610 stories by "Richard Seff"
This project began with a fine title, one that conjurs up a fun musical once you know it’s about the battle for supremacy in the field of female skincare and beauty. It sounded like ev…
I had only dim memories of the 1993 agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis, which had been secretly arranged by a Norwegian couple, who had spent from April 1992 until September…
Family plays have changed so in the past few decades. They once concerned themselves with sibling rivalry for power and control (The Little Foxes), long held lies that are finally unearthed …
It doesn't take much to create a smash Broadway hit. All you need for starters is a witty script that isn't in a hurry (not a 90-minute mini-play, but a full-size evening that keeps you …
The Lyceum Theatre on Broadway is playing host to a most unusual guest.. It has brought in the Cornley University Drama Society's production of The Murder at Haversham Manor and because of a…
Based on a charming French film, Amélie the musical begins with a narrator letting us know we're going to be in Paris and its surroundings for the next 90 minutes, and as he and the music b…
It took a while, but the Oregon Shakespeare Festival helped by staging this remarkable play in the summer if 2014. It caused enough of a stir for the Public Theatre in New York to pick it up…
This is the play that introduced me to the writings of Tennessee Williams long ago, in 1945! That was the original production at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway, and it contained the now l…
Producer Jack Viertel and his merry band of music makers at Encores! have unearthed another great example of the beginnings of American dominance in the field of musical theatre. Our heritag…
ACT TWO. Two years later, in 1970, I once again tried to put together a package of my clients – in the show that became 70 Girls 70 – for I’d enjoyed looking after Chita Ri…
One thing is certain about this new musical, now on Broadway at The Schoenfeld Theatre – it had the youngsters in the audience hooting and hollering and having themselves a fine time f…
Jeff Talbott established himself as a writer of great promise with the MCC Theater production of his first play The Submission in 2011. This excellent actor/playwright joined The Actors Comp…
With the spate of openings in March, I wasn’t able to get to Wallace Shawn’s new play, the New Group’s production which played a strictly limited engagement through Mar…
This is one of Arthur Miller’s successes, and though it’s been revived three times on Broadway since it first appeared in 1968, it has never attracted the audiences that flocked …
I don’t know all the works of author Penelope Skinner, but based on The Village Bike and the currently running New York production of Linda, I suspect she is now on the short list of t…
John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Richard Seff at a dinner honoring Harold Prince. Photo courtesy of Richard Seff. THE CURTAIN RISES One of the properties for which I tried to get this new team hir…
I know Playwright Steven Levenson only from his work as librettist on the musical Dear Evan Hansen, so this for me is his first play. It more than fulfills the promise shown in the musical, …
COME HEAR THE MUSIC PLAY: Memories of My Twenty Years as Agent For John Kander by Richard Seff OVERTURE. John Kander and Fred Ebb have written some fifteen musicals for Broadway as we…
On March 18th composer John Kander will mark his 90th Birthday and to honor that happy occasion I’m going to unearth some of the memories I have of  the twenty years in which I repr…
Robert Holman is a British playwright whose plays have been done under the auspices of the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, he’s had productions of his many plays at…
John Kander, who will soon be celebrating his 90th birthday, has now confirmed that his collaboration with 39 year-old playwright Greg Pierce, is on solid ground, and offers us great promise…
The Palace Theatre is back in business with a big time headliner on the bill. It’s Glenn Close, returning to the role of Norma Desmond, direct from her recent great success in it at Lo…
There is a delightful surprise in store for any of you who can manage to get to the Davenport’s 75-seat Loft Theatre to watch Ed Dixon’s one-man play in which he brings to vivid …
Playing now in repertoire with The Great Society, a stunning new play that New York has not yet seen, called The Originalist, is keeping the good citizens of Sarasota who clearly love good t…
I regret to say that until I saw Mint Theater Company’s production of Miles Malleson’s comedy Yours Unfaithfully, I wasn’t aware of the author, hadn’t heard of him. A…
