Category Archives: Off Broadway

Set Sail Aboard Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore”

Most full-scale musical shows run several weeks of previews before submitting to critical evaluation; some even longer, with mixed results (cue “Spiderman”). The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP) production of “H.M.S. Pinafore” opened cold last week and hit … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway

“The Journey of Jazz” Is a Syncopated Pleasure Trip

It is an unusual opening number for an orchestral jazz concert/revue: a strikingly evocative solo rendition of the legendary Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.”  Even more unusual, the wonderful pianist, Dalton Ridenhour, who has been channeling Joplin since age nine, … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway

Sandra’s Quest Comes Up Short

A “Shaggy Dog” story is one with a high-stakes build-up and much activity that comes to an anti-climactic conclusion, like an elongated joke with an unfunny punchline. A serious shaggy dog story might involve an intricate quest or goal or … Continue reading

Broadway, Off Broadway

Debating the American Dream: “Death of a Salesman” and “Baldwin & Buckley at Cambridge”

On consecutive evenings last week, I saw what are likely the longest and shortest works, in terms of running time, currently on New York stages. The long one, clocking in at well over three hours at the Hudson Theatre on … Continue reading

Blog, Broadway, NY Theater, Off Broadway

“I’m Revolting” Is Far From It

As much as I admire and am entertained by fine classical acting – at Stratford and in Central Park, for instance – and by complete-package musicals (“The Prom” and “Into the Woods” come to mind), one less grand theatrical genre … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway

String Theory, Quarks, and the Big Bang, Oh My: “Strings Attached” Off-Broadway

“Strings Attached” is about three physicists, an American woman and two British men, on their way by train from Cambridge to London to see Michael Frayn’s science-based play “Copenhagen.” June (Robyne Parrish) is married to George (Paul Schoeffler) while also … Continue reading

Blog, NY Theater, Off Broadway