970 stories by "Michael Portantiere"
The Mint Theater Company has gained a stellar reputation for researching, finding, and presenting plays that greatly entertained audiences back in the day but now are shrouded in obscurity -…
The current issue of The Sondheim Review includes Michael Portantiere's recent interview with Mary Rodgers; the publication has given Talkin' Broadway permission to reprint the interview onl…
Some performers (and theatergoers) have mixed feelings about the "actors doubling as musicians" trend that seems to have grown stronger in musical theater over the past decade or s…
The 2014 High School Musical Theater Awards showcased the best and brightest of young performers from throughout the country. Here are photos ...
One of America's greatest composer/lyricists, Frank Loesser in a sense had three careers -- as a writer of stand-alone songs during the Tin Pan Alley era, songs for Hollywood films, and scor…
Depending on one's point of view, it can be either depressing or strangely comforting to realize that human foibles and societal issues we think of as fairly recent are actually not.
It's been a good couple of seasons for those of us who are such great fans of William Inge that we want to see even his most obscure works on stage. Last year, The Actors Company Theatre (TA…
A memorable phrase coined by Henry James to describe Washington, D.C. is an apt title for Anthony Giardina's The City of Conversation, now receiving its world premiere production by Lincoln …
Malcolm Gets was most recently seen on stage as one of the witches (!!!), along with Byron Jennings and John Glover, in Macbeth, and before that opposite Will Chase in The Story of My Life. …
This year's East Bonnet competition was filled with delights, from a hilarious opening number with Rory O'Malley as an ambitious actor and Michael Riedel as Satan, to the roof-raising finale…
I consider myself spoiled -- or maybe privileged is the better word -- to have seen and heard several performances of Frank Loesser's operatic musical The Most Happy Fella with full orchestr…
The swift closing " after only 11 previews and 21 performances " of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy on Broadway in 1982 has always mystified me.
Little Mary Sunshine, that delightfully silly operetta spoof by Rick Besoyan, is currently being revived by Musicals Tonight! at Theatre Row's Lion Theatre, directed by Thomas Sabella-Mills.…
London Wall offers present-day American theatergoers a glimpse of office sexual politics that is twice-removed from our own culture and time.
It's not always easy to be funny and sexy on stage (or off) at the same time, but Rachel York managed that feat very well as Norma "Paris Makes Me Horny" Cassidy in Victor/Victoria…
This year's "Gypsy of the Year" competition at the Minskoff Theatre began with a tribute to the star of the original production of Gypsy, the great Ethel Merman, channeled by the w…
Like most other songwriters, Alan and Marilyn Bergman are less well known by their own names than by the titles of the songs for which they have so beautifully written the lyrics: "The …
The second annual NYC edition of Sparkle!, a charity benefit Christmas concert put together and hosted by Scott Nevins, was held last night (Sunday, December 1) at XL nightclub, spreading ho…
...The Preacher and the Shrink is at once unnecessary and despicable...
When last (and first) I interviewed Jeremy Jordan in September 2011, he was rehearsing for the leading role of Jack Kelly in the world premiere production of Newsies at the Paper Mill Playho…
On Sunday evening, October 27, Encompass New Opera Theatre honored the great lyricist Sheldon Harnick (Fiorello, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, etc., etc.) with a gala event featuring so…
Having heard that the Soho Rep production of David Adjmi's Marie Antoinette has a running time of 90 minutes, I certainly didn't expect I was in for a detailed, probing examination of one of…
... the audience was also treated to dollops of other forms of dance, from classical to tap to hip-hop. All of that fabulous stuff led up to the Big Moment of the Evening, when superstar An…
George Kelly's plays were tremendously popular and highly regarded by critics in his day....
A real-life married couple since 1999, Keir Dullea and Mia Dillon have worked together several times before on stage -- sometimes playing spouses, sometimes not. Now, they're taking on two o…
