Monday, November 12, 2018
With a few minor (and one not-so-minor) modifications, producers Andrew De Prisco and Jess Levy and director/choreographer Al Blackstone have given “Annie” a fresh appearance without sac…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 05:39PMTuesday, November 6, 2018
You are unlikely to ever see the theatrical title “I’m Not a Comedian…I’m Richard Pryor.” Or George Carlin. Or Chris Rock. Or Sarah Silverman. But appending the name Lenny Bruce is…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 12:49PMWednesday, October 31, 2018
It is generally true that the decline into dementia is a gradual process. From early symptoms – forgetting names or dates or where one left the keys – to a failure to connect with the re…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 12:12PMMonday, October 22, 2018
Line readings are a generally under-valued (and under-credited) facet of the actor’s craft. As many times as you see “Hamlet,” for example, is how many different readings of the “To …
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 03:14PMFriday, October 5, 2018
In 2017, Elizabeth Marvel appeared as Marc Antony in the Free Shakespeare in Central Park “Julius Caesar.” In 2018 women are playing Caesar as well as Antony and Cassius at the Stratford…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 04:59PMWednesday, September 26, 2018
While some introductory background is a de facto requirement in a review of the “Phantom” musical that does not append “of the Opera” to its title, be advised upfront that the produc…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 02:28PMWednesday, September 19, 2018
With eight musicians and a cast of fifteen, “Pamela’s First Musical” is the most elaborate musical produced by Two River Theater Company over its illustrious twenty-five years. The Ste…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 02:44PMFriday, September 14, 2018
“I don’t think I know the difference between sexual harassment and flirting” might not seem like a ground-breaking admission, but as spoken by Charlie in Catya McMullen’s outstanding…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 04:14PMThursday, August 30, 2018
Near the end of “Getting’ the Band Back Together” the (fictional) mayor of (real) Sayreville, New Jersey asks “Who would have thought at the beginning that the Battle of the Bands wo…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 03:00PMWednesday, August 22, 2018
Considering the running time of some I’ve seen, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s “Blithe Spirit” comes in at a relatively compact two and three-quarters hours, including inter…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 09:13PMTuesday, August 14, 2018
The six actors appearing at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch have amassed thirty-five Broadway credits among them, with six Tony Award nominations (and a win) to boot. Lured to th…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 02:42PMMonday, August 6, 2018
There is so much about the The Public Works Shakespeare in the Park’s musical adaptation of “Twelfth Night” to praise, it’s hard to know where to begin. Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina T…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 05:45PMSunday, July 29, 2018
More people are killed in Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” than in his Scottish play and Danish plays combined. “Titus” also preceded “Sweeney Todd” in the bad-guy-pie departme…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 05:35PMWednesday, July 25, 2018
The phrase ‘less is more’ is never more apt than when applied to Irish Repertory Theatre’s musical productions. Artistic director Charlotte Moore’s thirty-year old company, devoted t…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 11:23AMFriday, July 6, 2018
Theater-goers who venture to Stratford, Ontario for the Shakespeare might want to check out the “supporting” plays and musicals as well. While both “The Tempest” and “The Comedy of…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 08:55AMSunday, June 24, 2018
You’ll know how “Half Time” ends about five minutes in. So what; getting there is the fun part. And “Half Time” is fun. Its premise is simple enough (even to a fault, but anyway): …
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 03:32PMMonday, June 18, 2018
Country music has never appealed to me. I might leave it on a rental car pre-set, but would never seek it out. If, however, it was all as flavorful as Lauren Pritchard’s music and lyrics f…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 05:57PMMonday, June 11, 2018
Playwright Arthur Miller maintained a lasting interest in his own plays, frequently popping in to productions unannounced. (I once spotted him at a performance of “Death of a Salesman” i…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 10:50AMMonday, June 4, 2018
Henry James’s 1903 novella “The Beast in the Jungle” is a melancholy treatise on unrealized romance and thwarted passion that unfolds in James’s characteristically elaborate prose. T…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 04:00PMMonday, May 21, 2018
Last weekend I saw a play about a man who lies about pretty much everything. Despite claiming to be a stand-up guy – ardently religious even – he’d con you out of your socks given half…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 06:01PMWednesday, May 16, 2018
[This article was written for Digital First Media’s Michigan newspapers, where it ran on Sunday May 13, with reviews to follow during the summer.] Ontario’s Stratford and Shaw Festiv…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 03:30PMMonday, May 7, 2018
Tennessee Williams’ women tend not to fare very well. Blanche Dubois is led away by kind strangers, and Amanda and Laura Wingate are stuck with each other after being twice abandoned. “S…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 04:25PMTuesday, April 24, 2018
Playwright Bran Friel has been called “the Irish Chekhov.” (Friel died in 2015 at 86.) Like the plays of that century-earlier Russian author, Friel’s are character-driven rather than…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 02:13PMThursday, April 19, 2018
When I commented to Holmdel Theatre Company’s “Much Ado About Nothing” producer that I did not recognize any cast names (except hers) from prior community productions, she explained …
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 03:31PMThursday, April 12, 2018
What do you look for in a musical? Songs and singers that make you glad you have ears? Multi-style choreography and dancers adept at every one of them? How ‘bout a plot that freezes your a…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 01:39PMTuesday, April 3, 2018
I am sitting in Jersey Mike’s eating a mini number seven sub when I hear that Stephanie “Stormy” Clifford is suing Donald “Grab ‘Em” Trump. That sentence is in the present tense,…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 02:23PMMonday, March 26, 2018
In order to enjoy a jukebox musical, it helps to be a fan of the songbook going in, but that’s no guarantee. ABBA-adoring fans kept “Mamma Mia” running for years on its easily replic…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 04:26PMMonday, March 19, 2018
Another fourth wall bites the dust in The New Group’s production of “Good for Otto,” at the Pershing Square Signature Center. David Rabe’s play, which premiered in 2015 at Chicago’…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 02:09PMTuesday, March 6, 2018
It takes more than memorization to put across a solo play (although that element should not be minimized). Those sometimes deceptively crowded affairs require the establishing of unique pers…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 05:36PMMonday, February 26, 2018
A Pulitzer Prize-winning piece by Thornton Wilder opens with no curtain, no scenery. Presently an actor enters and addresses the audience. He names the play and who wrote it. He sets the loc…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 04:45PMThursday, February 22, 2018
My exposure to the Jerry Springer Show has been limited to an occasional YouTube clip, but I’ve seen enough to know that the following topics are representative: “My mom used to be my da…
Linked From sceneonstage.com at 09:58AM 
