Andrew Durand, Jeb Brown and Band (Photo: Matthew Murphy) Dead Outlaw By Matthew Roland Sneaking in at the end of April as one of the final musicals to transfer from off-Broadway and open on Broadway this season, Dead Outlaw tells the thrilling true story of a notorious criminal whose corpse was turned into a carnival…
Jeremy Jordan (Photo: Joan Marcus) Floyd Collins By Fern Siegel Floyd Collins, the revived musical now at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, is based on a true story. In 1925, a Kentucky cave explorer (Jeremy Jordan) searches Sand Cave, hoping to capitalize on tourist interest. Squeezing through tight spaces that would terrify others, Floyd Collins’…
Jonathan Groff (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) Just In Time By Marc Miller When Jonathan Groff finishes a big number in Just in Time—and there are quite a few—he’s a mess. Bent over, breathing heavily from holding that long last note, wet hair in his face, sweating so profusely that the authors slipped a…
Florencia Cuenca and Company (Photo: Julieta Cervantes) Real Women Have Curves By Julia Polinsky Charming, tuneful, heartwarming, eye-filling, and predictable (but it doesn’t matter), Real Women Have Curves proves that everything old can be new again. And that’s just fine, thank you! This musical version of Real Women Have Curves has had a couple of…
The Company(Photo: Marc J. Franklin) Purpose By Deirdre Donovan Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Purpose explores the struggles of a prominent African-American family navigating the intersection of personal ambition and their historical responsibilities. Directed by Phylicia Rashad, Jacobs-Jenkins masterfully interweaves family, politics, and contemporary national issues into a compelling narrative. Set in Illinois, Purpose revolves…
Ramlin Kamloo and the Company (Photo: Joan Marcus) Pirates! The Penzance Musical By Carol Rocamora Attention Gilbert & Sullivan purists: though you may be passionate about the original, you won’t be able to resist the current giddy reinvention of The Pirates of Penzance, their immortal operetta that premiered in New York in 1879 to protect…
Maggie Kuntz, Morgan Scott, Fina Strazza, Amalia Yoo (Photo: Julieta Cervantes) John Proctor Is The Villain By Julia Polinsky Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is The Villain draws an exhilarating, troubling portrait of teenage girls as they once were, are now, and may forever be. Set in 2018, and dealing with the mass of new, increasing,…
Louis McCartney (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) Stranger Things: The First Shadow By Julia Polinsky First things first: you do not need to be at all familiar with the Netflix series to enjoy Stranger Things: The First Shadow, now on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre. You know zip, zero, nothing? That’s fine, because the…
George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck. (Photo: Emilio Madrid) Good Night, and Good Luck By Deirdre Donovan George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s new play, Good Night, and Good Luck, an adaptation of their 2005 film, arrives on Broadway with plenty of buzz. Directed by David Cromer, this production doesn’t disappoint, largely due to…
Robyn Hurder (Photo: Matthew Murphy) Smash By Fern Siegel First, this Smash is a departure from the NBC series. The theatrical focus is on the making of Bombshell: The Marilyn Monroe Musical, not the who-will-play-Marilyn frenzy that accompanied the maligned TV show or what New York termed “appointment hate-watch.” That’s a plus — as this…