1,392 stories by "Tony Frankel"
WEST SIDE SNORING Astoundingly unsatisfying, LA Opera's many-headed Hydra production of West Side Story, directed with no sense of urgency by Francesca Zambello, opened tonight to a crowd la…
Ragtime is the epic musical by Terrence McNally (book), with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow). It weaves together stories of a Jewish…
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME A friend warned me that The Heidi Chronicles might feel dated"after all, Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play ends in 1987.…
ONE UP PLAYS TO WIN" WITH A CHEAT CODE FOR CHARM One Up: The Musical, which premiered at this year's Hollywood Fringe and returns for encore performances, is a charming, if uneven, 80s-inspi…
WHY CAN'T A SUPERHERO CATCH A BREAK? (OR A BROADWAY RUN) Foster Cat Productions is taking a gleeful leap off the tall building that is It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's Superman!, the 1966…
THE SHOW MUST GO ON, MOORE OR LESS She's a singer, certainly a star, and a survivor. Melba Moore has had a decades-long career that includes musical theatre, film, TV, and recordings coverin…
MÉNAGE À MEH, OR BOB & CAROL & DEAD & AIRLESS Last Saturday, I caught the world premiere of Ménage à Quatre, a play that seems to promise a farce but instead delivers…
THE KIND OF SEPTEMBER YOU'LL WANT TO REMEMBER With the original opening Off-Broadway in 1960 and running an astounding 42 years, The Fantasticks is a veritable classic amongst the reperto…
BYRD SONG IN SHADOW: CONCERT IN CANDLELIGHT, THEATRE OF DEFIANCE Hark! Attend, ye lovers of sacred sound and clandestine devotion, for the international tour of Secret Byrd"an evanescent gli…
SEAGULL INTERRUPTED An extraordinarily well-written play"and a perfect choice for the Hollywood Fringe"Steven Dietz's 75-minute one-act, The Nina Variations, takes the final scene of Chekhov…
Have you ever wanted to run away from your own life? In Becky's New Car, now playing at Theatre 40, playwright Steven Dietz takes that midlife fantasy and drives it straight into a quirky, c…
Kevin Mambo's journey to the stage reads like a global prelude to a richly textured career. Born in Zimbabwe, raised in Canada, and educated in Los Angeles at USC, Mambo's trajectory launche…
Charles Strouse, 96, the celebrated and multi-award-winning American film, television, and Broadway musical composer, responsible for such legendary songs as "Put on a Happy Face," "Tomorrow…
Palm Springs Young Playwrights Festival Announces 2025 Winners "Never be afraid to sit a while and think." The words of playwright Lorraine Hansberry remind us of the quiet power of reflecti…
Coming to Hollywood Fringe: A Fatherhood Story You Didn't Know You Needed Fatherhood isn't always what you expect " and Best. Dad. NEVER. proves that's exactly where the magic happens. Haig …
BEYOND THE SEA AND STRAIGHT INTO YOUR HEART Well, ring-a-ding-ding, folks " Broadway's got itself a bona fide, velvet-voiced heartthrob lighting up Circle in the Square, and his name's Jonat…
More than 140 nominations in over two dozen categories of outstanding actors, directors, designers, choreographers, musicians, and productions and 5 awards for visiting productions were anno…
While visiting New York, I was lucky enough to catch two Scott Siegel events. Similar in structure but with completely different feels were Broadway by the Season at Merkin Hall and 54 Sings…
I CAN'T CAVE ENOUGH In 1917, Kentucky cave explorer Floyd Collins discovered Crystal Cave. Located in the same area as Mammoth Cave"the longest cave system known in the world"the site operat…
SHARP AS EVER, BUT DOES IT CUT DEEP ENOUGH? OR, IF YOU WANT BIGGER SHARKS, YOU NEED MORE BLOOD IN THE WATER Glengarry Glen Ross is a testosterone-saturated 24 hours of five salesmen, some me…
A RIPPING GOOD YARN WITH A JOLLY GOOD CAST OPERATION MINCEMEAT LANDS ON BROADWAY When I first encountered Operation Mincemeat at Riverside Studios in London back in 2022, it was a scrappy, s…
A WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN BERNSTEIN AND VON KARAJAN… AND THE AUDIENCE LOSES Peter Danish's Last Call at New World Stages imagines a high-stakes intellectual showdown between two musical titan…
THE PICTURE OF ASTOUNDING THEATRE I've been fortunate to witness some extraordinary one-person plays on Broadway. To name a few: Zoe Caldwell in Lillian, Ben Kingsley in Edmund Kean, Robert …
LOOM WITH A VIEW Ghost Road Theatre's The Unraveling pulls you into its strange, hypnotic orbit and doesn't let go. This is a truly original work with some breathtaking theatrical coups. Ann…
HERE'S A BROADWAY SUCCESS THAT ALSO BRIMS WITH PURPOSE Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' doesn't just expose the cracks in a so-called perfect life"he shines a floodlight on them. Except for a few seq…
