Friday, March 22, 2024
Having thoroughly enjoyed the 2005 production of Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow, I was looking forward with excitement to the current production, directed by Pendleton, at the Theater for…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:02PMWednesday, March 20, 2024
The current production of John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt (starring Amy Ryan, Liev Shreiber, Zoe Kazan, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine) is not as good as the amazing original production fro…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:04AMSaturday, March 2, 2024
In Deb Margolin's new play, This Is Not a Time of Peace, directed by Jerry Heymann, Alina's father, Hillel, has become unstuck in time. He "travels" in memory (metaphorically? metaphysica…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:48AMFriday, February 23, 2024
The title I Love You So Much I Could Die hints at a deeply emotional, even fervid, show.
Nope.
For reasons that remain obscure to me, I Love You So Much I Could Die extends a great…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:02PMWednesday, February 14, 2024
Last weekend, the Program in Vocal Performance at NYU Steinhardt presented a musically gorgeous production of Titanic: The Musical. The NYU Broadway Orchestra, led by Ted Sperling and featur…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:48PMTuesday, January 16, 2024
I reviewed Here's to the Ladies over at Talkin' Broadway:
Eddie Shapiro's three books of long-form interviews with musical theatre performers provide a unique, entertaining look at the r…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:42AMThursday, December 7, 2023
New York Magazine's annual "Reasons to Love New York" issue came out at just the right time for this review. After three successive evenings experiencing amazing talent and creativity in New…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:48AMTuesday, November 14, 2023
Last night, Broadway Close Up presented yet another lovely night of talented people singing wonderful songs. The evening was devoted to shows that Hal Prince produced and/or directed, which …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:12PMTuesday, November 7, 2023
The time is the present. The place is Ancient Greece. The fabulous lyrics and music are by the one-and-only Sondheim. The hysterical book is based on Aristophanes' The Frogs, as loosely adap…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:02PMTuesday, October 31, 2023
Over the years, the Broadway Close-Up series has featured selections from musicals-in-development, including discussions with their creators; salutes to established composers and writers o…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:13AMFriday, October 20, 2023
The fabulous Mint Theater Company is presenting Partnership, the third in their "Meet Miss [Elizabeth] Baker" series. The first, The Price of Thomas Scott (review here), from 1913, movingly…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:43AMMonday, October 2, 2023
It's difficult to decide where to begin discussing the wonders of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. The incredibly funny, smart, musical writing; the extrao…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:55PMSaturday, September 16, 2023
What do you get if you stir together abortion rights, cancel culture, and Hamlet, throw in hints of Becket and Brecht, and add sharp writing, excellent acting, and fabulous make-up and cost…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:37PMTuesday, August 29, 2023
In this sad time of theatres' laying off staff, shortening seasons, and disappearing altogether, there is at least one bright spot: the York Theatre Company's Musicals in Mufti are back!!
Mu…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:37AMWednesday, August 16, 2023
If I were forced to name one favorite show, it might well be Sweeney Todd. (Actually, it would be Sweeney-Night Music-Follies, but that's cheating.) Sweeney's size, wit, pathos, beauty, and …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:19PMMonday, August 14, 2023
Tennessee Williams’s play Orpheus Descending (recently at the Theatre for a New Audience) was the first of his works to be produced. While it is not one of his masterpieces, it is still ri…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:43PMThursday, August 10, 2023
Once Upon a One More Time is not a show I would usually see. The only thing I know about Britney Spears is that she's in the news a lot and has had some tough times. And I don't care much a…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:19PMThursday, May 18, 2023
I reviewed Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation at Talkin' Broadway:
Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation, by Nancy Schoenb…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:42PMBlanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation, by Nancy Schoenberger, is an odd little book. Saying that it runs some 193 pages of actual content is generous, as that…
SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:34AMTuesday, May 16, 2023
The Gallery Players production of Assassins is unfortunately not up to its usual standards. I admire the ambition of attempting Assassins, with its non-plot, odd politics, long swaths of sp…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:06PMFriday, May 5, 2023
Once again, MasterVoices has provided an evening of charm, joy, and fabulous music. In this case, it was Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe, not one of their best, but still great fun. (There a…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:12PMEntertainment awards are silly and they're also endlessly fascinating. Part of the allure is the fashion, pomp, and party atmosphere. A bigger part, for me, is the speeches--at least, those …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:12PMMonday, May 1, 2023
She's a legend. She has been nominated for a Tony 10 times, winning for The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman. She has a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, plus at least 10 other lifetime …
SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:22PMFriday, April 28, 2023
The rollicking, deeply silly, remarkably funny production of the The Knight of the Burning Pestle currently at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, brought to us by Red Bull Theater and Fiasco Theat…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:24AMTuesday, April 11, 2023
I review Smart over at Talkin' Broadway:
Elaine is committed to taking care of her mother, but it's far from easy. Ruth had a stroke, and she frequently has difficulty speaking, occasio…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:18PMElaine is committed to taking care of her mother, but it's far from easy. Ruth had a stroke, and she frequently has difficulty speaking, occasionally has difficulty moving around, and receiv…
SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:31AMFriday, March 31, 2023
The York Theatre Company's production of Vanities, running through April 22, has many strong points. The main strength is the cast.
The story of three friends from roughly age 18 (in 1963) …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:12AMThursday, March 16, 2023
Red Bull's fabulously entertaining production of Arden of Faversham, directed with a wry hand by Artistic Director Jesse Berger, tells the story of Alice (the terrific Cara Ricketts), a you…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:40PMFriday, March 10, 2023
I reviewed this show for Talkin' Broadway. The review can be accessed here.
I have very mixed feelings about this review, just as I had mixed feelings about the show.
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:59PMThursday, March 9, 2023
The press invitation to the The Bushwick Starr's open-hearted, funny, and smart Dark Disabled Stories, by Ryan J. Haddad and now onstage at Public Theater, offers detailed guidance on writin…
SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:31PMTuesday, March 7, 2023
In 1995, Lynn Nottage had her first professional production: Crumbs from the Table of Joy, at Second Stage in New York. The Keen Company is now presenting Crumbs' first New York revival, w…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:00PM 
