Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Review: Off Broadway Sways to Reggae Beat in ‘The Harder They Come’  by David Cote

Suzan-Lori Parks reshapes the 1972 Jimmy Cliff movie into a jukebox musical, but its outlaw charge has gone missing.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 07:00PM
Thursday, March 9, 2023

Review: A Decluttered Doll’s House Speaks to Our Alienated Times  by David Cote

A chilly, restrained minimalism marks this Broadway adaptation of Ibsen, starring Jessica Chastain.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:00PM
Sunday, March 5, 2023

Review: Adult Fairytale ‘The Trees’ Gets to the Root of Modern Angst  by David Cote

Existential upheaval is fun in this magic-realist mini-epic from Agnes Borinsky that moves the beyond theatrical binaries of comedy and tragedy.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:30PM
Thursday, March 2, 2023

Wayne Cilento Brings Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ Back to Broadway by Harry Haun

Director and choreographer Wayne Cilento — who was part of the original company of 'A Chorus Line' — on his life onstage and bringing 'Bob Fosse's Dancin'' back to Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:30PM
Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Review: Anton Chekhov Gets An R Rating With ‘The Seagull/Woodstock, NY’ by David Cote

Chekhov’s 1895 comedy gets a cheerfully vulgar refurbishing (and a perfect Parker Posey), but part of the shock is how by-the-book Thomas Bradshaw's rework is.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:00PM
Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Spring Theater Preview: A Dozen Great Shows Bloom On Broadway (And Off) by David Cote

A pop star becomes a demon barber, a TV assassin turns attorney, and Hamlet gets a Black, queer makeover — those are just a few of the miraculous transformations the theater has in store t…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:21PM
Tuesday, February 21, 2023

A Lorraine Hansberry Revival At BAM Reveals Her Playwrighting As Activism by Harry Haun

Director Anne Kauffman says 'The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window' touches on everything from history, philosophy and politics to interpersonal relationships and identity. "It’s the kitc…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:37PM
Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Samuel D. Hunter, Author of ‘The Whale,’ On His Artistic Turning Point by Harry Haun

A single heartbreaking truth in both 'The Whale' and the newly revived 'A Bright New Boise' provided a pivot for the playwright turned screenwriter.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:22PM
Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Review: Send West Village Café Musical ‘Cornelia Street’ Back To The Kitchen by David Cote

A talented cast is trapped by cringe material in this show about quirky urbanites trying to survive in New York City, with songs from Mark Eitzel of American Music Club and a book by British…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:00PM
Friday, February 10, 2023

Re-Bringing Up ‘Baby’: The Second Life (And New Cast Recording) Of A Broadway Musical by Harry Haun

The Tony-winning director-lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. explains how the '80s musical 'Baby' was reborn for a new era.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 09:54AM
Thursday, February 9, 2023

‘Pictures From Home’ Review: Unfocused And Underexposed by David Cote

Sharr White's Broadway adaptation of Larry Sultan's photo memoir is part sitcom — with laugh lines for Nathan Lane — and part family weepie. There's no intimacy amidst the broad strokes …

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:30PM
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

The 92nd Street Y Throws John Guare A Star-Studded 85th Birthday Bash by Harry Haun

The author of such landmarks as "Six Degrees of Separation" and "The House of Blue Leaves" recalls his long career, which started with two plays written at age 11.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:43PM

How Playwright Sharr White Built A Broadway Domestic Dramedy From Family Photos by Harry Haun

White created 'Pictures from Home' from photographer Larry Sultan's 1992 memoir of the same name. "It’s heartbreaking and also very funny."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:03PM
Monday, January 23, 2023

Review: God And Man At Applebee’s In ‘Field of Mars’ by David Cote

Riffing on the origin of humanity, Richard Maxwell crams a lot into a family restaurant.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:36PM
Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Off-Broadway’s Bathrooms: A Ranked Love Letter by Billy McEntee, Billy McEntee

We freshen up in them, overhear theater gossip in them, and wash our hands before leaving them. Now we rank them.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:01PM
Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Eduardo Machado’s ‘Not About Me’ Is A Memory Journey Through Parallel Plagues by Harry Haun

