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...]
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...]