Anna Uzele and the company of New York, New York. (Photo: Emilio Madrid) New York, New York By Marc Miller This will be a love letter to John Kander. There’s plenty wrong with New York, New York at the St. James, though most of it can be found in the casually assembled book, by David…
Jodie Comer in “Prima Facie.” (Photo: Browen Sharp/Caz Lock) Prima Facie By Julia Polinsky In Prima Facie, Tessa Ensler (Jodie Comer), a criminal defense attorney from a working-class family background, has worked hard at law school and achieved great success in the English legal system. Often, she successfully defends men accused of sexual assault….
Ellie Morris, Jonathan Sayer, Charlie Russell,Henry Shields, Henry Lewis and Matthew Cavendish (Photo: Jeremy Daniel) Peter Pan Goes Wrong By Fern Siegel “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” The quote is courtesy of character actor Edmund Gwenn on his deathbed. But Peter Pan Goes Wrong, now on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, makes comedy…
Alex Newell, Caroline Innerbichler, Kevin Cahoon, and Andrew Durand in Shucked. (Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman) Shucked By Julia Polinsky After a theater season of important work with a message, it’s a relief to sit in that incredibly expensive seat, and just let go and laugh. That rarity among Broadway shows, a…
Sasha Diamond, Shannon Tyo, Sky Smith in Regretfully, So the Birds Are. (Photo: Chelcie Parry) Regretfully, So the Birds Are By Julia Polinsky Julia Izumi’s Regretfully, So the Birds Are turns cliches on their heads while poking hilarious fun at them. Considering that play’s premise comes straight out of a tabloid headline —…
The cast of Dear World at Encores! (Photo: Joan Marcus) Dear World By David Schultz The Encores! Spring season started in earnest with this brief look back on composer Jerry Herman’s rare misstep. This book-troubled tuner had a shockingly brief three month run circa 1969. Coming on the heels of his two blockbuster musicals,…
The cast of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. (Photo: Julieta Cervantes) Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ By Julia Polinsky Dancin’ has chassed/jeted/moonwalked/shoulder-rolled – ok, danced into the Music Box Theater on Broadway, and that’s a deleriously good thing. Who needs antidepressants? We have Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. Director Wayne Cilento, who was in the original Dancin’ 45 years…
The cast of Parade. (Photo by Joan Marcus) Parade By David Schultz and Julia Polinsky Julia: In the achingly, throbbingly, beautifully sung revival of Parade now on Broadway, Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond sing their hearts and souls out. Parade tells the story of Leo Frank (Platt), a Jewish businessman from Brooklyn living in…
Okieriete Onaodowan and Jessica Chastain. Photo by Emilio Madrid. A Doll’s House By Deirdre Donovan It’s been almost a century and a half since Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House premiered in Norway in 1879. But this domestic drama is hardly “old stuff,” in playwright Amy Herzog’s new version, and under the astute direction of…
Cara Ricketts, Thomas Jay Ryan, and Tony Roach in Arden of Faversham. Photo: Carol Rosegg Arden of Faversham By Lydia Keidel Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The Red Bull Theater presents a bloody, dark, comic Elizabethan noir thriller. Arden of Faversham is playing for a limited run (ending April 1st) at the Lucille Lortel Theater….