Category Archives: Broadway

Elaine May astonishes in “The Waverly Gallery”

It is generally true that the decline into dementia is a gradual process. From early symptoms – forgetting names or dates or where one left the keys – to a failure to connect with the real world, can take years. … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater

Bernhardt/Hamlet/McTeer

In 2017, Elizabeth Marvel appeared as Marc Antony in the Free Shakespeare in Central Park “Julius Caesar.” In 2018 women are playing Caesar as well as Antony and Cassius at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, where, to boot, Martha Henry … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater

“Gettin’ the Band Back Together” makes noise on Broadway

Near the end of “Getting’ the Band Back Together” the (fictional) mayor of (real) Sayreville, New Jersey asks “Who would have thought at the beginning that the Battle of the Bands would come down to these two?” He is referring … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater

Escape to – or from – Margaritaville: It’s a tossup

In order to enjoy a jukebox musical, it helps to be a fan of the songbook going in, but that’s no guarantee.  ABBA-adoring fans kept “Mamma Mia” running for years on its easily replicated disco score, even with its silly … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater

Something old, something…older: Once On This Island and Twelfth Night

Re-visit with me, if you will, some of the comments I made in reviews of “Once On This Island” in Ocean Grove in 2004 (“…undistinguished, although pleasant enough”) and at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2012 (“…more a whimper than a … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater, Off Broadway

“The Parisian Woman” in D.C. (via B’way) and another tomorrow for “Annie” in NJ

I couldn’t find an English translation of Henry Becque’s 19th-Century farce La Parisienne, upon which Beau Willimon based “The Parisian Woman,” but it’s a safe assumption that the original did not include references to the U.S. Fourth District Federal Court … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater, Professional, Regional