460 stories by "Jacob Malizio"
Welcome to Schmigadoon—the magical town where every day is a musical. Everybody has a song for everything, the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, and the only bridge out of town leads…
A sendup of musicals needs to fulfill three major requirements: It must know its stuff inside out, it must be precisely crafted, and of course, it must be funny. Let’s just dispense with t…
While some may toss Schmigadoon! aside as a frivolous night out, Paul has created a world deeply rich in humanity, charm, and musical theatre heritage. Go do yourself a favor and get trapped…
Schmigadoon! as a TV show was a gift to musical theater buffs whose greatest joy will forever be Leslie Uggams’ musical stylings on June’s bejeepers. Paul, the stage show’s sole author…
If you watched the TV series, you’ll recognize some of these moments – along with others such as the fan-favorite celebration of “Corn Puddin!” – but what you might miss is the inh…
The effervescent stage show, from creator Cinco Paul and director-choreographer Christoper Gattelli, is all but irresistible — a giddy love letter to the form that’s enough to turn even …
Director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli (who just adapted Death Becomes Her for Broadway last year) makes the absolute most of the medium his show skewers so deliciously.
The post Th…
Under the protective cover of parody, Schmigadoon! is free to deliver real pleasures of old-school American musical comedy: catchy melodies with clever lyrics, laughs on the regular, a littl…
Schmigadoon! replicates much of the golden-age façade while seeming afraid of those shows’ political shadows. The show gestures at the classic targets of old-timey sexism, small-mindednes…
Melissa and Josh are ready to leave Schmigadoon. And so are we. I walked away contemplating if somewhere buried in there is a smart, hilarious musical that questions, and not so sappily, the…
Emmy Winner Ayo Edebiri and Golden Globe Winner Don Cheadle make their long-awaited Broadway debuts in David Auburn's Pulitzer and Tony Award"winning PROOF. Directed by Tony winner Thomas Ka…
Cheadle and Edebiri are both down-to-earth and unshowy in their clear affection for each other, and they're warmly believable as parent and child. Cheadle is laid back to the point of liquid…
Proof is so structurally sound that any production can have an impact, which is both a gift in theory and a potential liability in practice. Both sides of that equation are why Thomas Kail's…
The cast assembled here is easily one of the best on Broadway right now. Edebiri was, frankly, the wild card, an intriguing bit of casting that nonetheless had folks wondering whether her th…
While it may take the production a moment to fully kick into gear, Proof's effective performances from its four-member cast will keep theatergoers engrossed in all of its mathematical comple…
"Proof" remains a scintillating play. Its questions about hereditary mental illness, the truth, and who can be labeled a genius " especially with a Black woman at the center " continue to re…
The more seasoned Broadway actors have the run of the stage: Ha's Hal is layered and endearing, and Kara Young"as Catherine's bougie and bossy sister, Claire, a currency analyst"is terrific …
On stage, in her Broadway debut, Edebiri leaves it to the other actors to carry the drama. That's not a great choice, but it makes for an effective first act, because the other actors are so…
A few technical missteps are nonetheless minor compared with the serious performance troubles at the heart of Kail's Proof. And yet, the unassuming strength of Auburn's writing manages to sh…
"Proof" is one of the best American dramas to emerge in the last decade of the 20th century, a script ripe for revival not least for how beautifully it focuses on a little family of imperfec…
Nick's got a story to tell you. About how a routine traffic stop turned into a conviction for murder. About how he spent the next 22 years on death row. About how he finally petitioned the c…
Ferrentino's choice to make Nick look like he might be an unreliable narrator thus becomes bizarre; it certainly works against the clearer passions of the documentary. If you don't know the …
Brody is expectedly watchable and uber-committed, though the white-boy-swag vibe he loves to affect becomes grating in the wandering play, whose first 80 minutes or so are mostly just Yarris…
I had no such ambivalence viewing The Fear of 13, Lindsey Ferrentino's stage adaptation, now at Broadway's James Earl Jones Theatre. I knew it was bullshit within minutes of Adrien Brody pim…
"The Fear of 13" is deeply moving. Yet it falls short of being remarkable with uneven pacing and its ever-shifting tone. Translating a documentary into a Broadway production is no easy feat.…
