It's the Final Fringe Festival Wrap-Up, Kids by Rob Lester

Picture it: A 2pm matinee is about to start, the cast in costume: a drag queen, a guy whose get-up is fabric made to look like absurdly bulging muscles, a gaggle of gals in very high heels a…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 11:46pm on August 29, 2011☆⚑

Gay Times at the Fringe by Rob Lester

Among the numerous gay-themed plays in the almost 200 varied and varying-quality productions in the New York International Fringe Festival are a serious drama of deception and attraction and…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 8:07pm on August 24, 2011☆⚑

Threat of Violence Erupts at Fringe Festival by Rob Lester

Here's a heads-up about how violence hath reared its ugly head in shows at the currently-running NY International Fringe Festival with, head and shoulders above the others, the drama Sammy G…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 8:06pm on August 24, 2011☆⚑

Is the cast better than the show? More from the Fringe by Rob Lester

Four score and seven years ago, exactly, our forefathers brought forth a new national fascination: news headlines trumpeting reports about an elusive female robber dubbed "The Bobbed Hair Ba…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 8:05pm on August 24, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice CD Reviews: Michael Feinstein "We Dreamed These Days" and "One Day" with Burnham by Rob Lester

Two male vocalists on board: a veteran and a newer voice, each capable of singing in hushed, romantic tones or letting loose with a big sound. Both have dipped their pens into ink a bit as c…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 2:32pm on August 11, 2011☆⚑

Back to the Theatre Festival--2 More Musicals from MITF: "Alice" & "Rip!" by Rob Lester

Same old/ same old story? Not quite. Alice and Rip! revisit the tales of wonder in Wonderland and the legend of Mr. Van Winkle, the sleepy man written by that Sleepy Hollow writer, respect…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 1:54am on July 30, 2011☆⚑

The Excellent Musical, "Children of God," Is a Theatre-Goer's Prayer Answered; "Surviving Love" takes on gayness and loneliness and lamenting, recycling songs. by Rob Lester

Hallelujah!Praise the Lord! There's a musical in town briefly --- but, I suspect, ripe and ready for a long run delighting audiences, that is satisfying in the ways we want musicals to be. …

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 1:52am on July 30, 2011☆⚑

3 Musicals from the Midtown Festival: "Peg O' My Heart," "Between the Bricks" & "Boomers" by Rob Lester

Let the games begin. Theatre festivals are always a game … of chance. We festival regulars know that you get the shows that are cheery and the ones that make you weary, the dreary and dr…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 8:40pm on July 21, 2011☆⚑

"Knickerbocker Holiday" and "Strike Up the Band" New Recordings by Rob Lester

The Fourth of July holiday may be over, but the permanence of recordings makes it never too late to strike up the band and declare a knickerbocker or any kind of holiday to celebrate finally…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 2:21pm on July 7, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice: "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Wizard of Oz" CD Reviews by Rob Lester

Two episodic, song-filled, leaving-home journeys this time, previously seen on the screen but first told in books—inspired by the imaginative real life of Frank Abagnale, Jr., and the imag…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 1:16pm on June 30, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice: Melodies by Marzullo (lyrics and vocals: Various) by Rob Lester

This week Rob reviews Show Some Beauty, which features songs by Steve Marzullo.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 8:43am on June 8, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice: It's DiMenna, it's deRoy and Miss Meissner, too by Rob Lester

This week Rob reviews: Lynn DiMenna's Fun & Fancy Free: The Music of Dinah Shore; Jamie deRoy's Wish on the Moon; Susie Meissner's I'm Confessin'.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 7:09pm on May 26, 2011☆⚑

Cabaret's MAC Awards Show in the Heart of Broadway Takes Cabaret History to It's Heart by Rob Lester

What is more theatrical than an awards show? There's that suspense of "Who will win?" There's the dramatic pause between the rattling off of nominees' names and the envelope-opening and th…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 4:16am on May 18, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown by Rob Lester

Rob reviews this original Broadway cast recording.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:57am on May 12, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice: Wonderland by Rob Lester

Rob reviews the Broadway cast recording of Wonderland.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 4:21pm on May 5, 2011☆⚑

Sound Advice: Singing the songs of ... Finn, Loesser, Landesman & Wallace by Rob Lester

This week Rob reviews: Lisa Howard: Songs of Innocence and Experience, The Music of William Finn; Karen Oberlin: Live at the Algonquin, The Songs of Frank Loesser; Shepley Metcalf: Something…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 2:01pm on April 28, 2011☆⚑

"Wonderland" Lands on Broadway by Rob Lester

Yes, its kind of a mess. A classic messed around with, a misguided misfire, a critical mass of mistakes that some critics will massacre. All that. This mess is hit and miss, but not to be…

SOURCE: NiteLifeExchange at 9:59pm on April 19, 2011☆⚑

SOUND ADVICE: RICKY IAN GORDON by Rob Lester

This week Rob reviews two CDs in the Ricky Ian Gordon Sings Ricky Ian Gordon series: A Horse With Wings and Bric-A-Brac

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:16am on April 9, 2011☆⚑

SOUND ADVICE: SONGWRITERS' CORNER by Rob Lester

This week Rob reviews: Our First Mistake: Kerrigan-Lowdermilk; Chasing the Day: The Music of Will Van Dyke; and Thirteen Stories Down: The Songs of Jonathan Reid Gault.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 9:49am on April 2, 2011☆⚑