Reviews Archives

  • NY Pops – 33rd Birthday Gala – Do You Hear The People Sing

                                         Photos by Richard Termine                          by  Stewart Schulman Expectations would run high for an evening of music honoring the creative partnership between Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, creators of some of the most successful and memorable international musicals of all time. Suffice it to say that any possible expectations were more than exceeded by The…

  • Waitress

    Jessie Mueller                                                       PHOTOs by  JOAN MARCUS                                           By David Schultz The treacle infused 2007 indie film by writer-director Adrienne Shelly, has been transformed into an emotionally resonant Broadway musical. Director Diane Paulus has whipped up a crackerjack cast, and with a deft touch erased the bad memories of the film. This musical fairytale of a…

  • Bright Star

    Carmen Cusack                             photos by Joan Marcus                               by Deirdre Donovan Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star arrives at the Cort Theatre with a glowing cast and the twangy sound of blue-grass music.  Directed by Walter Bobbie, and set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, it hopscotches between the 1920s and 1940s–and…

  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night

    Jessica Lange and Gabriel Byrne        Photos by Joan Marcus                              By Michall Jeffers Long Day’s Journey Into Night is aptly named. At nearly four hours long, this glimpse into the life of a highly dysfunctional family can take its toll. The Tyrones are a mess. James, the patriarch (Gabriel Byrne), is a second rate actor…

  • Ruthless, The Musical

    to R: PAUL PECORINO, TORI MURRAY and KIM MARESCA            Photo: Carol Rosegg                           By Edward Rubin January 23, the day of the Great Blizzard here in New York, closed all Broadway shows and most off Broadway, but not Ruthless where the actors, most likely already in costume, would not abandon the stage so easily.  …

  • The School For Scandal

    (from Left to Right): Henry Stram, Nadine Malouf, Christian Conn, Christian DeMarais, Ramsey Faragallah                                                               Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg                             by Deirdre Donovan Pssst!  There’s a scandal brewing at the Lucille Lortel Theater.  And anybody who wants to learn who the latest victim is–deserved or not—should head downtown and catch the wickedly delicious revival of The…

  • Toast

    L-R: Steve Nicolson, Simon Greenall, Will Barton, Matthew Kelly and Matt Sutton in TOAST. Photo by Oliver King)                       By Rachel Goddard You’ve probably never thought about what it would be like to be the fly on the wall of a bread factory break room, but that’s what Richard Bean (One Man Two Guvnors)…

  • A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing

      Aoife Duffin             photos by  Mihaela Bodlovic.                                 By Eugene Paul Curious how trends seem to compound.  There have been countless plays, workshops, lectures, even performance artists on the sexual abuse of very young girls and the enduring effects on their lives. So it is not truly surprising that A Girl is a Half-formed Thing has…

  • Nathan the Wise

    Murray Abraham as Nathan photos by Richard Termine                         by Deirdre Donovan Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise is not a play to pass quick judgment on.  At first blush it might seem the dramatic equivalent of watching paint dry.  But those audience members who stay for the entire 2-hour production at the Classic…

  • The Father

    Frank Langella                                             photos by Joan Marcus                                By Michall Jeffers If Frank Langella were a British actor, he’d be a Lord by now. There’s no one who’s better, both at comedy and tragedy. In The Father, he gets a chance to nimbly jump from one to the other, and the result is a production that…