas Wood

The framing device is not a completely elegant solution to the problem, but it gets the job done. Gilbert gets knocked out cold while examining the contents of the trunk. While incapacitated…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:43AM
Sunday, December 29, 2019

Marlon Brando: Hollywood’s Complex, Conflicted Cassandra by Mark Dundas Wood

All else aside, writes William J. Mann, the actor was "a voice in the wilderness warning about the celebrity culture he spied coming down the tracks." The post Marlon Brando: Hollywood’s C…

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 07:47PM
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston by Mark Dundas Wood

The York Theatre Company’s new revue, "Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston," reminds us not to take for granted the talents of this vibrant composer/lyric…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:56AM
Monday, December 2, 2019

Love Actually? The Unauthorized Musical Parody by Mark Dundas Wood

Now, New Yorkers who know the film (and who love it, hate it or partly love it and partly hate it) have a chance to see a streamlined (at 95 minutes) musical-theatrical spoof of the film, ca…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:22PM
Thursday, November 28, 2019

Everything Is Super Great by Mark Dundas Wood

Stephen Brown’s "Everything Is Super Great" is a small, unpretentious play about an American family in crisis. That is not a novel theme, of course, but "Everything" rises gracefully to th…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:24PM
Saturday, November 23, 2019

Weighty Matters, Light Verse: John Lithgow Inks ‘Dumpty’ by Mark Dundas Wood

One day, reaching for this book will be a good way to revisit the escapades of the Trump presidency -- and to be glad that they're over. The post Weighty Matters, Light Verse: John Lithgow I…

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 03:30PM
Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Fur by Mark Dundas Wood

Migdalia Cruz’s "Fur" (presented by Boundless Theatre Company at Next Door @NYTW) has the sensibility of a folk tale, the coherency of a fever dream, and the trappings of a horror movie. I…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:19PM
Wednesday, November 6, 2019

One Discordant Violin by Mark Dundas Wood

What this team of artists has created is a serious piece of storytelling that is also a glorious treat for the eyes and ears. If you’ve figured that the show will just be a guy narrating a…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:28PM
Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Hope Hypothesis by Mark Dundas Wood

The play’s title comes from Carew’s character. The “hope hypothesis” is the notion that, in our current environment, people have universally given up hope. Consequently, they are eit…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:08PM
Sunday, October 27, 2019

Bars and Measures by Mark Dundas Wood

The play’s dynamic—with the two brothers trying to stay in sync even as they find themselves polar opposites in nearly all areas of their lives—seems at points to make the play a kind …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:29PM
Tuesday, October 15, 2019

When It Happens to You by Mark Dundas Wood

As a writer, O’Dell seems to eschew melodramatic elements, including pat endings with fully resolved conflicts. This a work grounded in sober reality, a work that rejects the prevalent ide…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:49PM
Friday, September 20, 2019

Fern Hill by Mark Dundas Wood

Tucker’s dialogue is breezy and amusing, and it’s fun to see these talented actors—all mainstays of the New York stage—being playful together. Together, they make interesting stuff o…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:06AM
Friday, September 13, 2019

Dining with Ploetz by Mark Dundas Wood

"Dining with Ploetz" at Theater for the New City consists of three short plays by writer, director and teacher Richard Ploetz. The program adds up to slightly under two hours’ running time…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:33PM
Sunday, September 8, 2019

See You by Mark Dundas Wood

This production is a rambunctious enterprise, and Hunter and his cast do a reasonably good job of keeping dialogue that’s made up largely of long strings of short declarative sentences (o…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:08PM
Thursday, August 22, 2019

Waiting for Johnny Depp by Mark Dundas Wood

What’s best about "Waiting for Johnny Depp" is Vivino’s performance. My, does she ever get a workout during the play’s 100-minute running time. She has 15 or so musical numbers (some o…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:56PM
Saturday, August 10, 2019

Measure for Measure (The Acting Company) by Mark Dundas Wood

William Shakespeare’s "Measure for Measure" (circa 1604)—the story of a woman who is sexually victimized by a man in power—seems as though it would lend itself to an adaptation crafted…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:42PM
Monday, July 29, 2019

Patience by Mark Dundas Wood

Unfortunately, Daniel’s ambivalence proves to be an impediment to the success of Patience. It would be one thing if he were a strong character, torn about which path he’ll take moving fo…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:03PM
Saturday, July 20, 2019

In the Penal Colony by Mark Dundas Wood

Playwright and director Miranda Haymon has, like numerous dramatists before her, dramatized this story—except that she has significantly repurposed it. Working with three African-American …

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:57AM
Monday, July 15, 2019

Rent Party by Mark Dundas Wood

"Rent Party" is billed as a show for the whole family, but it will be of real interest primarily to preteen children. At that, it seems a rather dull outing. The actors here tend to speak in…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:52PM
Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Dog Man: The Musical by Mark Dundas Wood

Kids may love this show—and the Dog Man books themselves—largely because the outlandish situations are similar to scenarios in their own hyper-imaginative make-believe play. Except that,…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:25AM
Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Pip with Pizzazz: Ethan Mordden Assesses Barbra Streisand by Mark Dundas Wood

Diversity, inclusion and curious sins of omission in a new book on the "greatest star." The post Pip with Pizzazz: Ethan Mordden Assesses Barbra Streisand appeared first on Clyde Fitch Repor…

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 12:52PM
Saturday, June 22, 2019

Imminently Yours by Mark Dundas Wood

The comedy "Imminently Yours," written by the mononymous “Karimah” and staged by The Negro Ensemble Company, is largely about the importance to communities of honoring their “elders.�…

SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:35PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards