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...]
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...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 7: Gritty ‘Outsiders’ not otherwise persuasive
April 28, 2024: I completed my bite out of Broadway today with my eighth show in six days --- The Outsiders --- based on S.E. Hinton's novel and Francis Ford Coppola's movie adaptation. It's a visceral musical, steeped in the street warfare between the blue-collar Greasers and the socially better-off Socs. The comparison may be unfair, but it is hard not to think of West Side … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 6: Intense ‘Appropriate,’ dazzling ‘Illinoise’
April 27, 2024: Today, Saturday, was a two-show day with productions that couldn't be more different. At the matinee I saw Appropriate, an intensely dramatic look at a highly dysfunctional family. And in the evening I saw a recently opened dance concert/musical, Illinoise, that challenges what a musical is. Appropriate, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in his Broadway debut, is … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 5: Timely ‘Suffs’ an auspicious debut for actress-creator
This afternoon, I, my wife and a couple of good friends from high school who got married a week before us (wow, 52 years ago) met up and went on a food-themed walking tour of Greenwich Village. In addition to a history lesson of the neighborhood, we snacked on bagels, pizza, pie crust cookies, Italian rice balls, Belgian-style fries, artisan chocolates and designer cupcakes. A … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 4: ‘The Notebook’ proves emotionally stirring
The weather turned cold in Manhattan today, but the passions boiled over in the musical version of The Notebook, based on Nicholas Sparks' rabidly popular novel and the subsequent cult favorite movie. As you probably recall, the movie divided the central lover roles in two ---- young romantics, Allie and Noah --- and their older selves, a woman who had drifted into dementia and … [Read more...]
Postcard from Broadway No. 3: Gripping ‘Mary Jane’ from McAdams
After a lunch with some distant cousins of my wife's, we headed to the Broadway Theatre (the only Broadway theater actually on Broadway) to see one of the final previews of a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Because it hasn't officially opened yet, my critical comments are embargoed, but suffice it to say the production brings to mind F. Scott Fitzgerald's much … [Read more...]