Lyricist-book writer Brian Yorkey and his composer partner Tom Kitt researched well bipolar disorder to write the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical Next to Normal, about one woman’s battle with the mental affliction and its effect on her family. And in his program note, Zoetic Stage artistic director Stuart Meltzer is very candid about his own history with … [Read more...]
No weak links in powerful ‘Osage County’ at Dramaworks
How fortunate for playwright Tracy Letts that he grew up in a bitter, vindictive and addiction-prone household. For his relatives became the inspiration for the Westons of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning August: Osage County, a darkly dramatic and often quite funny look at his wildly dysfunctional family. The three-and-a-half-hour, … [Read more...]
Reviews from a promising Broadway season
Because of my travel plans, I had to schedule my spring Broadway splurge earlier than usual. So I was too early to see Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, Bad Cinderella, Shucked and others. But as you will see below, there were plenty of worthy shows that I caught in what is turning out to be a better-than-expected Broadway season. & Juliet (Stephen Sondheim Theatre, 124 W. 43rd St.) — … [Read more...]
Dramaworks explores dysfunctional family in ‘August: Osage County’
Often compared to Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, Tracy Letts’s August: Osage County is an exploration of yet another dysfunctional family, an epic play that also was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It premiered in 2007 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where Letts is a company member and resident playwright. It quickly transferred to Broadway, … [Read more...]
DB Playhouse shows Simon’s ‘Plaza Suite’ still has plenty of life in it
By Dale King Anyone who thinks Neil Simon’s vast body of theatrical writing just doesn’t cut it anymore or doesn’t pack the same oomph it once did must see Plaza Suite — the final production of the season at the Delray Beach Playhouse. It will most definitely change their minds. DBP has chosen one of Simon’s most enduring, albeit a shade dated, comic presentations to wrap … [Read more...]
Female ‘Odd Couple’ falls flat at Boca Stage
In his heyday, Neil Simon would write a new play each season. In 1985, however, when he didn’t have a good idea for a play, he rewrote one of his finest, funniest comedies, The Odd Couple, changing the gender of the characters and tinkering with many of his previously well-crafted laugh lines. While he never asked me for my opinion, I would have advised him with that … [Read more...]
Strong lead performances make ‘Oliver!’ a solid Maltz closer
In the early 1960s, long before Andrew Lloyd Webber and others sent a steady stream of mega-musicals from Britain to Broadway, a London songwriter named Lionel Bart scored a big hit on both sides of the pond with Oliver! Based, of course, on Charles Dickens’ classic novel Oliver Twist, Bart erased much of its crusading social message in favor of bouncy tunes and adorable … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 6: Quirky musical ‘Kimberly Akimbo’ delights
I finished my week of theater-going in New York on a high note, seeing a quirky new musical called Kimberly Akimbo, with music by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline or Change) and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Good People), based on his play of the same name. Both play and musical center on a teenager named Kimberly who has a rare aging disorder that gives … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 5: A powerful ‘Parade,’ and a joyful ‘Some Like It Hot’
Wednesday is a two-show day on Broadway, and I saw a couple of major productions of the season. At the matinee I saw Parade (after the canceled performance when I first arrived in town on Saturday), and in the evening, I saw Some Like It Hot, the new musical adaptation based on the 1959 Billy Wilder classic film comedy. Parade is a revival of the show that first opened … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 4: A high-energy ‘& Juliet’ captivates
Yesterday’s show was the tongue-in-cheek take on Shakespeare, & Juliet, a jukebox musical with pop hits from the recent past that asks what might have happened if Juliet Capulet had lived instead of taking her own life. The infectious results are a little heavy-handed with its female empowerment message, but is ultimately a winner thanks to some clever plotting and a … [Read more...]