It was a good season for quantity of productions. Not so much for quality. But there were a few standout shows (Maybe Happy Ending, Purpose, Yellow Face), some nail-biter head-on clashes (Audra McDonald vs. Nicole Scherzimger) and complete toss-ups (We're looking at you, design categories). So, the chances are I will get a lot of these wrong, but here are my picks to … [Read more...]
Broadway roundup: Reviews from the New York spring season
Here is a look at a handful of shows from Broadway’s spring season, in a run-up to the Tony Awards, which will be broadcast June 8. Real Women Have Curves: Although based on Josefina Lopez’s 1990 play and the subsequent HBO movie starring America Ferrera from 2002, the newly arrived musical, Real Women Have Curves, seems extremely timely in the current days of … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 2: Audra, the greatest Rose I’ve ever seen
Our first night in New York, we saw what is likely to be the high point of our trip — Audra McDonald in the latest revival of Gypsy. It is a show I have seen countless times, including with such Mama Roses as Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Bernadette Peters, and none of them has come close to the dramatic impact of McDonald’s performance. Let me gush further. In my … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 8: Harrowing ‘The Father,’ sprawling ‘Shuffle Along’
The cast of Shuffle Along performs “Broadway Blues.” (Photo by Julieta Cervantes) My New York trip is starting to wind down. Saturday, was my last two-show day, beginning with the dramatic immersion into the world of dementia, The Father, by French playwright Florian Zeller. In the evening I saw a new musical based on a 1921 show called Shuffle Along. But this was no mere … [Read more...]