Theatre
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Billy Elliot at Goodspeed
Boys of Ballet
By: - Oct 26th, 2019Some flaws exist in this production of Billy Elliot directed by Gabriel Barre and choreographed by Marc Kimelman. Barre has changed a few things from the original show and overall they work,
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Kingfishers Catch Fire
Play by Robin Glendinning at Irish Rep
By: - Oct 26th, 2019The play by Robin Glendinning is based on fact. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, the first Irish priest to hold the title of Notary of the Holy Office, spent WWII at the Vatican, where he proved to be a man of action.
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ATCA at Sardi’s 2019
Marisa Tomei & Charles Busch Headline Broadway Luncheon
By: - Nov 05th, 2019When Marisa Tomei developed her role in Rose Tattoo at Williamstown Theatre Festival Mandy Greenfield made sure that she was off limits to local critics. That made it all the more exciting to get up close and personal with the her during the annual ATCA lunch at Sardi's. We also enjoyed quality time with the outrageous Charles Busch. He proved to be accessible, charming and down the earth.
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Tootsie the Musical
Drag Wins Tony on Broadway
By: - Nov 06th, 2019Michael/Dorothy comes alive on Broadway. The updated book by Robert Horn in the musical version of Tootsie shifts the action from the soap opera world to that of Broadway and improves the narrative and dynamics. David Yazbeck’s pop score with sparkling and penetrating lyrics adds another dimension with a sharper focus on female empowerment.
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Wrong Man Off Broadway Musical
By 2015 Pop Songwriter of the Year Ross Golan
By: - Nov 06th, 2019Several years ago, 2015 Pop Songwriter of the Year Ross Golan, who has written for Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Michael Bublé, and many more, developed a concept album called The Wrong Man. The project morphed into a one-man theatrical show that won Ovation Awards in Los Angeles. Now, a compelling, fully-formed, dark, rock opera appears Off Broadway.
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The Height of the Storm on Broadway
Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce Struggle With Loss and Memory
By: - Nov 06th, 2019This mind-bending drama is performed by a great, almost all-British cast headed by two of contemporary theater’s most renowned artists. Jonathan Pryce is André, the father. The equally formidable Eileen Atkins plays his wife.
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Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Off Broadway At Playwrights Horizons
By: - Nov 07th, 2019Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning has more religious, personal, and political exposition (read talk) than many a mind can absorb at one sitting, The play is essentially a snapshot of the current divisive state of affairs in this country.
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Derren Brown - Secret
Cort Theatre, Broadway
By: - Nov 08th, 2019The Master Illusionist, Derren Brown, currently excites audiences at the Cort Theatre on Broadway with his extra ordinary performance in SECRET. He and his show have been imported from London's West End and promise sold out performances for a very long time. Who would not like to be thoroughly entertained and perplexed at still reasonable Broadway prices?
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ATCA NY Conference 2019
Day of Panels at MCC Theatre
By: - Nov 08th, 2019Located in the belly of the beast the annual Anerican Theatre Critics Association New York conferences consistently feature superb programming. The best and brightest of American theatre are as accessible as a phone call and cab ride away. This year a day of panels were held for some 60 national members and guests at the new MCC theatre complex. Where else can you encounter a Pulitzer winning playwright interviewed by a fellow Pulitzer Prize winner. The panels. convened from 9 to 5, were varied, provactive and galvanic.
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Bishop on Broadway
Coverage During NY ATCA Conference
By: - Nov 09th, 2019I spent a long weekend in New York, including a meeting of the American Theater Critics Association. Busy days but time for theater at night, of course. Somehow I managed to stay on Broadway (or close) for five plays. Here are mini-reviews of the plays I saw.
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Druid Shakespear's Richard III at Lincoln Center
White Lights Festival's Garry Hynes Brilliant Production
By: - Nov 10th, 2019The Lincoln Center White Lights Festival is presenting DruidShakespeare: Richard III, directed by the inimitable Garry Hynes. This play is odd for Shakespeare, who later would carefully etch the development of each character. Here we immediately meet Richard. Hynes has Aaron Monaghan rise from the grave into which all, or rather most of the people he murders or sets up for death, get dumped over the course of the evening.
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Manon Lescaut By Puccini
Produced by San Francisco Opera
By: - Nov 11th, 2019Manon Lescaut holds some curious distinctions within the Puccini canon. Chronologically, the third of his nine full-length operas, the first two were failures. This was his only opera lauded at its conception by critics and audiences alike.
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Chicago Actor Larry Neumann Jr.
Conversation with Nancy Bishop
By: - Nov 11th, 2019Larry Neumann Jr. is known as one of Chicago’s finest character actors. I have seen him in a wide variety of roles in the 30-plus years I’ve been a Chicago theatergoer and critic. We met at a coffee shop on Irving Park Road near his rehearsal location. It was fun to get reacquainted with Larry and talk about this new role and his career.
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Berkies 2019
Fourth Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards
By: - Nov 13th, 2019On a night that was colder than a witch's tit the faithful packed the pews of Zion Lutheran Church in Pittefield. We gathered for the fourth annual Berkshire Theatre Awards. Because the heating system failed baby it was cold inside. But an evening in honor of great theatre proved to be a stellar and heart warming occasion.
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Ain’t Too Proud by Dominique Morisseau
Temptations on Broadway
By: - Nov 15th, 2019Ain’t Too Proud could not exist without high energy performances of the Temptations songs, and they are so authentic, you’d think you’re seeing the actual group. The mix of voices backed by an 18-piece orchestra along with Sergio Trujillo’s exciting choreography hit the mark.
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Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma
Broadway's Circle In The Square Theatre
By: - Nov 14th, 2019Revival of Oklahoma unearths a darker tale.Brightness and tension combine to create a memorable production. The production, directed by Daniel Fish, runs through January.
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Verdi's Requiem with Tedor Currentzis at The Shed
New Views on a Great Work
By: - Nov 14th, 2019A hundred-member orchestra and an 80-member chorus from Perm Russia perform Verdi's Requiem at The Shed in Hudson Yards, New York. Direct from Salzburg where it received rapturous reviews this re-imagining has been eagerly awaited. For ten days prior to the performances on November 19-24, Jonas Mekas' filmed response to the music was screened. It was at first a shocking take, beautiful images of flower blossoms one after another. The Requiem is a work of sublime beauty. It also has Dylan Thomas's rage at death. Mekas shows this in black screens and sometimes winds raging through branches and dessicating leaves.
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Linda Vista By Tracy Letts
Broadway at Helen Hayes Theatre
By: - Nov 15th, 2019It may not be totally successful, but a Tracy Letts play, particularly one performed by members of the Steppenwolf company, is always an interesting evening in the theater.
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Mallon’s Fellow Travelers
Boston Lyric Opera
By: - Nov 15th, 2019Boston Lyric Opera has once again successfully adapted and tackled politically and socially topical subjects in “Fellow Travelers”, an opera by Gregory Spears with Libretto by Greg Pierce. It is based on the best-selling novel by Thomas Mallon.
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A Broadway Holiday
Thumbnails of Recent Shows
By: - Nov 15th, 2019Recently, while attending the New York Conference of American Theatre Critics Association we saw six shows. What follows are capsules of those experiences.
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Don Juan
Westport Country Playhouse
By: - Nov 16th, 2019Westport Country Playhouse is giving us a delightful performance of a new adaptation of the Molière play written by Brendan Pelsue and wonderfully directed by David Kennedy.
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Bull in a China Shop By Bryna Turner
At Aurora Theatre
By: - Nov 16th, 2019What surprises about Bull in a China Shop is the tone that the playwright Bryna Turner adopts, despite the fact that it is a biographical sketch focused on serious events
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Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
Joyce Di Donato Superb as Cleopatra
By: - Nov 16th, 2019Thrilling moments of the New York fall music season include the arrival of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. They do not disappoint. The first concert brought forward the superb brass section of the Orchestra in an unjustifiably overlooked early work by Georges Bizet, Roma. No one knows where the title came from.
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Ain't Too Proud
Jukebox Musical About The Temptations On Broadway
By: - Nov 16th, 2019Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations is playing in Broadway. This show, while a jukebox musical, does more than string a series of hits together. The dancing is electric and the singing is expressive.
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Tootsie On Broadway
Musical Adaptation Continues Through Jan. 5.
By: - Nov 19th, 2019Tootsie features a Tony-winning performance by actor Santino Fontana. The musical adaptation of the popular 1982 film continues through Jan. 5. The stage show is a big, splashy and funny musical comedy.
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