In 1956, Brooks Atkinson wrote, “Broadway is used to heart. It is not accustomed to evocations of the soul.” What is more soul-exposing than a piece that explores illness and death, in an intimate staging, where the audience itself becomes the beating heart of the show? Night Side Songs explores the life of Yasmine Holly (Brooke…
The ladies’ dresses are long and flouncy, the men’s vests bright and ornate, the cello and viola are sawing away in the pit, the lyricist is rhyming “reign” with “a-gain,” and the chorus is singing about injustice, class distinction, and, oh yes, love. Hooray, operetta’s back in town! The form’s been considered obsolete for nearly…
Nestled between a chemical dump site and a looming nuclear power plant sits the small town of Muddirt, an offbeat enclave populated by a zany cast of misfits and one larger-than-life mythical creature. Bigfoot! A New Musical is now playing at New York City Center Stage in association with Manhattan Theatre Club. With its blend…
The premise of the off-Broadway musical Just Desserts: A Musical Bake-Off is simple: somewhere in the Midwest, there is a bake-off at the Jefferson County fair. The top bakers have been narrowed to five, a cross-section of townies: haughty reigning champ Mildred, self-effacing school nurse Jean, ambitious Emma, bubbly twice-divorced Brandy, and Brooklyn transplant Lou….
Remember back in school when you were told to stand up in front of your peers and read from a textbook? Now imagine raising the stakes: not simply reading what’s in front of you, but spelling a word out loud, letter by letter, with nothing to rely on but memory, instinct, and nerve. Suddenly, every…
If you have a memory for pop tunes that spans more than a decade, you’ve heard the songs of Burt Bacharach. In a career that lasted over 70 years, Bacharach’s music was recorded by everyone from Patti Page to Lady Gaga, Elvis Presley to Elvis Costello. If you get caught between the moon and New…
In 1967 Australian writer Joan Lindsay wrote a disturbingly eerie novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock. Lindsay’s novel created a scenario that resonated with the public so strongly that most people believed it was a true story, bolstered by the lyrical 1975 Peter Weir film, which was hugely successful worldwide. Now, the story has wound up,…
“The time to sing is when your emotional level is just too high to speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel.” – Bob Fosse That’s precisely what unfolds at the York Theatre’s Upper East Side stage in Gotta Dance. From…
The pretty young woman is erotically drawn to the sexy young stud, but for plot reasons she’s committed to the much less attractive older man, and after a tryst with the young hottie, remains so. Surprise, it’s three musicals! Fanny (1954), in which Harold Rome, whose usual demographic was working-class New York Jews, proved he…
Signature Theatre launches its newest residency with Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things, an immersive, in-the-round explosion of sound and spirit that bridges science, memory, and cosmic wonder. Under the direction of Lee Sunday Evans, the celebrated ensemble—many returning from the Ars Nova premiere—creates a theatrical universe where the human and the celestial hum in…