Theater audiences are often intrigued by the intricacies of backstage life, and particularly the larger-than-life personalities who have devoted their careers to an unglamorous existence on the road. So there is little wonder that Ronald Harwood’s 1980 drama The Dresser has been met with success on both sides of The Pond, with several major revivals and a couple of filmed … [Read more...]
Dramaworks brings back ‘The Dresser’ for 25th anniversary season
Twenty-one years ago, Palm Beach Dramaworks was a fledgling troupe trying to gain an audience and critical attention in the county’s crowded cultural scene. As its co-founder and current producing artistic director William Hayes recalls, the company turned a corner towards those goals by mounting Ronald Harwood’s World War II backstage tale, The Dresser, is which Hayes appeared … [Read more...]
On Broadway, No. 2: ‘Cabaret,’ ‘Oh, Mary!’ and ‘Tammy Faye’
Here is the second shoe to drop, another three shows on Broadway. One of them has already closed: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club — In 1966, when Hal Prince directed the original production of Cabaret, he famously held back on the seamy side and antisemitism of the imminent Third Reich, yet it still stood out for its edginess next to the other musicals of the time. Since then, … [Read more...]
On Broadway, No. 1: ‘Happy Ending,’ ‘Death Becomes Her,’ ‘A Wonderful World’
In a busy autumn on Broadway, here are a few of the better offerings to meet a variety of tastes: Maybe Happy Ending – On a Broadway landscape filled with movie adaptations and celebrity biographies, a genuinely original musical — from Korea, no less — is bound to stand out. Factor in that it is a romantic comedy between two outdated robots in the year 2064, who didn’t know … [Read more...]
Maltz’s gentle ‘Once’ a satisfying alternative to holiday bombast
So many musicals are adaptations of movies, largely because their producers want theatergoers to be drawn in by familiar material. But surely few saw the small, low-budget 2006 Irish film Once. Nevertheless, it made its way to Broadway 12 years ago, winning eight Tony Awards including best musical and now, just as improbably, it has been mounted at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre … [Read more...]
Wick’s ‘Joseph’ an engaging romp with standout performances
Long before composer Andrew Lloyd Webber became known for musicals about felines, an Argentine social climber and a Parisian phantom, he began his theatrical career with tales from the Bible. He and lyricist Tim Rice were commissioned by a British prep school to create a show for its student choir and the result was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, based on the Old … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 7: ‘Death Becomes Her’ looks to be a campy hit
A campy, effects-heavy movie from 1992, Death Becomes Her, gets a stage musical makeover and looks likely to have a healthy run if the audience response at the final Wednesday matinee preview is any indication. Megan Hilty (TV's Smash) and Jennifer Simard (Company revival) inherit the roles from Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as a fading film star and a plain-jane novelist … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 6: Unfocused ‘Tammy Faye’ announces closing
Tammy Faye, the musical biography of the infamous, free-spending televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, with a score by Elton John, was touted to be one of the Broadway season’s big hits. But yesterday afternoon, just hours before I saw the show, it unexpectedly posted its closing notice, surely reflecting weak advance sales. Tammy Faye opened Thursday and will close on December 8, … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 5: Culture break for retrospectives of two dance giants
Monday means that Broadway is dark, but I can still get some arts culture. This morning I went to the Whitney Museum to see Edges of Ailey, the first major show devoted to modern dance giant Alvin Ailey. Videos, artifacts and paintings by contemporary African-American artists. First-rate. In the afternoon, I went to the Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center where the … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 4: Mary Todd Lincoln, played for (some) laughs
If these distressing times cry out for something silly to laugh at, an elfin young man named Cole Escola has emerged to deliver it with Oh, Mary. He wrote the 80-minute romp and stars as Mary Todd Lincoln, in a bouncy hoop skirt and ringlets wig. A spiritual descendant of Charles Ludlum and his Ridiculous Theater, Oh, Mary is too silly for my taste, but that is clearly a … [Read more...]