Profile for FightTheDragons

I liked this one, but I did not love it — for precisely the same reasons I expect many others do love it.

From a technical perspective, Kenrex is a knockout. The lighting and sound are sensational, the set is impressively well thought out and utilized, and Jack Holden is very good in the leading role (if not quite as show-stoppingly brilliant as he’d been made out to me to be beforehand). He admirably imbues this frenetic story with a great sense of stake

Caught the latest cast of this one. This production is, in my opinion, a perfect production of a perfect show. I'm hard pressed to find anything I'd change about it, and I'm always delighted to revisit this one.

This is a solid enough cast, but Nikki M James is the standout of the night. It's the best she's maybe ever sounded, she looks stunning, and she's acting her face off. A truly fantastic Audrey. Jordan is.. fine. As somebody who loved h

well, at least the material's good this time...

The best I can say about Thomas Kail's production of Proof is that he doesn't actively ruin the material. Unfortunately, that's about all I can say about this production of Proof. As someone that saw the catastrophic first preview of Anna Christie, and who has been generally unimpressed with Kail's work, I regretfully say that this is yet another miss from him. It

I thought this was good, but not great.

The performances are all around solid, with Anika and Richard being the standouts among the cast (Marylouise was out), and the material is funny and interesting. But it's mostly retreading talking points I'm well familiar with, and in my opinion it "all-sides"-es its issues a little too much. I wonder if MTC was the right place to put this on -- the audience the night I went was laughing and clapping at some rather clearly inapp

Finally got the chance to see it, and must say... folks, however good you've heard this is, it's better. As a complete newbie to Cats, but someone who understood what the concept was (and heavily disliked it), I was encouraged to no end to see this. I thought that it surely was overblown, that they couldn't fix a concept I fundamentally hated. I was so, so, so wrong.

The thing is -- I wasn't hooked immediately. For the first 15-20 minutes, I was enjoying m

lala3 said: "I just hope that the director can reignAriana in from her performative approach and bring forward in her real integrity to the role. I do think she can do it both vocally and authentically with the right direction. However, her performative approach to talk shows and press circuits during the Wicked press tour makes me doubtful. I just feel that someone in her circle has convinced her that more is more at the expense of her being really authentic."

I'

As someone who saw this new production at East West Players, I feel obliged to comment.

I hadn't seen any previous iterations of Flower Drum Song, and found the show to be... fine. It's a solid enough score, but the show is overly long and there's not much plot to be had. The representation is commendable and I'm glad it's being produced, but I can't help but feel as though these types of efforts should be being put towards championing better and m

Personally, I think Tveit absolutely shines on this album. I've been "meh" on him for a long time, but his performance in Chess is by far and away my favorite in the production, and I think he sounds actually pretty brilliant here. His "Pity the Child" is definitely the weakest vocal moment for him, but I think it's still quite thrilling and especially so when you see him act the hell out of it in the theater. A random moment that stood out to me

I saw Joy in Gypsy in early previews and was thoroughly unimpressed, which disappointed me as a huge fan of hers, having seen her in Six and The Notebook. I then watched her again a few weeks from closing and was astonished at how good she was. She completely grew into that role and became quite the stunning Louise. I think she's possibly the most exciting up-and-coming actress in all of New York right now, and she'll be a fantastic

I'll preface this with the fact that I haven't seen Wanted -- I found Paddington to be a cute and fun show, but overly long and without much depth. I enjoyed it but wouldn't pay the insane prices they're charging now (I paid 70 pounds, or 100 USD, and that seemed correct). Regarding the rest of the season, given the current lineup (and assuming Warriors doesn't come in as I imagine they'll want to workshop it first) I'd be givi

It's interesting because I actually thought Pasadena's Night Music was rather mediocre, though it was my first and only exposure to the material so the show may just not be for me. Dandridge was phenomenal (loved her in Hadestown, too), but the rest of it fell flat for me storyline wise.

I also had not seen La Cage before, and have not seen it since -- I want to experience another production again eventually, but I need more time to clear w

Having seen this tonight, I must add to the chorus of praise. Pasadena Playhouse's Amadeus is a brilliant piece of theater. Having had no familiarity with the material going in, I was blown away by the writing, thematic depth, and intrigue -- but most of all by Jefferson Mays as Antonio Salieri.

Yes, Mays is giving a performance for the ages in this one. Reuniting with Tresnjak, who uses Mays' ability to seamlessly shift between characters mid-scene to th

Saw this tonight. It’s a very cute and quite delightful show that I hope has a future life after some fine tuning. Kristen Bell is always wonderful and she turns in a fantastic leading performance here. For a one weekend run, it’s surprisingly well put together — a couple of mic issues here and there but nothing major. The material is utterly hilarious. There’s a gag near the end of the show that has me laughing so hard that I could barely breathe. The opening is

A few things to note.

From a tech perspective, it went off pretty seamlessly. I didn't notice any major problems with the cameras or anything like that -- it was all timing and lines that were the problem with the preview (aside from the form itself, but that is auxiliary to preview issues). This may be, as GirlFromOz68 noted, due to the fact that this show has had a run in Australia prior to this. I acknowledge that while these shows may not have started as celebrity plays, clearl

Well.. this was just awful.

As someone who didn't see Kip Williams' The Picture of Dorian Gray but had heard very mixed opinions on it, I went into this cautious but optimistic. I regret to report that Williams' Dracula with Cynthia Erivo falls into every criticism levied at Dorian Gray, but brings another layer of problems all its own.

To start with -- this show concept is fundamentally broken. While an act

henrike said: "There was a performer at the very top of the set throughout the whole show, hunched over like a zombie, creepily moving his arms to the beat of the music as if he's orchestrating the entire evening. In the finale Ballad, it's revealed that he was Sweeney the whole time. To me, I didn't get it. Would've made sense if it was Toby who was retelling the story, but I guess John Doyle already did that take."

Yeah, this confounded me too. Fran