The creative collaboration between lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. and composer David Shire has lasted well over 60 years and is still in motion, making other musical-theatre teamings seem like …
SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:40PMBeyond 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 11:57AMHowever, 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 12:47PMIf 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 10:54PMThis 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 12:39PMThe 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 03:36PMHoyle 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"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 12:14AMThe 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 11:26AMThe 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 01:34PMThe 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 11:43AMAll 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 07:47PMThe 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 12:56AMNow, 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 12:22PMStephen 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 02:24PMOne 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 03:30PMMigdalia 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 04:19PMWhat 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 04:28PMThe 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 02:08PMThe 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 10:29PMAs 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 02:49PMTucker’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"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 12:33PMThis 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 10:08PMWhat’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 11:56PMWilliam 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 03:42PMUnfortunately, 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 03:03PMPlaywright 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"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 12:52PMKids 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 12:25AMDiversity, 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