499 stories by "ROB WEINERT-KENDT"
photo by I.C. RapoportSo Lydia Diamond's much-lauded family comedy/drama Stick Fly will hit Broadway later this year. That's great news for Diamond, and great news for a play that's been gat…
The summer months after the Tonys may once have been relatively slow, but that's not the case any more in the city that never sleeps: Myriad new-play festivals downtown (Clubbed Thumb Summer…
From around the theatre net:"Hasa Diga Convention!" One of seven things The Book of Mormon (the show, not the scripture) can teach producers, from Ken Davenport's blog."Are we [critics] too …
I probably should stop apologizing for my lack of time to properly blog. But in response to seeing The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World last night, I essentially wrote a fan letter to its cre…
This may be an unconventional use of my blog, but it's come to my attention that a friend has a block of good orchestra seats for this coming Saturday night's performance (June 25 at 8 pm) o…
There's a lot of Shakespeare coming our way this summer--more than the usual Central Park fare, what with Lincoln Center importing the Royal Shakes for a four-show rep next month.But a quick…
Still not up for a ton of post-conference blogging (yet). Here are some bits and pieces:Oregon Shakes has a broken theater.The Taper's Michael Ritchie: "Fuck subscribers. I'm so tired of sub…
I've got much to blog about, after a week in my old L.A. stomping grounds and four days of the TCG conference...but while I catch up with a week's worth of emails and StageGrade etc., please…
I'll be traveling next week, mostly for this conference you may have heard about. I leave you with the strong recommendation to catch Tanya Saracho's Enfrascada, a Clubbed Thumb production, …
This should be interesting: The LA Times will host a panel discussion on my pet subject next week:Is Los Angeles a "theater town"? New York. Chicago. Seattle. San Francisco. For many, tho…
I can't be objective about LA Times theater critic Charles McNulty. He's one of the nation's finest theater critics; I think that was clear well before he won the Nathan. But I did campaign …
"I once saw Stephen Sondheim, at the press opening of a Coleman show, nearly fall out of his seat with delight at an unexpected modulation."-Michael Feingold, writing about the Cy Coleman r…
Been buried. Two links to explain why, and still more for your reading pleasure:The StageGrade Critics Tony Poll 2011: A lot of Mormons, a lot of strong male performances.A preview of Kate F…
Mormons, horses, hoofers, and AIDS activists are shoo-ins for Tony awards this year, if voters in this year StageGrade Critics' Tony Poll are to be believed. But while there's near-unanimity…
The many emotions of Broadway's new season
In honor of Dylan's 70th, and because I just reckoned with another Midwestern Jewish artist's relationship with Brecht, it's worth revisiting this juicy piece by Jason Zinoman after Chronicl…
I was underwhelmed by the current revival of Anything Goes, but I found Sutton Foster riveting; like Kelli O'Hara or Raul Esparza, or any of her overqualified generation of musical theater t…
Seen on Nassau Blvd. in Greenpoint this morning.
Though he's a bit shrill about it, Eric Alterman has done due diligence in taking apart the politics part of Andrew Ferguson's fawning piece about David Mamet's "conversion" to the right (wh…
Looks like Lynn Nottage has done it again: Two years ago her war-torn drama Ruined was the hottest ticket Off-Broadway, her Hollywood-set comedy By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at Second Stage h…
Roughly once a quarter I write about Broadway shows for the Catholic journal America, and though I wish I had seen the relatively amazing Jerusalem and the surprisingly (to me, at least) sha…
photo by Sara Krulwich/New York TimesI enjoyed the premiere of Joy Gregory and Gunnar Madsen's Shaggs musical back in 2003, so I'm especially happy to see it finally make it to New York with…
The unlikely story of the Shaggs, whose fans included Kurt Cobain and Frank Zappa, hits the stage.
"Lynn Nottage may well be the one black playwright of whom it cannot be said that she amassed her many awards on her race and gender." -John Simon, reviewing By the Way, Meet Vera StarkIf I …
Broadway may have posted its final openings of 2010-'11 last week, but the season ain't over 'til it's over, and this week boasted a diverse crop of auspicious new Off-Broadway offerings, th…
