On my last full day in New York, I ended my theatergoing splurge with another new musical, Real Women Have Curves, based on the 2002 movie that introduced America Ferrera to the world. The musical tells of an East L.A. dress factory peopled mainly by undocumented Latina immigrants, in constant threat of deportation. And like in the movie, they get an order for 200 dresses to … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 4: ‘Boop!’ a delightful throwback, led by a rising star
Do you remember the Max Fleischer hand-drawn black-and-white animated shorts from the 1930s? Director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell is hoping you do and are interested in his new musical, Boop!, centered on that spit-curled spitfire kewpie doll, Betty Boop. Besides harkening back to a Depression-era cartoon celebrity, Boop! takes us back to the days when musicals … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 3: ‘Dead Outlaw’ is weirdly compelling, ‘Smash’ is a wreck
After yesterday’s superlative Gypsy, tonight I saw another show that ranks as a superlative — the most peculiar musical I’ve ever seen — Dead Outlaw. It’s based on an allegedly true story of Elmer McCurdy, an outlaw and murderer who was himself killed and mummified before changing several hands and eventually being buried 68 years later. And yes, it’s a musical, composed by … [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. 1: Sussing out the Tony buzz
I fly out to New York tomorrow to check out the latest Broadway shows in a busy spring before the Tony Awards deadline. My week begins with the latest revival of Gypsy, starring Audra McDonald, said to be the front runner for her seventh Tony, which would break her own record. Next is a new musical based on Smash, the TV series about the making of a Marilyn Monroe … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 7: ‘Death Becomes Her’ looks to be a campy hit
A campy, effects-heavy movie from 1992, Death Becomes Her, gets a stage musical makeover and looks likely to have a healthy run if the audience response at the final Wednesday matinee preview is any indication. Megan Hilty (TV's Smash) and Jennifer Simard (Company revival) inherit the roles from Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as a fading film star and a plain-jane novelist … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 6: Unfocused ‘Tammy Faye’ announces closing
Tammy Faye, the musical biography of the infamous, free-spending televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, with a score by Elton John, was touted to be one of the Broadway season’s big hits. But yesterday afternoon, just hours before I saw the show, it unexpectedly posted its closing notice, surely reflecting weak advance sales. Tammy Faye opened Thursday and will close on December 8, … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 5: Culture break for retrospectives of two dance giants
Monday means that Broadway is dark, but I can still get some arts culture. This morning I went to the Whitney Museum to see Edges of Ailey, the first major show devoted to modern dance giant Alvin Ailey. Videos, artifacts and paintings by contemporary African-American artists. First-rate. In the afternoon, I went to the Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center where the … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 4: Mary Todd Lincoln, played for (some) laughs
If these distressing times cry out for something silly to laugh at, an elfin young man named Cole Escola has emerged to deliver it with Oh, Mary. He wrote the 80-minute romp and stars as Mary Todd Lincoln, in a bouncy hoop skirt and ringlets wig. A spiritual descendant of Charles Ludlum and his Ridiculous Theater, Oh, Mary is too silly for my taste, but that is clearly a … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 2: ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ a refreshing change from usual musical bombast
Putting quality aside for the moment, you have to concede that Broadway musicals have been distressingly unoriginal of late, being largely uninspired rehashes of movies and biographies of music icons. So it was eye-opening to encounter Maybe Happy Ending, a truly novel tale of romance between a pair of robots that originated in South Korea, of all places. Part rom-com and … [Read more...]