All stories by Steve Cohen on BroadwayStars

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
Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Review: ‘The Dollar Princess’ at Concert Operetta Theater by Steve Cohen

Leo Fall’s music is not likely to return to Broadway. It did, however, provide pleasant vocal opportunities for gifted young singers of the Concert Operetta Theater in Philadelphia this we…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:09AM
Sunday, May 21, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Mahler’s Longest — and Greatest — Symphony by Steve Cohen

Although not frequently performed, the Symphony No. 3 is Gustav Mahler’s most encompassing work, the piece which best exemplifies his life and career. Yannick Nézet-Séguin led a ma…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:27PM
Sunday, May 7, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Presents Leonard Bernstein’s First Major Composition by Steve Cohen

Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 was the major undertaking at The Philadelphia Orchestra’s concerts of May 3, 5 and 6, 2017. Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the piece as a prelude to a year…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:38PM
Saturday, April 29, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Presents The Rachmaninoff Festival by Steve Cohen

During his lifetime, Sergei Rachmaninoff was more famous as a pianist than as a composer. Logically, therefore, The Philadelphia Orchestra’s current Rachmaninoff Festival is concentrating …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:49PM
Sunday, April 9, 2017

Review: Yannick Nézet-Séguin Leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in ‘Energetic’ Music by Steve Cohen

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s latest program with The Philadelphia Orchestra was an intelligently thought-out adventure. The central work was Alternative Energy by Mason Bates, in its East Coas…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:41PM
Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Review: Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ Live in HD from the Metropolitan Opera by Steve Cohen

Mozart’s Idomeneo is a landmark opera. It is undeniably a great achievement by a 25-year-old composer in the early stage of his career. Unlike the later Mozart operas, Idomeneo was written…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:00PM
Sunday, March 19, 2017

Review: ‘Ben Dibble: Are We There Yet? Just a Little Father(hood Cabaret)’ at the Arden Cabaret Series by Steve Cohen

Ben Dibble might be as fine a cabaret performer as anyone in that field. He is definitely the best local male cabaret performer in a field long dominated by women. He demonstrated that with …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:50PM
Thursday, March 16, 2017

Review: ‘Viva la Zarzuela! The Music of Spain’ at Concert Operetta Theater by Steve Cohen

Concert Operetta Theater was founded in 2008 to revive and preserve the type of musical theater that’s more lighthearted and accessible than opera, but a bit grander than Broadway. These t…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:54PM
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Seeger, Berg & Beethoven with Guest Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas by Steve Cohen

Contrast was stark in the concert which Michael Tilson Thomas led with The Philadelphia Orchestra. The first half displayed two radically dissonant pieces from the 1930s — Ruth Crawford Se…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:15PM
Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Brahms and Bach by Steve Cohen

The Philadelphia Orchestra set of concerts during the last weekend of February was one of the most imaginatively conceived in recent memory. The program consisted of selections from Brahms�…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:27PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Mozart and Brahms by Steve Cohen

During the 44 years when Eugene Ormandy was music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra (1936 to 1980), he led almost every concert. There was scant need for guest conductors. Now the symph…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:43PM
Friday, January 13, 2017

EgoPo Classic Theater presents ‘The Nose’ by Steve Cohen

An attack on Russian governmental bureaucracy is disguised EgoPo Classic Theater's surreal new adaptation of Gogol’s 'The Nose.' Steve Cohen reviews.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 12:26PM
Sunday, December 11, 2016

Art Garfunkel in concert at the Keswick Theatre by Steve Cohen

Art Garfunkel used to sing, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” This month, his Keswick Theatre audience asked a similar question. Steve Cohen reviews.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 10:45PM
Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Walnut Street Theatre presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘South Pacific’ by Steve Cohen

After going missing in action from major stages for decades, 'South Pacific' is back, heroically. Steve Cohen reviews.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 07:08PM
Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Theater with a View presents Lisa D’Amour’s ‘Detroit’ by Steve Cohen

Lisa D'Amour's 'Detroit,' a drama about life in the suburbs, is presented at a private home in the suburbs.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:16PM
Thursday, June 23, 2016

Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s ‘If/Then’ at the Academy of Music by Steve Cohen

'If/Then' was written for and based on the talents of Idina Menzel. To Steve Cohen's surprise, the show has appeal even without her.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:17PM
Monday, June 20, 2016

‘Jamaica’ at New Freedom Theatre by Steve Cohen

Presenting a revival of the music comedy 'Jamaica' as just a colorful travelogue is missing an opportunity, but it sure looks good.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:56AM
Sunday, May 29, 2016

‘The Secret Garden’ at Arden Theatre Company (second review) by Steve Cohen

A melodramatic story is the starting point, but what elevates this production is the grand, almost-operatic vocal score and its classy cast.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 08:47PM
Monday, May 23, 2016

Becky Mode’s ‘Fully Committed,’ at Theatre Horizon by Steve Cohen

You could say that Becky Mode's 'Fully Committed' skewers the underside of the restaurant business, or that it’s a delicious slice of ham, or that it’s an amuse bouche. Primarily, it’s…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 12:24PM
Tuesday, May 17, 2016

OperaDelaware’s rediscovered ‘Hamlet’ (‘Amleto’) by Steve Cohen

Arrigo Boito was the musician and playwright famed for turning Shakespeare plays into operas, such as Otello and Falstaff, where he collaborated with Verdi. Now another of his Shakespeare ad…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 02:03PM
Monday, May 9, 2016

Opera Philadelphia’s ‘The Elixir of Love’ (‘L’Elisir d’Amore’) by Steve Cohen

Opera Philadelphia's production of 'The Elixir of Love' is funny and beautifully sung. What more do you want? Well, how about faithfulness to the composer’s intentions?

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:39PM

‘See What I Wanna See’ at 11th Hour Theatre Company (first review) by Steve Cohen

Objectivity goes out the window in John LaChiusa's fascinating musical exploration of opposing beliefs. The music is complex and well worth our attention.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 06:12AM
Friday, April 29, 2016

LaChiusa’s extraordinary musicals on record by Steve Cohen

Let’s consider the work of the eclectic Broadway composer and lyricist who chooses unusual subjects, and sets them to music that’s intricate and intellectual, yet catchy. Surprise: I’m…

SOURCE: theculturalcritic.com at 06:46PM

Jennifer Childs’s ‘I Will Not Go Gently’ (1st review) by Steve Cohen

Aging is tough, but it beats the alternative. So goes the old joke. Jennifer Childs’s latest play and Ellensue Gross’s paintings provide fresher responses.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 11:30AM
Monday, April 25, 2016

AVA’s Puccini double bill by Steve Cohen

Puccini’s neglected Il Tabarro usually gets no respect. But it shines in an innovative new production by the Academy of Vocal Arts.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 04:49PM
Sunday, April 24, 2016

Ken Burns examines ‘Jackie Robinson’ by Steve Cohen

When Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947, he confronted mindless bigotry, especially in Philadelphia. But some white Philadelphian rejoiced, as I can personally attest.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 03:33PM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Three mysteries in one by STEVE COHEN

Ghost-Writer concerns the mysterious process of literary creation. That’s quite a monumental task, but Michael Hollinger handles it so well that the drama flows with energy and wit.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:58PM

A tyrant for all seasons by STEVE COHEN

The Wilma Theater’s new Macbeth is concerned more with the struggle of an oppressed people fighting to overthrow tyranny than it is with the title character and his wife. Shakespeare w…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:58PM

Empty lives, up very close and personal by STEVE COHEN

Lantern Theater’s production of Uncle Vanya is unusually intimate, shining more focus than usual on the unheralded characters in Chekhov’s tragicomedy of dissolute gentry. The ca…

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:58PM
Monday, February 11, 2013

Schulner’s ‘Infinite Ache’ at Theatre Horizon by Steve Cohen

David Schulner’s An Infinite Ache speeds us through the lives of a man and woman from their first date to their old age in 90 minutes.

SOURCE: Broad Street Review at 05:50AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime