Friday, December 1, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Spain" - 11/30/23 by James Wilson

The classic 1937 film, The Spanish Earth, is a fascinating marriage of art and propaganda. Filmed during the Spanish Civil War, the documentary captures scenes from actual battles and shows …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:16AM
Thursday, November 30, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Jerusalem Syndrome" - 11/30/23 by Marc Miller

The Jerusalem Syndrome? The timing does not seem propitious for the York Theatre Company to trot out what's meant to be a fizzy, escapist musical comedy set in the present-day Middle East. B…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:36PM
Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice: Merrily, Sondheim Project, Ben Jones, and Antoine Drye - 11/29/23 by Rob Lester

I've been doing a deep dive into songs by Stephen Sondheim lately, gorging on the new recording of Merrily We Roll Along, and then, wanting more, I went merrily scavenging through my "waitin…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:48PM
Monday, November 27, 2023

Talkin' Broadway - Interview with James Walton - 11/27/23 by Wayman Wong

In fall 1981, previews of Merrily We Roll Along started out with a song. In fact, a whole wonderful score of them by Stephen Sondheim. Plus, a book by George Furth and direction by Hal Princ…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:57AM
Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Three Solo Shows at Playwrights Horizons" - 11/21/23 by Marc Miller

With Stereophonic blaring happily away on its mainstage, Playwrights Horizons is attempting an intriguing experiment upstairs at the Peter Jay Sharp: three one-acts, all solo shows, each wri…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:18AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Gardens of Anuncia" - 11/20/23 by Howard Miller

Addressing the audience, the title character in Michael John LaChiusa's charming if evanescent musical The Gardens of Anuncia, describes the setting as one in which "flowers float, tomatoes …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:09AM
Monday, November 20, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Hell's Kitchen" - 11/19/23 by Howard Miller

New York City in the 1990s was just beginning to emerge from a low point in its history, at least so far as the 20th century goes, a period marked by violent lawlessness, a rocketing plague …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:48AM
Thursday, November 16, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "New York, New York" 4/26/23 by James Wilson

Last fall, the Museum of Broadway opened in Midtown Manhattan. For a hefty admission fee, individuals can meander through a series of interactive exhibits that creatively and wistfully evoke…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:48PM

Talkin'Broadway by Rob Lester

"New York, New York" OBC, Matthew Scott, "Other Lives", and Chloé Jean album reviews.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:48PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Good Night, Oscar" 4/23/23 by Howard Miller

Playwright Doug Wright has carved out a highly successful niche for himself by creating for the stage, with sympathy and affection, works about actual people whose uncommon behavior and/or m…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:48PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Foxes" - 6/14/23 by Howard Miller

After many years of being on the theatrical down-low, stories of gay Black men (if not women) are starting to show up with some regularity on and off Broadway. In A Strange Loop, Fat Ham, an…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:48PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Jaja's African Hair Braiding" 10/3/23 by Howard Miller

A couple of years back, Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh led the post-pandemic reopening of the Delacorte Theater in New York's Central Park with a delightful retelling of Shakespea…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:48PM
Friday, November 3, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Pal Joey" - 11/3/23 by Howard Miller

Imagine you are the proud owner of four lovely die cut jigsaw puzzles. Each puzzle consists of pieces that have been shaped using the same pattern. Carefully assembled, you will wind up with…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:55PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "I Need That" 11/2/23 by Howard Miller

Theresa Rebeck's new play I Need That, opening tonight at the American Airlines Theatre, was created specifically as a vehicle for actor/comedian Danny DeVito and his daughter Lucy DeVito. N…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:45AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Sabbath's Theater" - 11/2/23 by James Wilson

Philip Roth's 1995 novel "Sabbath's Theater" is a sprawling, ambitious work that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Award. Arguably, it is also one of Roth's most…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:45AM
Thursday, November 2, 2023

Talkin' Broadway - Interview with Douglas Sills: "The Frogs"- 11/2/23 by Michael Portantiere

