All stories by Tony Frankel on BroadwayStars

Monday, June 6, 2022

Theater Review: GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica) by Tony Frankel

GUESS WHAT PLAY WORKS Based on the screenplay of the same name, writer Todd Kreidler has updated for the stage Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Stanley Kramer’s smash-hit 1967 mov…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 05:45PM

Theater Review: BELOVED (Road Theatre in NoHo) by Tony Frankel

BELOVED THEATER At first, we think that Beloved is about the tragic state of the internet, that a high school boy at the prestigious St. Albans in Montreal, Canada, would never be in the mes…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 01:53AM
Sunday, June 5, 2022

Broadway Closing: HANGMEN (Golden Theater) by Tony Frankel

DON’T GET HUNG OUT BY MISSING THIS MASTERPIECE Blimey, friends, you only have two more weeks to see my favorite play on Broadway. And not only my favorite, but the best. Martin McDono…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:19AM
Friday, June 3, 2022

Theater Review: MAN OF GOD (Geffen Playhouse) by Tony Frankel

GODDAMNED MEN Four Korean teen missionaries from Los Angeles — Kyung-Hwa (Ji-Young Yoo), Samantha (Shirley Chen), Jen (Emma Galbraith), and Mimi (Erin Rae Li) — have arrived in…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 01:27AM
Thursday, June 2, 2022

Review: Review: COME FROM AWAY (North American Tour) by Tony Frankel

A NEWFOUND(LAND) WAY OF LOOKING AT MUSICAL THEATER This intimate ensemble piece may only have one stand-alone song, and it may not even be the best-crafted musical or have the emotional impa…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:50AM
Friday, May 27, 2022

Theater Review: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (Musical Theatre Guild) by Tony Frankel

MUSICAL THEATRE GUILD KNOWS HOW TO SUCCEED Reams can and have been written about the glories of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, a…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:12AM
Thursday, May 26, 2022

Off-Broadway Live & Streaming: CIRCLE JERK (Connelly Theater) by Tony Frankel

IT’S A LOT TO TAKE IN, BUT TAKE IT IN YOU MUST Fake Friends, which co-created the zany streaming event This American Wife (review), are very very bright and insightful, au courant abo…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 03:54PM
Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Broadway Review: HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (Manhattan Theatre Club at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre) by Tony Frankel

HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THEATER Some plays take time to come into their own but they’re well worth a wait. Twenty-five years after its Off-Broadway debut, Paula Vogel’s seminal w…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:49AM
Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Commentary and Los Angeles Theater Review: TAMBO & BONES (Kirk Douglas Theatre) by Tony Frankel

N-WORD, PLEASE! In six words, Samuel Beckett devours the human experience: “Birth was the death of him.” This line permeates not just A Piece of Monologue (1979), but all of the …

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 11:57PM

Theater Review: TIGER STYLE! (South Coast Rep) by Tony Frankel

THIS TIGER IS KING Tiger Style! at South Coast Rep is refreshing for many reasons. First, it’s really funny. Playwright Mike Lew crafts his script like a super-smart teenager, mixing …

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 07:12PM
Saturday, May 21, 2022

Theater Review: KING LEAR (The Wallis in Beverly Hills) by Tony Frankel

DID EVERYONE AT THE WALLIS NOT REALIZE THAT THE PLAY’S THE THING? One of the greatest travesties in L.A. theater history arrived at The Wallis last weekend, and I still have the emoti…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 03:40AM
Friday, May 20, 2022

Theater Review: METAMORPHOSES (A Noise Within) by Tony Frankel

I NEVER MET A METAMORPHOSES I DIDN’T LIKE, BUT THIS ONE IS GREAT Critics often speak of “universal themes”  — these are topics to which people in any place and a…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 03:51AM
Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Theater Preview: ANDRÉ & DORINE (Los Angeles Theatre Center) by Tony Frankel

THERE ARE NO WORDS It was one of those magical evenings in the theater that shall live with me forever. When Kulunka Teatro’s André & Dorine appeared at the Los Angeles Thea…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 04:08AM
Monday, May 16, 2022

New York Theater: 2022 DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS: by Tony Frankel

Follow the Drama Desk Awards at Drama Desk and @DramaDeskAwards on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for updates 2022 DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS: (click links for Stage and Cinema reviews) Outsta…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 06:48PM
Friday, May 13, 2022

Pre-Broadway Review: BOB FOSSE’S DANCIN’ (The Old Globe) by Tony Frankel

IF A SHOW IS CALLED DANCIN’, SHOULDN’T IT BE ALL ABOUT THE DANCING? With seemingly hundreds of thousands of Bob Fosse footsteps in Dancin‘ — now receiving a pre-Br…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:37AM
Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Broadway Review: FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF (Booth) by Tony Frankel

