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THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES musical will have pre-Bway tryout this summer in Boston
 Aug 18 2024, 12:56:05 AM

Went up to Boston last Sunday 8/11 for the matinee and found the show to be very dense in content. There's the thru line of the main characters life. There's the building of the Orlando Versailles. There's a mother daughter subplot. There's a story line about the making of the documentary. And then there are flashbacks to 17th Century France. While I enjoyed the political angle and juxtaposition of the 1680's Louis XIV scenes, I think it only highlighted the fact


NYP: Broadway sings New York’s blues as crime, costs slow post-COVID comeback
 Jun 5 2024, 05:58:24 PM

As someone who preferred the pre-Disneyfication version of Times Square it doesn't seem like any of these reports are keeping throngs from filling the streets. Filling the theaters is another story, that might have more to do with the meh collection of plays and musicals filling the stages these days. Next season should improve things because many of the shows either have stars or good word of mouth or in general are just more interesting. This season felt like a bad month


LEMPICKA Reviews
 Apr 14 2024, 11:20:35 PM

I can see all these new musical ticket buyers running away from these  middling musicals and willingly paying Cabaret ransom prices for quality over quantity. 


Tim Minchin on why Groundhog Day Failed in New York
 Jan 8 2024, 12:22:48 AM

Love me some Tim Minchin lyrics, he overwrites. deliciously. I bet Matilda might win in a lyric word count duel with Hamilton. Ground Hog Day wasn't a good match for him, it came off as an American show seen through a Brits take on Americans. And then there was the concept, the repeating of the day. He mentions in the article that the show was a traditional musical. That may have been the real issue, he thought he was writing a traditional (basic?)  musical when it should have all be


Bridge & Tunnel Crowd Can No Longer Be Counted On?
 Jan 3 2024, 10:53:52 PM

I agree, it’s not so much safety - its convenience- cleanliness. You can barely move amongst the crowds and those pandemic kiosks have trapped festering garbage everywhere. I’m in New Jersey and we’ve been coming in on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to avoid the crazies - and we stay clear of Times Square opting for side streets. We only use discounted tickets and have been letting the high priced shows pass us by. This season has 36 shows opening vs 30 in 2018/19 And a hell o


Bridge & Tunnel Crowd Can No Longer Be Counted On?
 Jan 3 2024, 05:45:11 PM

Old Bway wisdom always had B'Way audiences building is stages, 1) Locals 2) Bridge & Tunnel 3) Tourists. That Bridge and Tunnel crowd could be counted on to keep a show open a year while the rest of the world caught up. A 17% drop since pre-pandemic days - what does all this suggest for the Spring with its onslaught of productions, especially the musiclals?   

 

Broadway takes massive hit as NYC suburbanites steer clear over ‘safety concerns’


New Musical HELL'S KITCHEN, Based on the Life of Alicia Keys, to Premiere This Year
 Nov 13 2023, 11:43:00 PM

Saw Hell's Kitchen Friday Nov 3 so things may have changed since then. Maleah Joi Moon had a cold and was coughing during her dialogue moments, but you'd never know when she sang. There are fantastic female voices galore in this show lead by Maleah, Shoshana Bean, and Kecia Lewis (these two ladies will be vying for supporting awards) and at least six other female ensemble members with amazing voices. I am not a fan of jukebox musicals, they never come close to matching the original to


Sondheim/Ives HERE WE ARE @ The Shed
 Oct 7 2023, 12:35:44 PM

I sat to the far side E3 stage facing,  not side, and it was a great seat, a perfect view. A really nice take for the moment they break the 4th wall and a great view of the set changes, especially the act two reveal. 


Sondheim/Ives HERE WE ARE @ The Shed
 Sep 29 2023, 02:45:45 PM

Such an emotional evening – it was like walking into the home of a friend who had passed and finding things they were in the middle of.  It was impossible to be objective. I wanted to hear an old friend, and he was there in full force and at his comedic best. Sondheim and Ives are genius together in Act One. It felt fresh, new and smart. The show is staged and designed brilliantly. Act Two for me was more about his absence than what came next. The symbolism of the piano seizing and


NY, NY may be on its way to closing-NY Post
 Jul 27 2023, 01:54:39 PM

Saw last night’s Wednesday evening perf of NYNY whose second act worked much better than its first act. At the intermission it reminded me of Jule Styne’s Sugar in the 70’s which at the time was surrounded by Hair and JC Superstar - dated in so many ways - but assembled by folks who were earlier at the top of their form. Colton Ryan is giving the most original, fascinating and exciting performance in a musical that I have seen in years and worth checking out before Sunday. S


Should B’way Tours Avoid Florida?
 May 21 2023, 08:10:59 AM

Blockhead24 said: "Bettyboy72 said: "maybe it would encourage them to move."

It's not that simple for a lot of us here
"

History shows many people got out of Germany long before the Nazi’s became deadly belligerent. The worst was preceded by laws just like those being passed in Florida now. The odds of Florida’s republicans losing control of the Governorship, ,the State Senate ,the House and the courts anytime soon is delu


Should B’way Tours Avoid Florida?
 May 18 2023, 04:09:45 PM

I was thinking more about the safety of the troupe, God forbid someone should need a doctor or hospital while on tour and they encounter a homophone or religious zealot. The State cannot guarantee their safety. Would be the equivalent of touring in a war zone - they shouldn’t want the responsibility or possibility of injury.  


Should B’way Tours Avoid Florida?
 May 18 2023, 03:40:04 PM

In light of Gov. DeSantis signing an extreme “License to Discriminate” Healthcare Bill where doctors can now deny medical services to LGBTQ+ citizens, should Broadway tours suspend performances in Florida? I would think this presents a health risk to the touring casts and crews. The trade unions should be all over this. 


