Isherwood: ‘Going Bacharach’ Review: A Revue Done Right Off-Broadway
Feb 9 2026, 09:19:54 PM
I'm a massive Bacharach fan (I probably have even more Bacharach recordings than Sondheim and could go on and on about his underrated work like his 1970s albums Futures and Woman.) And from all I can read and see this revue would drive me a bit crazy--what with all the vocal (and piano) ornamentation to his music, something he hated, etc. John Pagano did tour with Bacharach for ages, but I don't think he's particularly good with a lyric, and when I saw him his singing
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Isherwood: When the American Theater Found Its Own Way, From Eugene O’Neill to Lin-Manuel Miranda
Feb 9 2026, 09:13:30 PM
Kad said: "This is a very cursory look at American theatre with no real thesis behind it or real insight into it. It gives short shrift to anybody who wasn't O'Neill, Rogers & Hammerstein, Sondheim, or Miranda and makes no mention of the various artistic movements or companies who built up the American theatre and, as sinister teashop implies, divorces it from a global artistic context."
Exactly. I was surprised Jesse Green didn't write it.
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HIGH SPIRITS at Encores!
Feb 6 2026, 06:29:59 PM
MezzA101 said: "‘High Spirits’ Review: A Ghostly Delight From Encores!
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/theater/high-spirits-review-a-ghostly-delight-from-encores.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KFA.bPYK.rpapaLseWofV&smid=nytcore-android-share"
I know headlines often suck, but this unreasonably bugs me: "A revival of a 1964 musical, which puts a supernatural spin on a Noël Coward play,"
Err... the Coward play *always* had a supernatural spin to it. They probably wanted to say "a musical spin" but had already used the word musical... I am glad they point out the new ending the musical has (which I actually prefer to the play's.)
As for people suggesting this might have a chance at a Broadway revival? Ha! :P
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HIGH SPIRITS at Encores!
Feb 5 2026, 10:55:22 PM
ER765 said: "
Bizarrely nondescript review in The Wrap, which I guess is mixed to positive?"
So in other words a very typical Robert Hofler review.
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Question about 1971 Tony Awards
Feb 5 2026, 10:01:25 PM
This always fascinated me and made me try to imagine what years there might have been a divide between best music and best lyric winners in those categories...
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Flower Drum Song Ballet based on original novel by CY Lee
Feb 3 2026, 05:48:35 PM
As stated, the stage musical has a different "dream ballet" which I don't think has ever been properly recorded--I wish it would be. (The movie has some good things, but I tend to agree with those that feel it actually accentuated Asian stereotypes that weren't in the stage show, and some of the choreography is included in this for me.)
There also was an extended, sorta fantasy "dance break" for Sunday on stage, most of which you can see in the great Ed Sullivan extended FDS performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkYQaNHl2K8
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Upcoming Japanese production of GYPSY renamed as ROSE due to sensitivity regarding the original title
Feb 3 2026, 05:45:08 PM
I don't really know what to think of the title change, but as it's a foreign language production it doesn't particularly bother me one way or the other.
However, to those who say that this is obviously done to test the title for the Western market because Japanese productions haven't been all that racially sensitive in the past (the black face example) I have to point out that relatively very recently there HAS been a push to be more sensitive to this especially in
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London Loved It/New York Hated It
Dec 31 2025, 02:12:44 AM
Jeffrey Karasarides said: "The Trevor Nunn-helmed revival of Oklahoma!.
When it was in London, it received a ton of acclaim. Although when it eventually came to Broadway, it wasn't as well received."
Yeah, I always wondered why this was such a non event. I had seen Patrick Wilson in the tour of Carousel, I guess almost five years before he played Curly on Broadway--and he was terrific.
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Derek Klena Joins Savannah Bananas
Dec 31 2025, 02:07:19 AM
And he's a good fit. But does this mean he can't be on stage during their season? (do they even have a season?)
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London Loved It/New York Hated It
Dec 30 2025, 09:38:28 PM
Chess of course is an obvious example--but not only was the Broadway version a different production, it was a vastly different text as well. Does that make a difference? (I suppose that's true of Taboo as well.)
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London Loved It/New York Hated It
Dec 30 2025, 05:38:26 PM
everythingtaboo said: "
There was a period of transfers that were well-received in London, but underwhelmed critically or commercially here. I recall Jumpers andEnron, to musicals like The Woman in White,American PsychoandTaboo."
Woman in White was a baffling transfer as it was always struggling in London (and got very mixed reviews) ultimately running a year and a half (and I kinda have a soft spot for the
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London Loved It/New York Hated It
Dec 30 2025, 05:33:46 PM
TotallyEffed said: "I can’t be the only one who thinks Kinky Boots is trash."
I'm with Kad. I find it fine--it's basically a solidly constructed show, staged with typical Jerry Mitchell slickness but it's lacking for me any real *moments* (moments of anything really) if that makes sense. Everything is easy to predict and kinda perfunctory.
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London Loved It/New York Hated It
Dec 30 2025, 05:31:35 PM
Jarethan said: "I have toimagine the best example is still Starlight Express. It managed to have a decent run on Broadway, but iy lost its investment, while Starlight ran a decade, and more recently had a theatre build just to stage its revival. Another example of extremes would be Blood Brothers, which als o had a decent run on Broadway, but still lost its investment, while the London version ran forever.
In the ancient past, an incredibly lauded production of Orpheus Des
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London Loved It/New York Hated It
Dec 29 2025, 06:49:38 PM
You could argue about a couple of Andrew Lloyd Webber shows like Woman in White, which ran I think 18 months in London and nothing close to that in NYC. Starlight Express ran for well over a decade in London, but just under two years on Broadway. But Aspects of Love may be the best candidate for this--largely well reviewed in London,where it ran for 1325 performances. On Broadway it was savaged by critics,and only ran for 377 performances and somehow, despite having a t
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This Oscar Season Don’t Forget About ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’
Dec 29 2025, 06:22:10 PM
John Adams said: "I think it was a mistake to not make this movie available for free on a pre-paid streaming service. If it had been available, perhaps there would have been more public support for the 2 male leads (...possibly the opposite reaction, though).
For me, this movie is already "forgotten"."
I've made my case for this movie here already--despite the issues I have with it, I still am happy it got made and really do like
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NYT: This ‘Into the Woods’ Is Not That Deep. That’s What Makes It Great.
Dec 28 2025, 09:47:02 PM
Interesting review. I can't comment on their take on the production itself, but the final thoughts seem to want to say "look, the show itself isn't really that amazing, remember what Frank Rich said about it?" Which is fine--though I'm one of many people my age or younger who really got into Sondheim from watching ITW on PBS as a kid, it's never been at the top of Sondheim musicals for me. And it's definitely true if you look at thoughts about t
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THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES To Close January 4, 2026
Dec 10 2025, 09:11:48 PM
MrsSallyAdams said: "I saw the musical in Boston. Then watched the documentary. If it gets retooled they need to dial up Fred Siegel's malevolence. In the documentary he was emotionally abusive, and she was afraid of him. It may have been a factor in her hoarder tendencies.
The house looked empty on stage. But in the film, she filled it with garbage, animals, feces and a pack of feral children. It was moreGrey Gardensthan Barbie Dream House.
A production where the set becomes more and more cluttered till she's wading through garbage could be an effective visual metaphor. I'm thinking of something almost expressionistic."
This is a great point. Anyone who has seen the doc takes away just how cluttered and garbage filled (that dog ****!) the house becomes--I remember a friend saying how she thought it was telling that no one seems interested in looking after the place. I assume for the musical they really wanted that reveal of the empty mansion--and I can understand the reasoning for it, but...
Adam Feldman has a great new podcast with TimeOut, Sitting Ovations, and the first episode is devoted to The Baker's Wife with Stephen Schwartz and director Gordon Greenberg but... I guess I spoke too soon, because in the last few minutes Schwartz is asked if QoV would ever be reworked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6550n-GlDQ&list=PL71nON9BFM3hIUZ5bTQbApeF5lKaa7ST_
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Helen Shaw is the new Times theater critic
Dec 10 2025, 08:00:26 PM
I love Nussbaum's writing--I can't think of any tv critic who topped her tv writing. I know from Twitter that she loves theatre, although she doesn't seem to know much about theatre history, again judging on those Tweets but maybe that isn't an issue when reviewing.
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COYOTE UGLY musical adaptation with music by Diane Warren to premiere in West End in 2027
Dec 10 2025, 07:55:36 PM
I can't imagine a genuinely theatrical score from Diane Warren.
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What revivals were flops but then later revivals become hits?
Dec 10 2025, 03:34:02 AM
blaxx said: "
The 2008 Sunday was Roundabout, which is not categorized as it is a non for profit."
Thanks. OK that bumps out the 1995 Company too then.I'm still curious about Into the Woods--I don't think I ever bothered to look up just how well it did (or didn't do) although at the time I did think it closed quickly for a Tony winning revival of a popular show (although ITW hadn't quite reached the "beloved" status it w
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