Standing ovations are so prevalent they are meaningless. The consensus is that ticket buyers paying so much for a seat rise at curtain calls in order to convince themselves they've just gott…
I have written often about the problems that emerge when silos develop within arts organizations; when artists, marketers...
When Little Me opened in November 1962, its major pluses were Sid Caesar, the Carolyn Leigh-Cy Coleman score and the rarely-miss Neil Simon gags. Revived at City Center this weekend, it can…
Eric Simonson, who gets his kicks writing plays about sports figures, is jumping the gun on Valentine's Day by sending a...
I have grown increasingly nervous about the future of diverse arts institutions in the United States. So many have disappeared, others are facing huge cash problems and most are watching as…
Brian Kulick certainly attempts to get around the inherent problems with all manner of theatrical notions in a new translation by Gerhard Nellhaus, with Duncan Sheik's music carrying Brecht'…
"THIS PLAY CONTAINS NUDITY, SEX & BAD LANGUAGE," says a bold-lettered sign in the lobby at Intimacy, the new offering from the New Group at New York City's Acorn Theatre. The l…
Before I get to an outright pan of the immoderately irritating Stop Hitting Yourself -- created by Austin's Rude Mechs and now squatting in the Lincoln Center Theater at the Claire Tow -- I'…
Yes, some will say, the Symphony was 'lucky' to attract a major endowment gift. And luck is always part of the equation. But I prefer to view this as an instance where an organization does s…
Recent seasons have seen a dependable stream of first-rate Irish plays making their way to Broadway and off. The newest hails not from the old country but from Bronx-born scribe John Patrick…
Depending on how the individual observer assesses Colin's choice, he can be considered either as declaring his independence or as self-destructively tossing it aside. Either way, Sillitoe's…
The board of the Minnesota Orchestra is not the first, and will not be the last, to attempt to cut costs dramatically by cutting artists' salaries. There have already been attempts in a numb…
The annual event -- this is the 10th year -- is supposed to focus on the new and experimental. Maybe yes, maybe no, but certainly there are helpful hints about whom and what to look for in …
Frank Langella is doing a completely respectable King Lear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey in William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. But wait. Better be more specific, s…
If it's true that great minds think alike, it may be equally true that minds a notch or two below great also think alike.
"We understand any movie about lesbian hookers to be universal, whether or not you've actually seen one,"...
Larsen is currently playing lyricist Cynthia Weil in Beautiful, which opened this past Sunday. The road here has not been easy. Emergency colon surgery almost forced her to withdraw from the…
An awkwardly insecure girl from the tenements of New York is forced, by societal conditions and a lack of viable options, into...
What makes Beautiful, the new Broadway musical covering the rise of Carole King's music career, is all of the little details that come together so brilliantly on the stage. It's fitting that…
We hear so much about a few, high profile arts bankruptcies that the conventional wisdom has it that every arts organization is in trouble. This has repercussions for all of us who manage, …
Before we get to what's wrong with Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Stephen Sondheim, let's establish what's...
Anyone who cares about the health of the arts sector in New York City must be grateful to Mayor Bloomberg for selecting such a grand champion and empowering her for all of these years.
Much of the intense charm of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's La descente d'Orphée aux enfers (Opheus's Descent...
Die Fledermaus back again as the Metropolitan Opera's New Year's Eve gala confection? Directed by Jeremy Sams,...
Just like blogging democratized op-eds, and Instagram democratized photography, list-making will expand beyond the hands of editors and reporters, and become a power of the people.