Monsoon Wedding at St. Ann's Warehouse Previews
 May 10 2023, 01:04:02 PM

After seeing this underwhelming production I read the reviews for the 2017 Berkley Rep production and am flabbergasted they didn’t heed the consensus, those six year old criticisms still hold. Not sure if it’s ego or the commitment to keeping the production authentic but the show feels as if it was written and directed by creatives who are out of touch with the form and perhaps this is what passes for musical theater in India.  Sad because I had high hopes and was bored out o


CAMELOT (2023) - Reviews
 Apr 14 2023, 10:13:15 PM

Kad said: "Can’t help but wonder what Tony Kushner would’ve done with this."

Doubtful anyone could craft a workable book for todays audiences around the Camelot score. Yes pretty at times. But dull and untheatrical by todays standards. Why is it revivals allow tinkering with books but never the music and lyrics?


ART Evita Casting
 Apr 6 2023, 06:08:37 PM

Isn’t this based on the City Crnter Encores staging a few years back? Didn’t it have two Eva Perones? Younger/Older Evitas. 


Michael R. Jackson's new musical 'White Girl in Danger' to premiere Off-Broadway in March 2023
 Mar 25 2023, 05:01:01 PM

Saw White Girl In Danger Friday night - the earlier reported running time of 3 hours and 15 minutes has been pared down to 2 hours and 40 minutes including the intermission and it’s still too long.  Where Strange Loop was personal and filled with genuine catharsis, White Girl in Danger plays more like a thesis dissertation, a concept in search of a stage format. In WGID Michael R Jackson examines and comments on the history and future of black female TV characters and actors, in a Candide-like satirical cavalcade. He envisions the character types and tropes of the past handing off their passive and abused history to their present and future more empowered versions. By presenting much of it as satire we are distanced from the character attachments made in Strange Loop until very late in the 2nd act when gears switch into sermon mode and the under-developed author/writer character literally stops the show to explain the point of the previous two hours. If only that heat and poetic specificity had been sprinkled throughout the proceedings, we may have had something that packed the punch of an Ain’t No Mo’- please someone bring that back before Tony’s.

In WGID we get a satire staged as a farce at break neck speed that doesn’t have the time to breathe and build our buy in. Rather than take us on a ride it seems to have left us in the bleachers to watch the characters careen around the track exhibiting moments of brilliance if we don’t blink. Those moments of brilliance are surrounded by repetitive bits that are either annoying or let the audience get ahead of the actors, leading to impatience. The idea of using three white girl types puts a structure in place where we quickly realize we are going to have to sit thru many scenes played out three times over with less pay off at each iteration. The effect might have been to build on a laugh but in the end it slowed down the proceedings, adding to the overlong running time.  In an attempt at camp or severe underlining, the terms “All White” and “Blackground” are used in practically every line spoken. It not only gets in the way of many line deliveries but steals emphasis from new points being made. Because the satire is aimed at soap operas, sitcoms and Fox and CW nighttime series of the 90’s it also drops a laundry list of actor’s names as if dropping the names were enough to qualify for a laugh. The use of those names suggests some universal knowledge of the actors and characters they played. Between the triple replays of the three white girls, the over use of All White and Blackground and the name dropping they could have shaved 40 minutes form the play and used that time to make the piece more effective.

In his second time out with a musical, Jackson’s music is proving to be more serviceable to his concepts than interesting musically on their own. Except for his takeoff/rip off of the gospel number from Hairspray there are no exceptional “musical” moments to support why this should be a musical. The staging is more like air traffic control and choreography does not elevate things. This was the first time I’ve noticed inadequate lighting in a show. Perhaps it was due to last-minute changes, but many times actors were not lit. The sound mix for the musical numbers was also very frustrating, it emphasized the band over the lyrics. We had moments where you could not hear the lyrics and you could not see the face of the actor singing the lyrics.

As far as the performers were concerned only Tarra Conner Jones registered as exceptional. She plays the mother type (Mammie, Marla Gibbs, Nell Carter, Diahann Carroll) and has a lopsided amount of the song distribution. Her character’s purpose is to show how black female characters developed over time and Jackson makes her one in the same person on a journey not of her own making. In that one character and Tarra’s performance you see what could have been developed if the cyclone of concepts and bad comedy writing were not also whirling around the stage for 160 minutes. I do question where the dramaturg and director were in the development of this production. I wonder if a George C Wolf could have made better stage sense out of it.

They have two weeks until opening, I’m not sure enough can be done while also in performance. I think minimally they need to cut enough to allow the cast to slow down and still get everyone out of the theater at a decent hour. I am attaching a link to a September 2017 description of the show by the author before he was about to unveil the play to the public. Based on this I would say he has fulfilled the brief in presenting evidence but has yet to make it work on stage. PS: They should cut the pre-show and intermission videos - embarrassing. 

White Girl In Danger at Adelphi University Performing Arts Center and Joe’s Pub 9/24 & 9/25 2017


Titanique
 Mar 17 2023, 07:36:44 PM

Of everything I’ve seen this season Titanique is the only show worthy of a repeat visit. Comic genius. The transfer to a traditional proscenium configuration only improved the focus and hilarity. Did Xanadu tour? This is funnier and probably would appeal to a broader audience. 


City Center Encores - Dear World
 Mar 16 2023, 12:14:18 AM

The Encores artistic director gave a pre-curtain speech tonight that suggested that this evenings show might not be perfect mentioning Donna had tested positive the first day of rehearsal and had to miss the first five days of the ten day rehearsal process. Donna did rely on script pages this evening and was not completely committed in the book scenes but she was her amazing self in the songs. The new adaptation has rearranged the songs. I would like to hear from others who are familiar with


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