By EDWARD RUBIN What is it to become a word? To become or even create an emotion that doesn't exist…at least not yet. How much power does the artist have to convince and make believe? The …
By ALAN SMASON Tennessee Williams' last play on Broadway was the terribly titled Clothes for a Summer Hotel, which lasted for 14 performances before it shut down. The play bears the explanat…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") From the first few lines in the opening number ("We're Live") of "Mr. Saturday Night," it is apparent this is a throwback to Broadway …
By ANNE SIEGEL CHICAGO " It's no secret that the recent opening of The Devil Wears Prada is a mere precursor to its 2023 Broadway run. Although no dates, theater or cast has been announced f…
By ROY BERKO In the fall of 1957, I had a mind-blowing experience. I saw the newly opened Broadway production of West Side Story. At the time, all I knew about the show was that it was…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") One of British playwright Pam Gems' early stage successes was Dead Fish, which has since been renamed Dusa, Fish, Stas & Vi. Fi…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") Since its founding, the mission of the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company (TWTC) has been to tell the stories of New Orleans' best kno…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") When the musical Mrs. Doubtfire was preparing to open in 2020, the show became a victim of the forced lockdown of all theaters in N…
By EDWARD RUBIN I seem to remember reading, in all of the hoopla surrounding the Baryshnikov Art Center's Production of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, somebody saying "Unlike anything that you…
By ROY BERKO Theater history books refer to The Black Crook, which opened in 1866 in New York, as the first musical. However, according to Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the conceivers …
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") One of the funniest comedies of the big screen of 1983 was "Trading Places," Eddie Murphy's sophomore vehicle in which he starred oppo…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") Â Â Â Â Â Â Â SCROLL DOWN Â Â Â Â Â Â SCROLL DOWN MORE Â Â Â Â Â Â KEEP SCROL…
By JACK LYONS, Special to Theatrecriticism.com With a film title like "The Jewish Jail Lady and the Holy Thief," how could one not be intrigued? This film documentary digs deep into the tell…
By ROY BERKO What do Rogers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Cole Porter all have in common?  Yes, they are all composers of American musicals, but they are also just …
Between the years 1848 and 1851 over four thousand Irish females took passage on ships from Ireland to Australia under the Orphan Emigration Scheme, established by Earl Grey. This action had…
By ROY BERKO Mathew Lopez, the author of The Legend of Georgia McBride " now on stage in the Studio Theatre at Beck Center " also wrote The Inheritance, which, in 2018 was the most hon…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") Tina Fey's success as a screenwriter for the film "Mean Girls" was supported by her husband Jeff Richmond's music. So, when the though…
By ED RUBIN MCC Theater's production of Which Way To The Stage running through Saturday, May 28, at the Robert W. Wilson Theater Space at 511 West 52nd Street in Manhattan, is one of the …
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré has been trying to bring Janis Joplin to New Orleans for more than two years and, as any music lover …
By ALAN SMASON Jason Petty strides onto the stage of BB's Stage Door Canteen wearing a classic white country and western suit. On the sleeves and lapels are black musical notes and staffs wi…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") When Robert Louis Stevenson penned his classic tale of buccaneers and buried booty, "Treasure Island," he could not have had a clue th…
By ANNE SIEGEL (MILWAUKEE, WI.) " The most surprising thing about Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland is that the Milwaukee Repertory Theater has taken so long to bring this show …
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic ("Steppin' Out") It seems children's writer Roald Dahl and his dark prose will never go out of fashion. More than 30 years after his death, the genius …
By ALAN SMASON Most lovers of literature will consider Ira Levin for his best-selling novels "Rosemary's Baby" "The Stepford Wives," "A Kiss Before Dying," and "The Boys from Brazil," all of…
By JACK LYONS, Desert Local News (PALM SPRINGS, CA.) " As the early scenes of playwright Karen Zacarias' 2019 comedy play-with-a-bite unfolds, one would think "I've seen this play /story bef…