Monthly Archives: January 2015

Come home a winner: See “Vegas”

Over the last few years, stage musicals that happen in New Jersey don’t necessarily stay in New Jersey. At least not if they’ve happened at Paper Mill Playhouse, where the Broadway re-re-revival of “Les Mis” premiered in 2010, where “Newsies” … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, Professional, Regional

“Absurd Person Singular” Delivers Hearty Laughs Plural

There’s a lot more to “Absurd Person Singular” than just the comedy. In what qualifies as sub-text, Alan Ayckbourn’s play explores different social-class relationships, intra-marriage dynamics and the significance of economic disparity, but on the surface, especially as played at … Continue reading

Blog, Professional, Regional

Oh, THAT Pamela! (Take the quiz)

“Swimming at the Ritz,” the play having its U. S. premiere at New Jersey Repertory Company, is about Pamela Churchill Hayward Harriman, of whom you might have heard (if you’re older than 50). The following quiz might help you decide … Continue reading

Blog, Professional, Regional

“The play’s not called ‘A Delicate Balance’ for Nothing”**

Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” recalls the playwright’s earlier (by four years) “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” Both plays center on a couple’s love-hate marriage in a veritable river of alcohol and the specter of an offstage son. “Balance,” however, … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater

FOUR LEARS, THREE MOVIE STARS, TWO AREA OPENINGS

                          Four different productions of “King Lear” were among 113 plays seen in 2014. The first, and longest at three hours-plus, was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Michael Pennington at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn. Pennington was an intense Lear, … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater, Professional, Regional