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 Factor in that it is a romantic comedy between two outdated robots in the year 2064, who didn’t know … [Read more...]
What’s on in New York: The Broadway season in review, Part One
There are standout exceptions, but this was largely a disappointing season on Broadway, with the nominating committee challenged to fill all the Tony Award categories. In general, the revivals were better than the new work, in both plays and musicals. Here is my report from a week in New York, where I saw 14 shows in 10 days (Oh, the things I put myself through for you … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 9: ‘Crucible’ still works, despite directorial mangling
Sophie Okonedo and Ben Whishaw in The Crucible. And so the week in New York ended with the 12th production, a love-it-or-hate-it revival of Arthur Miller’s historical epic, The Crucible, deconstructed by Dutch director Ivo van Hove. As you probably recall from studying the 1953 play in high school, Miller’s view of history is two-pronged. On the literal level, he is … [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...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 7: Earnest ‘Tuck Everlasting’ falls a little short
Andrew Keenan-Bolger and Sarah Charles Lewis in Tuck Everlasting. (Photo by Joan Marcus) Before tonight's show, a new musical called Tuck Everlasting, I caught a little culture at the Museum of the City of New York. In addition to an artifact-rich exhibit on the Yiddish Theater and its influences on Broadway, the 5th Avenue treasure trove is currently featuring a retrospective … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 6: Newsmaker interviews, disarming ‘Bright Star’
With only one show on my schedule today, I could have relaxed, but this is New York City, where so many artists, writers and producers of shows on tour, heading to South Florida, reside. So I arranged to interview a couple of them today, to bank them stories for when the shows arrive at home. This afternoon, for instance, I met with Doug McGrath, screenwriter (Bullets Over … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 5: Two searing, powerful plays
Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams in Blackbird. Wednesday is, of course, a matinee day, so I saw two productions today and, as it worked out, they were two highly intense, intermissionless plays, which packed a lot of gut punch in roughly 90 minutes each. The one with considerable star power was David Harrower's Blackbird, making its Broadway debut although it is technically … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 4: Semi-sort-of seeing ‘Hamilton’
Alex Brightman and cast in School of Rock. (Photo by Timmy Blupe) Oh well, the odds of winning the Hamilton digital lottery are said to be 80,000 to 1, and — what a surprise — I did not win. But the next day, I ended up seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of Hamilton performing anyway. OK, they weren't actually performing the show Hamilton, but they appeared at the 30th … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway, No. 3: Guilty pleasures of ‘Psycho’ win out
Benjamin Walker in American Psycho. If you work at it, Sunday can be a two-show day, for me capped by the malevolent musical American Psycho, based on Bret Easton Ellis's icy novel of a 1980s Wall Street account executive and serial killer. Yes, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd came first in making multiple murders an apt topic for the musical stage, but unlike Psycho's Patrick … [Read more...]