381 stories by "Rob Lester"
Part one of reviews of 2022 Christmas music releases, starting with Million Dollar Quartet Christmas.
Maury Yeston's song cycle and two sets of Sondheim songs: The calendar inching us to December is an apt cue to turn to December Songs, with Victoria Clark taking on Maury Yeston's one-charac…
The comet at hand is not the celestial object but a musical comedy with a title character named Regina Comet. Constellations and Under the Stars are the names of cool jazz releases. In any c…
Miracle of The Music Man: The Classic American Story of Meredith Willson, while full of affection and appreciation, is also full of familiar tales and tidbits if you've read some of the othe…
When the feats of production are at their most dense and intense, there's a risk of upstaging the essence of the material's drama or delicacy"at least on the first or second hearing. And I s…
Full of fascinating facts, fond memories, musings, and proffered preferences, Peter Filichia's newest book may be a haven for the theatre maven unable to put it down. While perusing The Book…
Let's check out two London cast recordings of newer musicals"The Pleasure Garden and It Happened in Key West"and then turn our focus to southern California to report on two singers based the…
In her candid memoirs, self-aware Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) states this about the princess protagonist of the show she worked on as composer in the late 1950s, Once Upon a Mattress: "Despite …
Here's some "colorful" music: tweaked scores of The Unsinkable Molly Brown and 13 (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown), and the concept recording for Anne of Green Gables, plus vocals by…
Reviews of "Joe Iconis & Family: Album" and others.
New cast albums from two Broadway shows of this season: "Girl from the North Country" and "Caroline, or Change."
Don't expect Funny Girl's twin sister, but more of a distant cousin who's so cute and enthused that one don't want to rain on her parade.
I'm so glad I landed in Oz with the delightful Harlem Rep's reputable version of a beloved tale. It's easy to get to this terrific stage show: just follow the yellow brick road. Oh, your sta…
When art imitates life in the arts, there can be artistic differences. At the festival closing Sunday, August 6, two ambitious NYMF shows celebrate real-life artistic American men: one still…
What better message for a musical than, "Find and be your true self, despite pressures to be a clone, and you'll be a happier true you." Backbeard and Happily don't have lyrics saying those …
Looking for musicals about teens and their troubles? See our Pick of the Week for info on Happily (August 3 & 4) at NYMF. And here are reviews at two that came by first: along first at the …
Opening in NYC: Hal Prince saluted in The Prince of Broadway …..or do we mean Faith Prince who turns 60 this week (on Sunday)? Or The Student Prince, since that operetta's composer, Sigmun…
This Friday, see a 3-man Little Shop of Horrors. Its composer, Alan Menken, who turned 68 this week, has more than a birthday to celebrate: the 35th anniversary of that musical's off-
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Wow! At affordable prices, with top-notch stars, cabaret, class, and classic Cole come East for a feast: merry Mark Nadler launches a Cole Porter-centric series and his own custom brand of …
Living as the gender one sees oneself as or with same -gendered teammates (girl power)…NYMF shows cover both. Numbers Nerds is a likeable, sweet quite entertaining musical and The Body Pol…
Two NYMF shows I bet will be back for extensions are colorful, rich, and inspired by pre-existing characters. But they couldn't be more different than each other. Miss Blanche Tells It All…
Adapting a lengthy novel as a musical has its challenges " especially if, like The Time Machine and The Picture of Dorian Gray, the work is sprawling, classic, beloved… And you're unlikely…
He IS where Broadway meets cabaret! Cheyenne Jackson, born this week in 1975, started his Broadway career as an understudy. He'd been doing theatre work just on the side back in Seattle, wh…
Once (well, twice) upon a time or two, both Carole Demas and Sarah Rice played the sole female role in the original off-Broadway run of The Fantasticks. Now, many moons later, Carole (the or…
On June 8 &9 "hooray!"Michael Feinstein will honor Ella Fitzgerald as he did for Mel Tormé earlier (Review herein). Singers Nicole Henry, Jessie Mueller, and South African vocalist Vuyo So…
