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 Factor in that it is a romantic comedy between two outdated robots in the year 2064, who didn’t know … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 1: Hello, Louis: An exceptional Armstrong from Iglehart
I'm up in New York this week to attend the bat mitzvah of a cousin, Emma. So while I'm here, I'll see six shows in seven days. I began last night with A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, a biographical show about the trumpet-playing "king of jazz." The best thing about it is James Monroe Iglehart, an enormously appealing performer who is probably damaging … [Read more...]
What’s on in New York: The Broadway season in review, Part Two
Here is Part Two of my survey of the current Broadway season in New York: Summer: The Donna Summer Musical – There were surely biographical jukebox musicals before 2005’s Jersey Boys, which celebrated the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. But it was the enormous success of that show that begat Beautiful about Carole King’s life, next season’s Cher musical and this … [Read more...]