Douglas Sills will always be remembered and beloved by theatre lovers for his bravura performance as the star of the first incarnation of the Frank Wildhorn-Nan Knighton musical The Scarlet …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:03AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Poor Yella Rednecks" - 11/1/23 by Marc Miller

The curious thing about Poor Yella Rednecks, Qui Nguyen's Manhattan Theatre Club follow-up to his well-received, autobiographical Vietgone of several seasons back, is that its title characte…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:40AM
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Merry Me" - 10/31/23 by Marc Miller

Whoo-whee! It's a good thing Hansol Jung's Merry Me, at New York Theatre Workshop, hired an intimacy coordinator (Rocío Mendez). A great deal of shagging permeates the action, of various ge…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:16AM
Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" - 10/30/23 by James Wilson

The American musical theatre pantheon is teeming with cads, grifters and swindlers. Pal Joey's Joey Evans, Music Man's's Harold Hill, How to Succeed's J. Pierrepont Finch, and The Producers'…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:25AM
Sunday, October 29, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Stereophonic" - 10/29/23 by Marc Miller

How much you like Stereophonic, David Adjmi's play with (quite a lot of) music at Playwrights Horizons, may well hinge on how much you like Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Aerosmith, and their ilk…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:04PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Translations" - 10/29/23 by Marc Miller

A word of advice: Before seeing Translations, the opening volley in Irish Repertory Theatre's season-long (Brian) Friel Project, show up early. To get maximum impact out of this beguiling li…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:09PM
Saturday, October 28, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "King of the Jews" - 10/28/23 by Howard Miller

Ask yourself, what would you do? What would you do if, like Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, you were "one frightened voice" trying just to get by in the face of the rising tide of Naziism in …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:11PM
Friday, October 27, 2023

All That Chat - NEW PHOTOS: JONTHAN TUNICK RECEIVES HIS SARDI'S PORTRAIT by Michael Portantiere

Jonathan Tunick receives his Sardi's portrait. Photos by Michael Portantiere.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:51AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Redwood" - 10/26/23 by Kimberly Ramírez

There is no mention of the title word anywhere in the play currently running at Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST), but playwright Brittany K. Allen called it Redwood "after the oldest, most resi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:06AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Arms and the Man" - 10/26/23 by Howard Miller

Gingold Theatrical Group's production of George Bernard Shaw's 1894 comedy Arms and the Man, opening tonight at Theatre Row, is light as a feather and delectable as a piece of chocolate crea…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:06AM
Thursday, October 26, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice: Anything goes - 10/26/23 by Rob Lester

Two "Anything Goes" albums from JAY Records.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:08PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Emergence" - 10/25/23 by James Wilson

"Things are not as they seem." This is both the subtitle and guiding mantra of Emergence, Patrick Olson's strangely captivating new show currently playing at Manhattan's Signature Center. (E…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:35AM
Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Daphne" - 10/23/23 by Howard Miller

A thrum of fear and dread saturates playwright Renae Simone Jarrett's cryptic new play Daphne, opening tonight at Lincoln Center's Claire Tow Theater. Indeed, the play could be said to be al…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:41AM
Friday, October 20, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Partnership" - 10/19/23 by James Wilson

Last year, New York's invaluable Mint Theater Company presented Chains, Elizabeth Baker's trenchant drama from 1909 about the apparent impossibility of having both a happy marriage and a ful…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:58AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Chasing Happy" - 10/19/23 by Howard Miller

Playwright Michel Wallerstein's Chasing Happy, a production of Pulse Theatre opening tonight at Theatre Row, is a well-acted if wobbly plotted comedy about a love triangle among three gay me…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:58AM
Friday, October 13, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "South" - 10/13/23 by James Wilson

Near the end of South, Florencia Iriondo's autobiographical show, the Argentina-born writer and performer explains, "That constant sense of nostalgia defines me more than any address can." N…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:24PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater