Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Babe" - 11/20/24 by James Wilson

Stereophonic, this year's Tony Award winner for Best Play, is set in the 1970s and depicts rampant toxic masculinity in the recording industry. The New Group's current production, Babe by Je…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:25PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Swept Away" 11/19/24 by Howard Miller

"The great tragedy of the sea." That's what a grizzled old sea captain calls it when describing life aboard a whaler like the one he's commanding in the closing years of the 19th century in …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:09AM
Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Shit. Meet. Fan." - 11/18/24 by Kimberly Ramírez

Shit. Meet. Fan., the latest production at MCC's Newman Mills Theater, presents a promising premise: a satirical dramatization of white privilege, toxic masculinity, and social façades. Ada…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:20AM
Sunday, November 17, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Elf" 11/17/24 by Howard Miller

Do you believe in Santa Claus? Even a little bit? No? All right, then. Let me sweeten the pot. What do you think about the idea of Samwise Gamgee of The Lord of the Rings fame appearing as S…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:07PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Light and the Dark: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi" - 11/17/24 by Howard Miller

Playwright Kate Hamill is best known as an adaptor of classic novels like Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, asking us to recon…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:43PM
Saturday, November 16, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Mercutio Loves Romeo Loves Juliet Loves" - 11/16/24 by Michael Dale

When New Jersey's St. William Academy All Girls' Catholic School holds auditions for Romeo and Juliet, 17-year-old Ellie and her best friend Britt just assume they'll be cast in the title ro…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:53PM
Friday, November 15, 2024

My twisty history with Miss Saigon and Yellow Face by Wayman Wong

I was the New York Daily News reporter who broke the historic story about the casting controversy over Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon. That led to protests and a dramatic showdown between Act…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:33AM
Thursday, November 14, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Tammy Faye" 11/14/24 by Howard Miller

Sometimes it's difficult to understand the underlying intent of a theatrical production, which, perhaps, is the underlying problem with Tammy Faye, the intermittently rewarding musical that …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:18PM
Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Maybe Happy Ending" 11/12/24 by Howard Miller

Thanks to some very cleverly arranged design elements, Maybe Happy Ending, the quirky/charming futuristic musical opening today at the Belasco Theatre, is the theatrical equivalent of what c…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:13PM
Monday, November 11, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Strategic Love Play" - 11/10/24 by James Wilson

First dates are generally awkward, sometimes cringeworthy, and occasionally hopeful. In Miriam Battye's Strategic Love Play, Audible Theater's current production, these familiar qualities ar…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:00AM
Saturday, November 9, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "We Live in Cairo" - 11/8/24 by Marc Miller

There's more than a whiff of Rent to We Live in Cairo, Daniel and Patrick Lazour's long-aborning musical now at New York Theatre Workshop. Also the heady scents of cardamom and sumac. Take a…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:19AM
Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Talkin' Broadway - Book Review: "Yankee Doodle Dandy: George M. Cohan and the Broadway Stage" - 11/5/24 by Rob Lester

If you walk through Manhattan's theatre district, you pass locations of theaters owned by a man who wrote many shows (music, lyrics, book) and directed, produced, and often performed in them…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:34AM
Monday, November 4, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Devil's Disciple" - 11/3/24 by Howard Miller

George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple is a melodrama. Or, wait, it's a comedy. No, it's an antiwar satire with political overtones. Anyway, you get my drift. It is difficult to pin down…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:04AM
Friday, November 1, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Ragtime" - 11/1/24 by Howard Miller

To misquote Norma Desmond, "Broadway is big. It's the musicals that got small." Though not in 1997-1998. That was a banner time for big musicals with big companies. The Lion King, Titanic, a…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:49PM
Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Another Shot" - 10/29/24 by James Wilson

Spike Manton and Harry Teinowitz's Another Shot, now running at New York's Signature Center (but is not a Signature production), is set in an addiction rehab facility. The title slyly hints …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:20PM
Monday, October 28, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Bad Krey�l " - 10/28/24 by Howard Miller

There is an expression among Caribbean islanders that goes something like this: "Come see me is not the same as come live with me." That is a pretty good description of the situation that se…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:30PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie" - 10/28/24 by Michael Dale

As Anton Chekhov wrote, if the title song of a musical is interrupted with a legal disclaimer regarding the use of copyrighted material, the first act had better end with a cease and desist …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:52AM
Thursday, October 24, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Romeo + Juliet" 10/24/24 by Howard Miller

Director Sam Gold and William Shakespeare. Always expect the unexpected when these two pair up. For instance, when Gold, in his most avant-garde mode, tackled Hamlet in 2017 and, five years …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:26PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Left on Tenth" 10/23/24 by Howard Miller

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but it does not necessarily make for a compelling theatrical experience. And when the truth that is being depicted is based on autobiography, the biggest …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:32AM
Monday, October 21, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Sunset Boulevard" 10/20/24 by Howard Miller

Ach du lieber!!! Holy Moly!!! Or even WTF!!! Feel free to quote me once you exit (or stagger out of) the St. James Theatre, where director/mad scientist Jamie Lloyd has unleashed his latest …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:40AM
Thursday, October 17, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Hold On to Me Darling" - 10/16/24 by Howard Miller

A psychoanalyst would surely have a field day with Clarence McCrane, known to all the world as megastar country and western singer and movie actor Strings McCrane, the irresistibly appealing…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:20AM
Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Vladimir" - 10/15/24 by Marc Miller

One of the pleasures of Vladimir, Erika Sheffer's sturdy new play at Manhattan Theatre Club, is how it allows us Americans to listen in on ordinary Russians' conversations. We've had plenty …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:13AM
Saturday, October 12, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Sump'n Like Wings" - 10/12/24 by Howard Miller

Sump'n Like Wings, now on stage at Theatre Row, is the latest entry from the always intriguing Mint Theater Company, whose aim it is to uncover, dust off, and produce lost or forgotten plays…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:17AM
Thursday, October 10, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Our Town" 10/10/24 by Howard Miller

Thornton Wilder's Our Town is one American play that feels as though it belongs to everyone. It is regularly read and performed in high schools and mounted by amateur theatre groups across t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:05PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "I'm Going to Eat You Alive" - 10/10/24 by Michael Dale

"Content warning for like, everything. Really sorry. This play's really gross," advises playwright Riley Elton McCarthy in the press script provided to reviewers of their psychological Grand…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:36PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Deep History" - 10/10/24 by Howard Miller

"It's the end of the world as we know it." You may recall these lyrics to a jaunty song by the rock band R.E.M. from back in 1987. And while Deep History, opening tonight at the Public Theat…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:36PM
Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Counter" - 10/9/24 by Marc Miller

This won't be a long one, because The Counter is one of those plays where divulging almost any detail might constitute a spoiler. Meghan Kennedy's short, straightforward exploration of frien…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:06PM
Thursday, October 3, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Distant Thunder" - 10/3/24 by Howard Miller

"We are falling off the shoulders of our ancestors." These demoralizing words declaimed by an elder of the Blackfeet tribe comes late in the new musical Distant Thunder, opening tonight for …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:06PM
Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Yellow Face" 10/91/24 by Howard Miller

One of the many pleasures to be experienced in David Henry Hwang's highly pleasurable Yellow Face, opening tonight at the Todd Haimes Theatre, lies in the splendid way he has of twisting fac…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:41PM
Monday, September 30, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "McNeal" 9/30/24 by Howard Miller

To be sure, there are many individual moments in which Robert Downey Jr. (making his Broadway debut) and the rest of the game and talented cast manage to grab our attention for entire disjoi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:06PM

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