Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Is it fair to have high expectations of a preview? Medium expectations? Any expectations? What if the preview ticket is full priced? Discounted?Previews live in a gray area, particularly in …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:37PM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 27, 2011
As I traveled to the Clurman Theatre to see the Keen Company's revival of Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky, I took a mental tour through other Wilson plays I've seen: Hot L Baltimore, Balm in Gile…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:44PM[SHARE]Thursday, September 22, 2011
Where do I start? Okay, here's where I start:The record-breaking performance of A Chorus Line. This review/description by Frank Rich will tell you why. I get goosebumps just reading about it…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:38PM[SHARE]Some of the Show Showdowners, myself included, are going to answer this question. We'd love to hear your answers too. Just click on "comments" below. Thanks!
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:45PM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Photo: Steven MenendezThe four musicians are elegant and graceful. The bass player is cool and contained. The piano and drum players banter with the singer. The trumpet player may be her lov…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:01PM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 14, 2011
There's no way I could limit myself to one "star in the making." New York theatre is just too full of riches. I did however manage to limit myself to seven. Lemp and KautzSarah Lemp and Jame…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:31PM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Laila Robins, J. Smith-Cameron and Maryann PlunkettPhoto by Joan MarcusWhile watching Richard Nelson's Sweet and Sad at the Public Theatre, I found myself thinking of how much I admire Tony …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:15PM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The "him" that Kate Baldwin loves is the amazing Sheldon Harnick, lyricist of such classic shows as She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Apple Tree, and honored guest on this CD. And w…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:09PM[SHARE]Monday, August 29, 2011
One of the best things about seeing a musical Off-Off-Broadway is hearing unmiked voices--when you can hear them. Unfortunately, only some of the cast members in the Sweet&Tart-Art of Wa…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:25PM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Ryan Worsing, Charlotte d'Amboise, and Michael Cusumano (Photo: Jeremy Daniel)
With its 6138th performance on August 22, Chicago became the fourth longest running show in Broadway history.&n…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:17PM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Gershwin Hotel
After watching the Amoralist production of HotelMotel, a pair of one-acts on site at the Gershwin Hotel, I was left with two questions. For Pink Knees on Pale Skin, written a…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:00PM[SHARE]Thursday, August 4, 2011
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cheyenne JacksonPhoto: Kerry LongIf you are at all interested in musical theatre you must see One Night Stand, a documentary about four short musicals that are written,…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:31PM[SHARE]Katharine Houghton, Loren Dunn, Robert EliPhoto: Ben HiderOn YouTube you can find faux coming attractions that morph famous films into different genres. The Dark Knight becomes a Pixar carto…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:38PM[SHARE]Saturday, July 23, 2011
Jessica Delbridge and Allison Hirschlag(Photo: Eli Sands)In Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare meets Beckett and a good time is had by all--except Rosencrantz …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:57PM[SHARE]Monday, July 11, 2011
Death Takes a Holiday is a lovely, old-fashioned musical, with an inviting score by Maury Yeston (which sounds somewhat like his Titanic). The frequently charming book by Thomas Meehan and&n…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:22PM[SHARE]Monday, July 4, 2011
Jessica Hecht (photo: T. Charles Erickson) Jessica Hecht has everything an actress could need to be a brilliant Blanche DuBois: talent, sensitivity, compassion, and intelligence. That's why …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:22PM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The magic of Zarkana begins as soon as you enter the gorgeous lobby at Radio City Music Hall. It may take a moment to notice amid the hubbub of the crowd, but there's a white-faced muscular …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:00PM[SHARE]Thursday, June 23, 2011
[spoilers below] Sol is in trouble. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot write anymore. He can drink. He can make a mess. He can whine. He can speak with great eloquence. He can have a ner…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:41PM[SHARE]Sunday, June 19, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor as Elizabeth TaylorThe one-woman show Finding Elizabeth Taylor started late today because of technical difficulties. At one point, the star and playwright, Elizabeth Taylor,…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:38PM[SHARE]By coincidence, I saw three plays about soldiers in Iraq this weekend (in order of viewing): Ajax in Iraq (not reviewed), Goliath, and The Eyes of Babylon. The Eyes of Babylon is the only on…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:45PM[SHARE]M. Scott FrankWhen I tell you the plot of the choreopoem Goliath, written by Takeo Rivera and directed by Alex Mallory, you may find it cliche: David, a smart and sensitive teenager, joins t…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:17PM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A good cabaret act often includes a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Ballads. Anthems. Standards. Novelties. Anecdotes. Audience participation. Shtick. Piano player-perfo…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:47PM[SHARE]Thursday, June 9, 2011
Claybourne Elder, Todd Lawson (photo: Monique Carboni)The New Group & Tectonic Theater Project's ponderous production of Tennessee Williams' One Arm, adapted from his unproduced screenpl…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:00PM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Photo: Mike MartinBarbara Cook. What do you think of when you hear that name? A pure soprano? Glitter and Be Gay? The queen of cabaret singers? The Music Man? Sondheim? An unparalleled inter…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:23PM[SHARE]Sunday, June 5, 2011
Ricky Ian Gordon's gorgeous chamber piece, Orpheus & Euridice, is being given an excellent production by The Orpheus Project and Collaborative Stages through June 12th. If luscious song …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:25PM[SHARE]Saturday, June 4, 2011
I'm very pleased to announce that June 9th I will be part of a panel on theatre blogging. I hope you can come! (It's free. More info below.)The panel is part of the Planet Connections Theatr…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:17PM[SHARE]Friday, June 3, 2011
If you wanted to explain the concept of "range," you could do worse than to compare Lynn Nottage's current comedy, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, to her recent devastating drama, Ruined. Few p…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:02PM[SHARE]Michael Cristofer and Linda Emond (photo: Joan Marcus)To those who point to previous generations of theatre as being better than this one, I have two words for you: Tony Kushner. (I have two…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:28PM[SHARE]Sunday, May 29, 2011
In 2003, in the Signature (Arlington, VA) production, Eric Schaeffer demonstrated that he is capable of directing a sensitive, textured, multidimensional, heart-breaking Follies. Has he forg…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:22PM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 25, 2011
I love Marilyn Maye.Really, what's not to love? Maye is an American Classic, a jazz-cabaret singer who started singing professionally in the Great Depression, an 83-year-old who swings with …
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:12PM[SHARE]In his director's note for The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman, David Zippel aptly refers to "the dazzling depth and breadth" of Coleman's work. Dazzling depth and breadth indee…
SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:00PM[SHARE] 
