In its five seasons of existence, The Wick Theatre has gone to the well of composer-lyricist Jerry Herman and his audience-friendly shows four times, but with mixed results. Its current production, the musical revue Jerry’s Girls, is aided considerably by the rewriting and restructuring from its director, Lee Roy Reams, only to be let down by its ostensible box office star, … [Read more...]
Fine performances lift new ‘Accident’ at Primal Forces
“Write what you know,” goes the old adage to playwrights, so Lydia Stryk wrote a play about the aftermath of a debilitating car accident. Like her fictional character Libby, Stryk was the victim of a collision between herself and an automobile driver. Or as Libby puts it with her dark, bitter humor, she met Anton by accident. In An Accident, the latest area … [Read more...]
‘Something Rotten!’ a delightful, funny spoof at the Kravis
It is called musical comedy, but you can count on two hands the number of shows that are genuinely funny. Something Rotten!, a stew of Elizabethan foolishness, is certainly one of them. Where most new musicals these days are based on movies, Something Rotten! is an original story and its premise should get you giggling quickly. It concerns the Bottom brothers – Nick and … [Read more...]
So-so Broadway season still yields some Tony suprises
By all accounts, this was not a season of quality on Broadway, but you would never know that from the Tony Award nominations announced this morning. The nominating committee must have wracked its brains, but it came up with five nominees to fill the Best Play category, even though four of them have long since closed. And the committee was either instructed to nominate … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 6: “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”
Expectations mean a lot to one’s enjoyment of theater, so I guess it was good that my expectations were subterranean for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. This biographical songfest divides the role of the disco queen into three parts – Diva Donna (LaChanze), Disco Donna (Ariana DeBose) and Duckling Donna (Storm Lever) – a trio of powerhouse vocalists who rip through nearly two … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 5: ‘The Band’s Visit’
There is no better illustration of the gulf between reviewers and theatergoers than this season's musicals on Broadway. The reviews for Frozen and Mean Girls were unenthusiastic at best, but audiences are going crazy for both shows, which are virtually selling out in their early weeks. On the other hand, no musical received better reviews than The Band's Visit, the new David … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 4: “Angels in America,” “Mean Girls”
Today was Wednesday, matinee day on Broadway. My shows today underlined the range of what is available now on Broadway – a first-rate revival of Tony Kushner's epic Angels in America and a so-so new musical adaptation of Tina Fey's high school anti-bullying comedy movie, Mean Girls. Subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," Angels in America first arrived on Broadway in … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 3: “Frozen”
Since the early '80s, when the Disney organization made its first assault on Broadway with Beauty and the Beast, it has regularly raided its animation vaults for musical subjects. Some have been inspired adaptations (The Lion King), some rote copies (Mary Poppins) and some painful (Tarzan). This season's Disney entry, Frozen -- the most successful animated film of all time … [Read more...]
Zoetic Stage’s ‘Fun Home’ a powerful journey
Alison Bechdel is deeply conflicted about her relationship with her father. As she puts it early in the remarkable musical Fun Home, “My dad and I were exactly alike. My dad and I were nothing alike.” That seeming contradiction defines the crux of the show, Alison’s struggle with her sexual identity and anguish over coming out as a lesbian to her parents. … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 2: ‘My Fair Lady’
I am more of a Sweeney Todd and Fiddler on the Roof fan, but if you insisted that My Fair Lady is the great American musical, I wouldn't argue with you, particular after seeing the extraordinary Lincoln Center revival Sunday. Bartlett Sher, the Center's resident directing marvel (South Pacific, Light in the Piazza, etc.) has created a knockout production, with eye-popping … [Read more...]