All stories by Robert Shuman on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

BARBRA STREISAND’S MOTHER OF ALL MEMOIRS by Robert Shuman

(Rachel Syme’s article appeaed in The New Yorker, 11/14/2023. Photo: Trust is a big theme in the book, and perhaps its reason for existing. Photograph by Irving Penn / © Condé Nast)   …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:59PM
Monday, November 20, 2023

***** ‘HELL’S KITCHEN’ REVIEW – ALICIA KEYS JUKEBOX MUSICAL IS A MARVEL by Robert Shuman

(Lauren Mechling’s article appeared in the Guardian, 11/19; Photo: Maleah Joi Moon in Hell’s Kitchen. Photograph: Photo Credit: Joan Marcus.)   The Public Theater, New York The star he…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:28PM
Sunday, November 19, 2023

‘THE SPANISH TRAGEDY’ BY THOMAS KYD (LISTEN NOW ON BBC RADIO 3—LINK BELOW) by Robert Shuman

The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd Abridged and adapted by Pauline Harris and Emma Smith Listen Spain is in the middle of a peace treaty with Portugal, when Marshall Hieronimo is forced down …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:41AM
Thursday, November 16, 2023

LOVE. FAMILY. MEMORY. “FLAWLESS”: ROBIN GOLDFIN’S NEW PLAY AT TNC (11/9-26) by Robert Shuman

Theater for the New City Presents   Flawless, a tale of enchantment Written by Robin Goldfin  Directed by Ed Chemaly   November 9-26, 2023 (12 performances) Thursdays, Fridays and Sat…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 07:25PM
Friday, November 10, 2023

FATHER OF SELF-EXILED BELARUSIAN WRITER JAILED FOR REPOSTING ARTICLE by Robert Shuman

(From Radio Free Europe, 11/10; Photo of Sasha Filipenka, from Radio Free Europe.) Self-exiled Belarusian writer Sasha Filipenka told RFE/RL on November 10 that a Minsk court sentenced his f…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:00AM
Friday, November 3, 2023

THESE UKRAINIAN ARTISTS, WRITERS WERE KILLED BY RUSSIA’S WAR by Robert Shuman

(Dinara Khalilova’s article appeared in the Kyiv Independent, 10/25/23; Photo:  Ukrainian ballet dancer Oleksandr Shapoval (top left), artist and researcher of Ukrainian cuisine Olha Pavl…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 11:36AM
Thursday, November 2, 2023

A HOTBED OF ENGLISH RADICALISM? AUDEN, BRITTEN AND THE UNSUNG GLORY OF THE GROUP THEATRE by Robert Shuman

(Sam Kinshin-Smith’s article appeared in the Guardian, 11/1; Photo: Gifted generation … Auden and Britten. Photograph: Britten Pears Arts.) When they weren’t having screaming rows, th…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:49PM
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

JAMES RADO CELEBRATION OF LIFE by Robert Shuman

(Photo: hairtribes.com.)

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:12PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2023

***** ‘THE CONFESSIONS’ REVIEW – DAZZLING DRAMA DRAWN FROM A MOTHER’S MEMORIES by Robert Shuman

(Arifa Akbar’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/24; Photo:  Pamela Rabe (left) and Eryn Jean Norvill in The Confessions. Photograph: Christophe Raynaud de Lage.)  National Theatre, …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 01:54PM
Sunday, October 22, 2023

SHAKESPEARE/PATRICK PAGE: ‘ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE’ (REVIEW FROM NEW YORK) by Robert Shuman

Bob Shuman I can add colours to the chameleon, Change shapes with Proteus for advantages, and set the murderous Machiavel to school.  Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?  Tut, were it f…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:14PM
Saturday, October 14, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (155) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: There is far more bad taste in the world than good. In the place of nobility a sort of showiness has been created, prettiness in place of bea…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 02:17PM
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

IN CASE YOU CAN’T WAIT FOR HALLOWEEN–‘ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE’ by Robert Shuman

Dubbed “The villain of Broadway” by Playbill, Tony Award® Nominee and Grammy Award® Winner Patrick Page has never shied away from exploring his dark side. Now, with this tour de for…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:12PM

BRITISH PLAYWRIGHT ALEXANDER ZELDIN ON USING THEATRE TO BRING US CLOSER TO LIFE by Robert Shuman

(Jennifer Ben Brahimim’s, Marion Chavali’s,  Aline Bottin’s,  Alison Sargent’s Loic Chalavoni’s, and Sonia Patricelli’s article appeared on France24, 10/10/2023.) “A simple c…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 01:13PM
Saturday, October 7, 2023

GOETHE’S ‘FAUST’ COMMEMORATED ON A GERMAN €100 COIN by Robert Shuman

(Veronika Fors’s article appeared on DW, 10/6;  Photo: The tragic play is still regularly restaged today. Shown here is a 2015 staging by Robert Wilson at the Berliner EnsembleImage: Maur…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 07:17PM
Thursday, October 5, 2023

PLAYWRIGHT JON FOSSE’S NOBEL PRIZE ANNOUNCES HIS OVERDUE ARRIVAL ON THE GLOBAL STAGE by Robert Shuman

(Philip Oltermann’s article appeared in the Guardian, 10/5; Photo: A serious contender for a good decade … the Guardian.) The critically acclaimed author is the first ever laureate in th…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:05PM
Wednesday, October 4, 2023

“PURLIE VICTORIOUS” HUSTLES FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE by Robert Shuman

(Vinson Cunningham’s article appeared in The New Yorkers, 9/30; Odom plays each of Purlie’s notes with a musician’s tonal perfection. Illustration by Amrita Marino.) Sophisticated come…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 07:09PM
Tuesday, September 26, 2023

PUTIN ON TRIAL: THE PLAY ‘THE HAGUE’ OPENS AT BULGARIA’S NATIONAL THEATER by Robert Shuman

(By Boyan Tonchev and Ilian Ruzhin, from Radio Free Europe,  Bulgarian Service, 9/26; Photo: The Washington Post. ) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage face a war crimes trib…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:00PM
Sunday, September 24, 2023

‘THE SEVENTH SEAL’ AND INGMAR BERGMAN (LISTEN NOW ON BBC RADIO 4–IN OUR TIME–DISCUSSION PROGRAM) by Robert Shuman

Listen at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001qmkx In Our Time In the 1000th edition of In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss arguably the most celebrated film of the Swedish dire…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:57PM
Saturday, September 23, 2023

***** THE WHITE FACTORY REVIEW – HOLOCAUST DRAMA RAISES TROUBLING QUESTIONS ABOUT TODAY’S TYRANTS by Robert Shuman

(Mark Lawson’s review appeared in the Guardian, 9/21/2023; Photo: The Guardian.) Marylebone theatre, London Set in a Polish ghetto, Dmitry Glukhovsky’s superb play explores the terrible …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:25AM
Sunday, September 17, 2023

‘I MAKE THE COCKTAILS, THEN JUMP ON STAGE AND DO MIND READING’: THE PEOPLE RUNNING BRITAIN’S TINIEST THEATRES by Robert Shuman

(Kate Wyver’s article appeared in the Guardian, 9/9/23; Photo: The Guardian.) From the magician who stops his show to serve at the bar to the actor who drives entire plays around in his ca…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:55PM
Saturday, September 16, 2023

***** ‘THAT FACE’ REVIEW – STUNNING REVIVAL WILL TEAR RIGHT THROUGH YOU by Robert Shuman

(Miriam Gillinson’s article appeared in the Guardian 9/15.  Photo: Sensitivity and restraint … Kasper Hilton-Hille and Ruby Stokes in That Face. Photograph: Johan Persson.) Orange Tree …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:03PM
Tuesday, September 5, 2023

‘SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION’ PHENOMENON PROVEN BY MATHEMATICIANS TO BE TRUE! by Robert Shuman

(from StudyFinds, 9/5; via Drudge eport) RAMAT-GAN, Israel — Kevin Bacon, this study is for you! In an exciting breakthrough, researchers from multiple countries have unraveled the myster…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:46PM
Sunday, August 27, 2023

WHY THE GOETHE MEDAL COULD SPARK POLITICAL CONTROVERSY by Robert Shuman

(Stefan Dege’s article appeared in DW, 8/26; Photo: Honored for promoting cultural exchange with Germany: Taiwanese dramaturge and theater festival curator Yi-Wei KengImage: Willie Schuman…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:48AM
Friday, August 25, 2023

‘THE LAST OF THE SOVIETS’ REVIEW – NEWSREADERS NAVIGATE BRUTAL TRUTHS AND PROPAGANDA by Robert Shuman

(Mark Fisher’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/14/2023; Photo: Dark and surreal … Inga Mikshina-Zotova and Roman Mikshin-Zotov in The Last of the Soviets. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:47PM
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (154) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: To reproduce feelings you must be able to identify them out of your own experience. But as mechanical actors do not experience feelings they …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:03AM
Sunday, August 20, 2023

ART UNDER ATTACK: HOW RUSSIA DESTROYS UKRAINE’S CULTURAL HERITAGE by Robert Shuman

(Natalia Chekotum’s and Liza Pyrozhkova’s vidieo appeared in the Kyiv Independent, 8/8; Photo: Kyiv Independent.) Launched in February last year, Russia’s war against Ukraine has taken…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:42PM
Saturday, August 19, 2023

‘ENDGAME’ REVIEW – PROM 43, MUSIC BRINGS COMPASSION TO BECKETT’S AUSTERE DRAMA by Robert Shuman

(Tim Ashley’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/19; Dramatic pressure … Endgame. Photograph: Sisi Burn.) Royal Albert Hall, London For its UK premiere, György Kurtág’s opera faced…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:07PM
Wednesday, August 16, 2023

‘SHAKESPEARE’S LADIES AT TEA’ AND ‘SHAKESPEARE’S DEATHS’, FROM FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY—AT  THE 2023 LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (R by Robert Shuman

By Bob Shuman Who is this Shakespeare who needs to be banned in Florida public schools, who dared to write a play called Romeo and Juliet?  Was he decadent?  Was he warped?  Has he really…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:42AM
Sunday, August 13, 2023

PROM 36 A SPACE ODYSSEY: LPO/GARDNER REVIEW – “UNSETTLING AND AWESOME” by Robert Shuman

  PROM 36 A SPACE ODYSSEY: LPO/GARDNER REVIEW Listen (Tim Ashley’s article appeared in the Guardian, 8/13. ) Royal Albert Hall, London Intense and finely focused performances of the Liget…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:50AM
Friday, August 11, 2023

CONCERNS OVER SEX CONTENT LEADS FLORIDA SCHOOLS TO PULL SHAKESPEARE by Robert Shuman

(Jeffrey S. Solochek’s article appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, 8/8; via the Drudge Report.) The big story: After Florida adopted its Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking standards i…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:10AM
Tuesday, August 8, 2023

SHAKESPEARE’S ‘LADIES AT TEA’ AND ‘SHAKESPEARE’S DEATHS’ TO PLAY 2023 LITTLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL AT UNDER ST. MARKS, 8/3-8/20 by Robert Shuman

(Via Emily Owens, Emily Owens PR–rehearsal photo from Ladies at Tea.)       First Flight Theatre Company presents Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea or I Thought You’d Never Asp Written by…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:45PM

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
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