All stories by Richard Seff on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Submission by Richard Seff

Say thanks to whomever you say thanks to, for we have a new playwright among us. His name? Jeff Talbott, and he is the recipient of the first ever Arthur Laurents-Tom Hatcher Award, which ho…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:43AM
Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Temporal Powers by Richard Seff

Jonathan Bank runs a pretty tight ship over there at the Mint Theater Company, one of our off-Broadway treasures. In the most unpretentious of black box theatres on the third floor of a 43rd…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:15AM

Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder at The Regency by Richard Seff

I don’t usually cover the Cabaret world, but as Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder have both graced Broadway stages on their career trajectories, I thought you might like to know how the…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:49AM
Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Follies by Richard Seff

Sondheim’s Follies is back on Broadway, and in this time of earthquakes, hurricanes and political chaos, that’s a good thing. Set in 1971, for two and a half hours it permits us …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:33AM
Wednesday, August 3, 2011

War Horse by Richard Seff

This import from the National Theatre in London, at the Beaumont Theatre in LincolnCenter, is more an experience than a play, and as such it’s a hum-dinger.  As a play it is less than…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:43AM
Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Ever So Humble by Richard Seff

A weekend motor trip through Western New York state and Connecticut brought me to Ithaca where a new comedy by  Tim Pinckney was having a world premiere at the newly refurbished Hangar Thea…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:16PM

Master Class by Richard Seff

Yes, Tyne Daly as “Maria Callas” is the primary reason to see this smashing revival of Terrence McNally’s play Master Class at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Friedman Theatre on Broadw…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:00PM
Friday, July 15, 2011

Death Takes a Holiday by Richard Seff

Alberto Casella’s play, as re-written for the American stage by Walter Ferris for the Shuberts of Broadway, produced in 1929, is rarely if ever revived.  It is set in 1921 in the palazzo …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:10AM
Friday, July 1, 2011

The Illusion by Richard Seff

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) continues to make me question that I was valedictorian at PS 139 once in the long ago. I usually leave theatres in which hi…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:33AM
Saturday, June 18, 2011

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark by Richard Seff

It pains me to say it, but the new Spidey musical, which finally came to rest at the Foxwood Theatre on 42nd Street after a very tough start, should more aptly be called Spider-Man: Turn off…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:53AM
Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The People in the Picture by Richard Seff

The Roundabout is offering Donna Murphy to its audiences for a run in a new musical with book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart, with music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler. Ms. Dart is a best …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:01PM
Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Motherf**ker with the Hat by Richard Seff

A long long time ago (December 5, 1941) a small thriller called Angel Street opened on Broadway, and it had one thing in common with The Motherf**ker With The Hat, in that both plays’ plot…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:26PM
Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A Little Journey by Richard Seff

A perfect example of the well-made boulevard comedy of the early twentieth century has been resurrected by Jonathan Bank and his lovely company of players at the Mint Theatre on the third fl…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:28AM
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Jerusalem by Richard Seff

I have no argument with the general consensus among the critics I’ve read about Jerusalem, the well intended and occasionally powerful play by Jez Butterworth, which has crossed the Atlant…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:55AM
Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Normal Heart by Richard Seff

Joe Mantello as Ned and John Benjamin Hickey as Felix (Photo: Joan Marcus) The theatre continues to dispense its magic in mysterious ways. Before visiting the current Broadway revival of Lar…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:07AM
Friday, May 20, 2011

Picked by Richard Seff

It’s an intriguing title, no?  Short and sweet, if a little hard to distinguish among This, Doubt, Proof, Contact et al, and equally difficult to probe for meaning.  But early on in the …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:38AM
Thursday, May 19, 2011

Born Yesterday by Richard Seff

It’s always with fear and trepidation that I approach a revival of a classic Broadway hit of the 1940s or 1950s because some of them were head and shoulders above the crowd in their own ti…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:30AM
Monday, May 16, 2011

Sister Act by Richard Seff

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the transitional phase that the Broadway musical is currently enjoying, or suffering, depending on your personal viewpoint. It’s not always easy to …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:09PM
Tuesday, May 10, 2011

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark and A Minister’s Wife by Richard Seff

Lynn Nottage’s Ruined won the Pulitzer Prize and a slew of other honors a couple of seasons ago [and just opened at Arena Stage]. Her Intimate Apparel was also acclaimed in its Roundabout …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:17AM
Friday, May 6, 2011

The Book of Mormon by Richard Seff

I’m sure you’ve read by now that this original musical by the creators of “South Park”  and Avenue Q is the first offering of the New York season to enjoy unanimous raves fr…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:52AM
Monday, April 11, 2011

Catch Me If You Can by Richard Seff

I don’t know who first said “let’s make a musical out of the hit movie “Catch Me If You Can”. Let’s assume it was Margo Lion, the producer, Jack O’Brien, the director, or Marc …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:35AM
Friday, April 8, 2011

Anything Goes by Richard Seff

The very wise Roundabout Theatre management, and the very gifted director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall decided to lift some Cole Porter gems from their sources and plop them down in the m…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:43AM
Friday, April 1, 2011

Three Men on a Horse and Cactus Flower by Richard Seff

If you’re the sort of theatre goer who enjoys taking old plays off the library shelf, dusting them off, having a look at what went down well in past decades, New York has a grand assortmen…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:47AM
Sunday, March 27, 2011

Richard Seff remembers Lanford Wilson and his days at Circle Rep by Richard Seff

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson died March 23, 2011, at the age of 73, on the eve the opening night revival of his work Hot l Baltimore at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theat…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:35AM
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

La Cage revisited by Richard Seff

It’s interesting and informative (and fun) to revisit some of the classical musicals. A new director, new stars, even a new scenic design can alter our memory of it, or allow us to share i…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:39PM
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Good People by Richard Seff

A perfect cast in a fine play under the direction of a seasoned professional and usually all will be well. Actually it’s better than “well”  at the Samuel J.Friedman Theatre where the…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:34AM
Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Divine Sister by Richard Seff

Charles Busch as playwright has a most distinctive voice. It is somewhere between Kaufman and Hart, George Abbott, Jean Genet, Samuel Beckett, Mel Brooks, Charles Ludlam and S.N.Behrman. His…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:37AM
Friday, February 25, 2011

West Side Story on tour by Richard Seff

Richard Seff, on vacation, leaves the beach to see the West Side Story touring company The Broward Center of the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale is currently presenting the recent revival …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:06AM
Friday, February 11, 2011

The Whipping Man by Richard Seff

Not a very appetizing title, this. Matthew Lopez, the playwright, was unknown to me. “Men of a Certain Age” is the TNT hit TV series in which André Braugher co-stars, yet I di…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:44AM
Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Black Tie by Richard Seff

A.R. Gurney has written over 40 plays and I’ll wager he’s had more use of perhaps 6 characters than any playwright in history. This prolific playwright is in the Alan Ayckbourn/Neil Simo…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:22PM
Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Road to Qatar! by Richard Seff

This is a tough review to write because this 90 minute one-act musical comes to the York Theatre from a successful run in Texas. It is in the  form of a Crosby-Hope “Road” movie, which …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:00PM

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