Few people were expecting much when a jukebox musical biography about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons came to Broadway years ago, but Jersey Boys floored the theater world with such shabby tricks as a good surprise-laden story, sharp writing and first-rate staging. Ever since, producers have been in search of the next Jersey Boys. Sorry to report, Beautiful: The Carole … [Read more...]
‘King and I’ brilliantly reimagined at Maltz
Unlike most audience members, reviewers yearn to be surprised. If civilian theatergoers take comfort in the familiar, critics crave an encounter with the unexpected, particularly in a show they have viewed countless times before. Not that director-choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge makes novel staging choices for the sake of being different, but nor does she settle for the … [Read more...]
Sundays: King Tut’s coup
By Myles Ludwig To coup or not to coup, that has been the question in Egypt. Lots of money rides on the answer. Billions, in fact. Up until the sad, chaotic violence of recent days there, the galumphing of government, citizenry and military has often seemed to me like a Facebook War. Semantic shots were being traded between opposing forces, both of which were claiming … [Read more...]