PLENTY OF RAINBOW BUT LITTLE COLOR In feminist Ntozake Shange‘s 1976 “choreopoem” (a term coined by the late playwright), the experiences of Black women in America are tran…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 07:30PM
Monday, May 9, 2022

New York Theater: 75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS by Tony Frankel

75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS This year’s Tony nominees were announced this morning. I must say, it’s difficult to argue with the majority of the noms. As usual, it seems …

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 06:46PM
Saturday, April 30, 2022

Off-Broadway Review: SEVEN SINS (Company XIV in Brooklyn) by Tony Frankel

SINS I FELL FOR YOU Mae West, the sage and sybarite from Brooklyn, used to say, “Let joy be unrefined,” a point of view that also suits Austin McCormick, artistic director and ch…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:59AM
Friday, April 29, 2022

Upcoming Jazz Music: BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB AND THEATER (May 2-15, 2022) by Tony Frankel

WHERE THE RHYTHM SWOOPS AND SWIRLS, THIS IS THE JAZZ CORNER OF THE WORLD It amazes me how many of my NY friends haven’t been to Birdland Jazz Club on 44th near Times Square (I’…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 09:57PM
Thursday, April 21, 2022

Broadway Review: THE MINUTES (Studio 54) by Tony Frankel

THE MINUTES WILL LEAVE YOU SLACK-JAWED AND SPEECHLESS Superbly civic, the vast council chamber created by set designer David Zinn reeks of rectitude. Filling the stage at Studio 54 is a coff…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 02:55PM
Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Off-Broadway Review: HARMONY (Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage) by Tony Frankel

PUT YOURSELF IN HARMONY‘S WAY I can’t remember the last time I have been so entranced with a new musical. And while Harmony may be having its New York premiere in the Off-Broadw…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 07:02PM
Thursday, April 14, 2022

Theater Review: BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY (Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles) by Tony Frankel

DOWN IN HARLEM Following the quirky, audacious Slave Play (see review) — the first show of Center Theatre Group’s season at The Taper — the company has done a complete 1…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 09:01PM
Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Dance Review: LAZARUS & REVELATIONS (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Chandler) by Tony Frankel

AILEY IS ALWAYS A REVELATION(S) Bringing with them three complete programs of dazzling dance, this 2022 edition showcases Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s (AAADT) vital verve, …

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 01:16AM
Monday, April 4, 2022

Off-Broadway Opening/Photos: ¡AMERICANO! (New World Stages) by Tony Frankel

After the acclaimed, record-setting run at Arizona’s Phoenix Theater Company, ¡Americano!, a new American musical, is now playing a 12-week limited engagement through June 19, 2022…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 09:57PM
Sunday, April 3, 2022

Theater Review: CAN’T PAY? DON’T PAY! (The Actors’ Gang) by Tony Frankel

A PLAY THAT’S A RIOT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO RIOT While loading items into my trunk after shopping at a Fortune 500 store recently, I realized that an item had gone unchecked by the cas…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 01:56AM
Friday, April 1, 2022

Broadway Opening: THE MINUTES (Steppenwolf at Studio 54) by Tony Frankel

THE MINUTES FINALLY GETS ITS TIME Steppenwolf’s production of The Minutes by Tracy Letts, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, will resume performances at Studio 54 on Broadway two y…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 04:14PM
Friday, March 18, 2022

Dance Review: ABT FORWARD (The American Ballet Theater at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa) by Tony Frankel

WITH TWO WINNERS OUT OF THREE WORKS, ABT’S PROGRAM STILL SOARS AT SEGERSTROM Bursting with happiness, joy and beauty, The American Ballet Theater opened its program last night at Sege…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 06:42PM
Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Theater Review: ASSASSINS (East West Players) by Tony Frankel

THANKS TO SONDHEIM’S SONGS, THIS MUSICAL WILL NEVER DIE The cast is quite terrific with some extraordinary standouts in East West Players’ revival of Assassins, but it is Sneha…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 03:18PM
Sunday, March 13, 2022

Theater Review: SLAVE PLAY (Mark Taper Forum) by Tony Frankel

MORE LIKE POWER PLAY THAN SLAVE PLAY Boy, if you want audacious theater — even one with higgledy-piggledy results — than I’ve got one for you: Slave Play, which opened l…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 03:20PM
Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Theater Review: MARVIN’S ROOM (Actors Co-op) by Tony Frankel

A ROOM OF THEIR OWN Actors Co-op is reviving Scott McPherson‘s extraordinary play Marvin’s Room. While it has always been one of my favorite plays, it’s a daunting choice…

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 11:48PM
Sunday, February 13, 2022

Broadway Extension: AMERICAN UTOPIA (David Byrne and Band) by Tony Frankel

BRINGING BACK BYRNE Talking Heads superstar David Byrne re-opened his acclaimed rock spectacle American Utopia last September 17 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre after the pandemic …

SOURCE: stageandcinema.com at 05:27PM

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off