All stories by Robert Shuman on BroadwayStars

Thursday, May 4, 2023

***** ‘CYMBELINE’ REVIEW – SHAKESPEARE’S KNOTTY ROMANCE IS A FABULOUS FAREWELL FOR DORAN by Robert Shuman

(Mark Lawson’s article appeared in the guardian, 5/4;Photo:  Peter De Jersey as Cymbeline. Photograph: Ellie Kurttz.) Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Departing artistic di…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:29PM
Wednesday, May 3, 2023

TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS 2023: ‘SOME LIKE IT HOT’ DOMINATES, FOLLOWED BY ‘& JULIET,’ ‘SHUCKED,’ ‘NEW YORK, NEW YORK’ by Robert Shuman

(From Variety, 5/3/2023; writing and compilation by Rebecca Rubin, Brent Lang, and Marc J. Franklin.) “Some Like It Hot,” a jazzy re-imagining of the classic comedy film about two musici…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:53PM
Tuesday, May 2, 2023

SIBERIAN ACTOR FLEES RUSSIA AFTER SLASHING WRISTS ON STAGE by Robert Shuman

(From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 5/2/2023. Photo: Daily Express.) An actor from a theater in Russia’s Siberian region of Buryatia, who in March slit his wrists while on stage to prot…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:37PM
Sunday, April 30, 2023

KENNETH BRANAGH TO DIRECT AND STAR IN KING LEAR IN LONDON AND NEW YORK by Robert Shuman

(Chris Wiegand’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/28/2023; via Pam Green; Photo: Transatlantic tragedy … Kenneth Branagh. Photograph: Johan Persson.) The play, which the actor has de…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:30PM
Saturday, April 29, 2023

TIM MINCHIN: ‘POLITICS AFFECTS MY MENTAL HEALTH … I FEEL GASLIT by Robert Shuman

(Tom Lamont’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/29; Photo: Photograph: David Vintiner/The Guardian.) He’s the anarchic comedian behind the musicals Matilda and Groundhog Day. He talks …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:25PM
Thursday, April 27, 2023

2023 DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS by Robert Shuman

(via Scott Klein, Keith Sherman Associates.) www.DramaDesk.org The 67th Annual Drama Desk Awards (www.DramaDesk.org) will be held on Tuesday afternoon, June 6 at Sardi’s Restaurant, …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:03PM
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (150) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: In our art [as actors] you must live the part every moment that you are playing it, and every time. Each time it is recreated, it must be liv…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:35PM
Tuesday, April 25, 2023

HARRY BELAFONTE, ACTIVIST AND ENTERTAINER, DIES AT 96 by Robert Shuman

(Hillel Italie’s article appeared on AP News, 4/25; via the Drudge Report; Photo: Vanity Fair.) NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a g…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:59PM
Monday, April 24, 2023

SOMERSET MAUGHAM: A WILY PLAYWRIGHT OF LIGHT DRAMAS AND WEIGHTY MORALS by Robert Shuman

(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/24; Photo: Deeply deceptive dramas … W Somerset Maugham, 1957. Photograph: Jane Bown/The Observer.) A new revival of The Circle…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 02:00PM
Sunday, April 23, 2023

BARRY HUMPHRIES, THE COMEDIAN WHO CREATED DAME EDNA EVERAGE, DIES AT 89 by Robert Shuman

(Mathew Murphy’s article appeared in the Daily Beast, 4/23; via Pam Green; Photo: REUTERS/Ian Waldie.) GOODBYE POSSUMS Tributes have poured in for Australian comedian Barry Humphries who h…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:52AM
Saturday, April 22, 2023

UKRAINE ARTISTS PUSH BACK AGAINST IDENTITY DENIAL by Robert Shuman

(Juri Rescheto’s report appeared on DW, 4/21.) View at: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-artists-push-back-against-identity-denial/video-65401461 Vladimir Putin claims Ukraine has no national…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 11:34AM
Friday, April 21, 2023

NEW DAWN: THEATRE AFFIRMATIONS by Robert Shuman

It is never too late to be alive (to theatre)–Penelope Chatterton paraphrase I take the time needed to express my creativity—and it is always  in demand. Inspiration and invention lead …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:28PM
Thursday, April 20, 2023

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: THE CLOSING OF ‘PHANTOM,’ THE LOSS OF MY SON AND THE FUTURE OF BROADWAY by Robert Shuman

(Lloyd Webber’s opinion appeared in The New York Times, April 17, 2023; via Pam Green.  Photo:  Andrew Kelly/Reuters.) By Andrew Lloyd Webber Mr. Lloyd Webber is the composer of 13 Broa…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:39AM
Wednesday, April 19, 2023

COMMENTARY: THE BEST THEATER IN L.A. RIGHT NOW? IT’S IN PASADENA by Robert Shuman

(Charles McNulty’s article appeared in the L.A. Times,  4/5.) “It’s a radical act to ask someone to go to the theater these days,” Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Dan…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 02:59PM
Sunday, April 16, 2023

AN EXTRAORDINARY FEAT’: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA ENDS ITS 35-YEAR BROADWAY RUN by Robert Shuman

(David Smith’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/15; via Pam Green; Photo: The Phantom of the Opera has been seen by more than 140 million people worldwide. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:26PM
Saturday, April 15, 2023

KABUKI|NATIONAL THEATRE, TOKYO (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) by Robert Shuman

(via 国立劇場 National Theatre, Tokyo . What’s KABUKI?  

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:54PM
Thursday, April 13, 2023

***** ‘BEYOND BELIEF: THE LIFE AND MISSION OF JOHN HUME’ REVIEW – PROFOUNDLY AFFECTING by Robert Shuman

(Clare Brennan’s article appeared in the Observer, 4/9; Photo: Conor O’Kane as John Hume and Naiomh Morgan as his wife, Pat, in Beyond Belief. Photograph: The Playhouse Derry-Londonderr…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 11:09AM
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (149) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: The organic bases of the laws of nature on which our art is founded will protect you in the future from going down the wrong path. Who knows …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:46PM
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

O’HARA/D’ARCY JAMES/GUETTEL/LUCAS/GREIF: ‘DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES’–STARTS FRIDAY, MAY 5TH, 2023 by Robert Shuman

(via Angela Yamarone, bbbway.com.) Atlantic Theater Company Announces Complete Casting and Extension for Exclusive World Premiere Musical Event DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES Book by Craig Lucas Mu…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 06:42PM
Monday, April 10, 2023

AMID EXILE AND FIRE, A REVERED RUSSIAN THEATER DIRECTOR IS REBORN by Robert Shuman

(Dan Bilefsky’s and Jeremy Fassler’s  article appeared in The New York Times, 4/7; via Pam Green; Photo: Dmitry Krymov, one of Russia’s most important theater directors, has remained …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:35PM
Sunday, April 9, 2023

IN ‘HAMNET,’ SHAKESPEARE’S WIFE TAKES THE SPOTLIGHT, AT LAST by Robert Shuman

(Andrew Dickson’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/7; via Pam Green; Photo: Tom Varey and Madeleine Mantock as William and Agnes, the characters based on Shakespeare and Hathaway.Credit…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 01:38PM
Saturday, April 8, 2023

‘WE GET INSIDE THEIR SHAME, THEIR EGO, THEIR DESTRUCTION’: JACK THORNE BRINGS BURTON AND GIELGUD BACK TO THE STAGE by Robert Shuman

(Jack Thorne’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/7; via Pam Green; To thine own self be true … John Gielgud directs Richard Burton in rehearsals for Hamlet. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettm…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 10:16AM
Friday, April 7, 2023

JOHN KANDER’S MAJOR CHORD, UNDIMINISHED by Robert Shuman

(Jesse Green’s article appeared in The New York Time, 4/4; via Pam Green; Photo:  John Kander at home on the Upper West Side. His latest Broadway production, “New York, New York,” is …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 09:59AM
Thursday, April 6, 2023

UKRAINIAN PHOTOGRAPHER TURNS WAR WOUNDS INTO WORKS OF ART by Robert Shuman

   (Austin Malloy’s report appeared on Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, 4/4.) A new photo project by Ukrainian photographer Marta Syrko captures stunning images of soldiers and civilians…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:07PM
Wednesday, April 5, 2023

***** FOR BLACK BOYS … REVIEW – A MOVING MEDITATION ON BLACK MASCULINITY by Robert Shuman

(Anya Ryan’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/2; Photo: Boyish energy … For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy. Photograph: Ali Wright.)  Apollo thea…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 03:51PM
Tuesday, April 4, 2023

JUSTINE CLARK BRILLIANTLY BECOMES JULIA GILLARD IN THIS HEROIC PERFORMANCE (EDITOR’S PICK, AUSTRALIA) by Robert Shuman

(John Shand’s article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, 4/5;  Photo: The play essentially a one-hander, although Jessica Bentley is also intermittently present.CREDIT:PRUEDENCE UPTON…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:16PM
Monday, April 3, 2023

‘MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO’ TRIUMPHS AT OLIVIER AWARDS by Robert Shuman

(Chris Wiegand’s article appeared in the Guardian, 4/2; Photo: Host Hannah Waddingham at the Olivier awards. Photograph: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for SOLT.) Olivier awards: full list of w…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 04:43PM
Saturday, April 1, 2023

‘ICELAND’ AT LA MAMA (REVIEW FROM NEW YORK) by Robert Shuman

By Bob Shuman Iceland, both the title and central metaphor for an opera by O-Lan Jones (director) and Emmet Tilley (music)–now playing at La MaMa through April 2–is like this year’s sl…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 12:40PM
Friday, March 31, 2023

REVIEW: THE MANY THRILLING FLAVORS OF A FULL-SCALE ‘SWEENEY TODD’ by Robert Shuman

(Jesse Green’s article appeared in The New York Times, 3/26; via Pam Green; Photo: Dark and vengeful: Josh Groban, Annaleigh Ashford and ensemble members in the new Broadway revival of “…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 08:31PM
Thursday, March 30, 2023

CONSTANT STANISLAVSKI (148) by Robert Shuman

The words and wisdom of Constantin Stanislavski: Only our kind of [acting] art, soaked as it is in the living experiences of human beings, can artistically reproduce the impalpable shadings …

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 07:30PM
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

***** ‘DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD REVIEW’ – A MAGNIFICENT COMPLICITÉ CREATION by Robert Shuman

(Arifa Akhar’s article appeared in the Guardian, 3/39; Photo: ‘Beautiful moments of physical theatre’ … Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead at the Barbican, London. Photograp…

SOURCE: stagevoices.com at 05:20PM