What happens in our present cultural climate when four well-meaning white actors try to present a culturally-sensitive, authentic play about the first Thanksgiving? It’s a clever premise and one that is quite hilariously realized in a production of Larissa Fasthorse’s “The Thanksgiving Play” at the Helen Hayes Theatre.
Read More(REVIEW) Following their 2017 success on Broadway with “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the British comedy group “Mischief” returns to Broadway this month with a new show that also explores how a live performance can fall apart on the stage. “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” is a classic re-staging of J.M. Barrie’s iconic fairytale about the boy who never grew up where everything that can go wrong—does. The mishaps begin innocently enough: a forgotten line, a malfunctioning stage light, but as the evening progresses, things go (quite hilariously) from bad to worse.
Read More(REVIEW) A new musical opens this month at Nederlander Theatre celebrating (and poking fun at) a piece of American culture not often seen on the Broadway stage—the rural farming communities of middle America. “Shucked,” a musical from Nashville songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, takes place in the fictional Midwest area of Cobb County, a rural community of farmers who are content with life within their own community.
Read More(REVIEW) Broadway has long been pulled between commercial, “theme-park” shows and philosophical, artistic works. The former tends to draw larger box office returns, and the latter greater critical acclaim. Occasionally a show is able to achieve success in both categories and this spring one such Oliver Award-winning production transfers from London to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre by the title of “Life of Pi.”
Read More(REVIEW) For those among you wondering how many retellings of the Cinderella fairytale is too many, we may have finally hit a breaking point. The latest retelling of the classic Brother’s Grimm story opens on Broadway this month at the Imperial Theatre as a brand-new musical. This new incarnation is entitled “Bad Cinderella,” a title that, despite the promising list of people involved in the show, is not ironic.
Read More(REVIEW) In the late 1970s, Fosse conceived and staged a musical completely his own. It lacked a narrative arc or cohesive theme, consisting of a series of vignettes told mostly through dance (with a little bit of singing mixed in). The spectacle, entitled “Dancin’,” opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in 1978 and ran for over four years. This month, “Dancin’” returns to New York City under the direction of Wayne Cliento, a cast member of the original 1978 production.
Read MoreOriginally staged in 1998 at Lincoln Center, Jason Robert Brown’s “Parade” returns to Broadway this month at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre as the musical event of the season. Set in the deep-south state of Georgia fifty years after the Civil War, “Parade” tells the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent falsely accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old factory worker. It stars Tony-Award winning actor Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen, The Book of Mormon) as Frank and Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show) as his wife Lucille.
Read MoreOriginally set in 19th-century Norway, a new production of “A Doll’s House” – adapted by Amy Herzog and directed by Jamie Lloyd – opens this month at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. The story of “A Doll’s House” is centered around an exploration of the power dynamics between a husband and wife. This production is a bold departure from the dense, maximalist visuals that ordinarily accompany a play set within an affluent Victorian home. Instead, the play is performed with no costumes, sets, props or effects apart from simple lighting, a few wooden chairs and a hidden turntable in the stage floor.
Read MoreThe Spring 2023 Broadway season kicks off this week at Studio 54 with a touching tribute to the messy, complicated and beautiful relationships between parents and their children. Inspired by Larry Sultan’s photo memoir of his aging parents, “Pictures From Home” tells the story of how Sultan crafted his deeply personal memoir through eight years of photographing and observing the surroundings, marriage and lives of his retired father Irving and semi-retired mother Jean. The show is nearly perfect in its construction and presentation, and it’s one not to be missed or overlooked by theater-goers this spring.
Read MoreA new genre of music debuts on Broadway this season at the Circle in the Square Theatre in the form of “KPOP,” a musical inspired by the cultural phenomenon of Korean dance and pop music. While “KPOP” is full of the energetic dancing and singing that has come to define K-pop, the musical lacks a clear, compelling storyline and generally falls flat when the dancing stops.
Read MoreJefferson Mays returns to Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre this Christmas season in a one-man adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Broadway is joining in the nostalgia this year with a brilliant, unforgettable adaptation of the quintessential Christmas novel. This new adaptation is a triumph. Mays’ approach to storytelling is innovative and captivating, and the play remains faithful to Dickens’ book in every way.
Read More“& Juliet” is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s iconic play “Romeo & Juliet.” Several pop-dance numbers into the first act, the new jukebox musical at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, I was genuinely having fun. The music was nostalgic, the cast was energetic and the audience was into it, but my excitement didn’t last.
Read MoreIn trying to reconcile the influence of 1960s American culture on the original script with the present-day reckoning of racial injustice, “1776” struggles to define what it wants to be. Portions of the show are powerful, smart drama, while other scenes bleed into a comedic social critique, and many of the musical numbers turn into flashy pop-dance routines seemingly out of nowhere. “1776” is a patchwork quilt of clashing mediums and tones that ultimately can’t decide what genre it belongs in or what message it wants to leave with its audience.
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