The death of a close colleague from COVID-19 helped inspire Eduardo Machado's new play at the Theater for the New City.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:07PM
Friday, December 30, 2022

Stephen McKinley Henderson Is Center Stage As Pulitzer Prize Winner ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ Comes to Broadway by Harry Haun

This revival — with most of the original cast — brings the show new urgency, and one new actor: Common, making his Broadway debut.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:54PM
Thursday, December 29, 2022

Paul Bettany On Transforming Into Andy Warhol In ‘The Collaboration’ by Harry Haun

Paul Bettany dons a white wig to make his Broadway debut in this play about Andy Warhol's partnership with Jean-Michel Basquiat.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 04:53PM
Monday, December 12, 2022

Review: Sondheim’s Brilliant Flop ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ Is Smartly Revived by David Cote

Thanks to superlative casting (including Daniel Radcliffe) and canny direction, this elegant, emotionally searching production may be the finest 'Merrily' you’ll ever see.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 07:00PM
Sunday, December 11, 2022

Review: ‘Some Like It Hot’ Is The Joyous Broadway Musical People Have Been Praying For by Rex Reed

Dusted off, polished and revitalized to reflect contemporary values, 'Some Like It Hot' remains close to perfect.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 02:30PM
Friday, December 9, 2022

‘Ohio State Murders’: 75 Minutes of Waiting for Something To Happen by Rex Reed

In this Broadway revival of Adrienne Kennedy's 1992 play, Audra McDonald is more interesting than the show itself.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:31AM
Thursday, December 8, 2022

For Cameron Crowe and Neal Preston, the ‘Almost Famous’ musical is Full Circle by Rachel Millman, Rachel Millman

Like a band on tour, 'Almost Famous: The Musical' had a few stops and starts along the way but is finally at its destination on The Great White Way.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 08:45AM
Monday, December 5, 2022

Audra McDonald Is Broadway’s Busiest (And Most Awarded) Star by Harry Haun

The six-time Tony winner spent Saturday onstage at Carnegie Hall and opens in 'Ohio State Murders' on Broadway on Thursday, in what she calls "the most difficult role I’ve ever played."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:32PM

Review: ‘A Beautiful Noise’ Is A Portrait of The Rock Star As Depressed Senior Citizen  by David Cote

This sloppy Broadway embrace of Neil Diamond is a jukebox musical in search of a plot.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:38AM
Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Three-Time Tony Winner Jack O’Brien Explains “How to Goddamn Direct” In New Memoir by Harry Haun

Having spent 54 of his 83 years directing stunning theater, Jack O’Brien talks about working with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tom Stoppard and Neil Simon, as well as his next Broadway show, 'Shuc…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:19PM
Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Bruce Norris On The Moral Complexities of ‘Downstate’ by Harry Haun

The playwright’s latest examines society’s need to identify collective villains that can be perpetually punished.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 10:48AM
Friday, November 18, 2022

Review: The Excruciating “& Juliet” Fails on Every Level by Rex Reed

Set to the music of Max Martin, this moronic new Broadway show asks the question, "What if Romeo died but Juliet didn't kill herself and lived on to bore everybody else to death?"

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 03:54PM
Wednesday, November 9, 2022

The Directors of ‘1776’ Explain How The Revival Represents America Today by Harry Haun

"Every single person on that stage is someone who would not have been allowed to be inside Independence Hall in 1776."

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 12:56PM
Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Father and Son Reed and Ephraim Birney Bring ‘Chester Bailey’ to Life at the Irish Rep by Harry Haun

Family ties provide added resonance to this two-character play about a welder who suffers a devastating injury, for both the audience and the actors. "But we’re still really goofy with eac…

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 11:39AM
Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Review: ‘Dodi & Diana’ Asks if a Relationship Can Survive the Past by Farah Abdessamad, Farah Abdessamad

From playwright Kareem Fahmy, 'Dodi & Diana' is a play reckoning with love's survival on the anniversary of the death of Princess Diana.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:30PM
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

She Screams, They Scream, We All Scream For Lea Michelle In ‘Funny Girl’ by Rex Reed

The ovations (many of them standing) greeting Lea Michelle as Fanny Brice are contagious.

SOURCE: The New York Observer at 01:20PM

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