All stories by Steve Cohen on BroadwayStars

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Magician Steve Cohen on the Magic of Cocktail Making in Think-a-Drink by Steve Cohen

The acclaimed performer shares the history of a once-popular trick involving a shaker that could make any drink you could imagine, and its now-forgotten creator, Charles Hoffman.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:40PM
Monday, December 18, 2017

Review: ‘Bad Dates’ at Act II Playhouse by Steve Cohen

Bad Dates, by Theresa Rebeck, is the third one-person play I’ve seen in the past two months. The others were 2.5 Minute Ride, an autobiographical drama by Lisa Kron which was produced at T…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:45PM
Sunday, December 17, 2017

New Records: Listening to ‘Bandstand’ and the Music of Alan Menken by Steve Cohen

This report on New Records includes three Alan Menken shows that recently received fresh recordings, plus a Broadway show from this year that unfortunately closed after a modest run. God Ble…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:58PM
Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Review: Hilary Hahn Plays Bernstein with The Philadelphia Orchestra by Steve Cohen

The Leonard Bernstein Centenary continues with concerts by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Last weekend’s performances featured one of Bernstein’s most interesting…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:43PM
Thursday, November 30, 2017

Review: ‘The Sea Cadet’ and ‘A Trip to Africa’ at Concert Operetta Theater by Steve Cohen

Concert Operetta Theater moved into new artistic territory with its November production of two unfamiliar operettas. Daniel Pantano’s Philadelphia company teamed up with a European organiz…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:48PM
Thursday, November 23, 2017

Review: ‘The Exterminating Angel’ at the Metropolitan Opera by Steve Cohen

Metropolitan Opera audiences, paying up to $393 for a ticket, can relate to the wealthy party guests in The Exterminating Angel. And so do some prestigious critics, who called this “the on…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:53AM
Sunday, November 19, 2017

Review: A Mini-Opera About Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings by Steve Cohen

The New York premiere of William Bolcom’s composition, From the Diary of Sally Hemings, could not be more timely. With so much news focused on racial tensions, as well as the recent uproar…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:52PM
Sunday, November 12, 2017

Review: ‘Pioneers of Avant-Garde Piano’ at The Barnes Foundation by Steve Cohen

The Barnes Foundation presented an unusual recital of avant-garde music composed by Henry Cowell, John Cage and George Crumb. These three giants of experimentation remind us of Albert Barnes…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:27PM
Saturday, November 11, 2017

Review: ‘The Manor’ by Colonial Playhouse by Steve Cohen

For fifteen years, a California theater company has been presenting the drama The Manor in the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills — an appropriate spot because the play is based on a true …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:07PM
Friday, November 10, 2017

Review: Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore’ by the Academy of Vocal Arts by Steve Cohen

Verdi’s Il Trovatore was revived at the Academy of Vocal Arts for the first time in 20 years this week, and it’s a revelation. Filial love inspired Verdi, and that intense emotion is pas…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:21PM
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Review: Denève Leads French and Russian Music with The Philadelphia Orchestra by Steve Cohen

The Philadelphia Orchestra concerts on the last weekend of October featured a fascinating match-up of old versus new, and conservative versus radical. It also was divided between French and …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:48PM
Friday, October 20, 2017

Review: ‘Norma’ at The Metropolitan Opera and Live in HD by Steve Cohen

The new Metropolitan Opera production of Norma, which opened the company’s season, is the most intimate presentation of Vincenzo Bellini’s classic that I’ve ever seen. Norma is an impr…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:30AM
Thursday, October 19, 2017

Review: ‘West Side Story’ staged by The Philadelphia Orchestra by Steve Cohen

West Side Story has never sounded as good as in last weekend’s performances by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It even surpassed Leonard Bernstein’s own recording,…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:03PM
Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Review: ‘Impressions of Pelléas’ at the Curtis Institute of Music by Steve Cohen

Claude Debussy’s only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, is a unique masterpiece. But it’s very long: five acts, around four hours. So director and playwright Peter Brook in 1992 devised an …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:18PM
Sunday, October 8, 2017

A Look Back at Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival and ‘The Magic Flute’ by Steve Cohen

When Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival was announced in October of 2015, the company headlined its importation of the Berlin’s Komische Oper (Comic Opera) production of The Magic Flute. …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:47PM
Monday, September 25, 2017

Review: ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ by Opera Philadelphia by Steve Cohen

The sole Philadelphia-based offering in Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival is We Shall Not Be Moved. Its powerful message is that the city’s children, and particularly its black children,…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:13PM

Review: ‘War Stories’ by Opera Philadelphia by Steve Cohen

War Stories is a clever pairing of two music dramas dealing with battles, presented by Opera Philadelphia as part of its O17 Festival. The two separate compositions are staged in adjacent a…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:25PM
Saturday, September 23, 2017

Review: World Premiere of ‘The Wake World’ by Opera Philadelphia by Steve Cohen

Inside a museum dedicated to art from the past, the O17 Festival has brought a new opera which celebrates musical and literary styles from the past. Composer/librettist David Hertzberg built…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:09PM
Thursday, September 21, 2017

Review: Sondra Radvanovsky in Recital at Opera Philadelphia by Steve Cohen

Sondra Radvanovsky’s recital as part of Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival was a spectacular event. That may seem like an oxymoron to some readers, who expect singer/pianist recitals to b…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:12AM
Saturday, September 16, 2017

Review: ‘Elizabeth Cree’ at Opera Philadelphia by Steve Cohen

The British statesman Winston Churchill coined the expression, “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” He was speaking of the Soviet Union. The quotation, however, also c…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:58PM
Thursday, August 31, 2017

Review: ‘Die Fledermaus’ at the Santa Fe Opera, and What We’ve Learned by Steve Cohen

This Santa Fe production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus was the least Viennese of any I’ve ever seen. No, director Ned Canty did not set it in the American Southwest — which might …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:00PM
Monday, August 28, 2017

Review: ‘The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs’ at Santa Fe Opera by Steve Cohen

Steve Jobs was a revolutionary genius in communicating. He showed the world how to get “everything” anyone needed on a single gadget. Yet he was a spectacular failure in communicating wi…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:28PM
Saturday, August 26, 2017

Review: ‘Alcina’ at Santa Fe Opera by Steve Cohen

Editor’s Note: Our Steve Cohen is in Santa Fe, New Mexico this week, where he’s enjoying the local arts scene and seeing the work of Santa Fe Opera, a company with a close connection to …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:29PM
Monday, August 21, 2017

Review: ‘Azul’ at La Fábrica Theater by Steve Cohen

Did you ever wonder why Picasso chose to paint in blue? The earliest stage of his famous career is known as his Blue Period, and this new play by Tanaquil Márquez shows how and why he made …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:57PM
Sunday, August 20, 2017

New Records: Listening to ‘War Paint’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Steve Cohen

This month we focus on two more shows that opened on Broadway this year and are currently running. War Paint (Ghostlight Records) War Paint is an old-fashioned show, in the best sense of tha…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:27PM
Saturday, July 29, 2017

Review: National Theatre Live: ‘Angels in America’ Part Two in HD by Steve Cohen

Tony Kushner divided his epic play, Angels in America, into two parts. The second half, subtitled Perestroika, was beamed live to cinemas worldwide on July 27 from London’s National Theatr…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:55PM
Thursday, July 27, 2017

Review: National Theatre Live: ‘Angels in America’ in HD by Steve Cohen

Angels in America remains a sad, hilarious, hallucinogenic theatrical achievement. The juxtaposition of those seemingly-opposite qualities is what makes the play memorable. It has even great…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:37PM
Monday, July 24, 2017

Review: ‘Guys and Dolls’ at Bucks County Playhouse by Steve Cohen

Guys and Dolls is a paragon of American musical theater. Considering its blend of interesting characters, clever story and glorious songs by Frank Loesser, it deserves more frequent revivals…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:11PM
Thursday, July 20, 2017

New Records: Listening to ‘Groundhog Day’ and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ by Steve Cohen

New Records is our column about recordings of shows and concerts. It’s a companion to the reviews that regularly appear here on DC Metro Theater Arts. This month we take a look at albums f…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:12AM
Saturday, June 10, 2017

On the Record: Listening to the Music of 3 Tony-Nominated Shows by Steve Cohen

On the Record is a new column that discusses recordings of theatrical shows. It’s a companion to the theater reviews that appear here on DC Metro Theater Arts. This week, in connection wit…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:31AM
Friday, May 26, 2017

Review: ‘Golden Cockerel’ at New Opera NYC by Steve Cohen

Golden Cockerel (Coq d’Or) is a musical fantasy that was popular in the first half of the twentieth century but rarely seen since. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed it in 1907 with splashy …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:49AM

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
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
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
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards