Faith Prince.By Hap ErsteinAlthough she is terrific at it, cabaret is not really what Tony Award-winning performer Faith Prince does.She is to the theater born, as those who have seen her in such diverse shows as The King and I, Guys and Dolls or last season’s short-lived A Catered Affair can attest. But since she is briefly between Broadway shows, New York’s loss is the Colony … [Read more...]
Sondheim song revue, ‘Merrily’ revival in works, the Master says
By Hap ErsteinIn 1962, President John F. Kennedy is said to have addressed a gathering of 49 Nobel Prize winners at the White House, calling them “probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house, except for the times when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”That is essentially how I felt about Wednesday evening’s A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim at the … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Sondheim appearance Wednesday is a seasonal high point
Stephen Sondheim.By Hap ErsteinMusical theater is a highly collaborative art. Still, if you had to single out the one person who has been its dominant innovator during the past 50 years, it would surely be composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim.Director Harold Prince did some of his best, though not most lucrative, work with Sondheim, and such book writers as George Furth, James … [Read more...]
Commentary: Dark days ahead for Broadway, and perhaps theater in general
Monty Python's Spamalot By Hap ErsteinT.S. Eliot was wrong. April is not the cruelest month. It is January, at least when it comes to the Broadway theater. Usually a tough month for the survival of marginally successful shows, next month is going to be disastrous for the New York commercial theater in the economy we are currently suffering through.Eleven shows, from … [Read more...]