What could go wrong at a private school whose five-member board of directors makes all decisions based on consensus and has what benefitted the community at heart as their guiding principle. A board so committed to inclusion that The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California’s cultural identity drop-down menu for prospective parents offers eleven choices. And if Eli (an oblivious…
The charming new musical, “Maybe Happy Ending,” now playing at the Belasco Theatre, with music composed by Will Aronson and the book and lyrics penned by Mr. Aronson and Hue Park, will certainly make an audience leave the theatre smiling and thinking. Unlike many of the big, bombastic musicals arriving on the Great White Way, this is small and quiet,…
Gone are the turban, the grand staircase, the jewels, the chandeliers, the drapes, and the viewing of Norma Desmond’s monkey in the reimagining of “Sunset Blvd.” currently running at the St. James Theatre. Norma Desmond (an incandescent Nicole Scherzinger), Max Von Mayerling (a devoted and doting David Thaxton), Joe Gillis (a failed and still failing Tom Francis), and Betty Schafer…
“Swept Away,” currently on at the Longacre Theatre, was inspired by the 2004 album “Mignonette” by the American folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Although the album was suggested by the shipwreck and survival story of the British yacht Mignonette, which sank in 1884, the narrative of the musical transcends time and space with its timeless themes of confession, forgiveness, redemption, transfiguration,…
“Our Town” by Thorton Wilder is recognized as a classic, and the revival now playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway, directed by Kenny Leon is the perfect example of why it has achieved that status. It is timeless, appealing to a multi-generational audience, and allows each theatergoer to recognize their own connection to the content. Not only will…
The main problem with “Tammy Faye,” currently on at the Palace Theatre is not the vapid lyrics by Jake Shears or the bland book by James Graham. Unfortunately, the “New Broadway Musical” has nothing to do with the iconic PTL Club televangelist Tammy Faye. Not even the two-time Laurence Olivier Award winning Katie Brayben’s performance as Tammy Faye, or the…
In a recent “New York Times” guest essay, Drew Lichtenberg writes that although “the American theater’s relationship to the Bard might be fraying” with “a long history of theaters running from Shakespeare during times of political division or uncertainty, we need Shakespeare, especially in moments of conflict and unrest.” Currently running at Circle in the Square, Sam Gold’s production of…
Something old becomes new again with the current production of “Yellow Face” by Roundabout Theatre, which has been produced nationally, and internationally since it opened off-Broadway at the Public Theatre in 2007. That premiere production was directed by Leigh Silverman, who takes the helm in this current incarnation on Broadway. Penned by David Henry Hwang, it is difficult to decide…
It has been a long journey for “The Roommate,” the dark comedy by Jen Silverman, to finally arrive on Broadway since its premiere in 2015 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival. It was well worth the wait, since the current production now playing at The Booth Theatre stars Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone in a two hander that…
“McNeal,” currently on at the Vivan Beaumont Theater, is playwright Ayad Akhtar’s exploration into the unexpected confluence of plagiarism, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the canon of western literature through the life and writing of renowned playwright Jacob McNeal (a cantankerous but magnetic Robert Downing Jr) who is, at the play’s onset, “badgering” Chat GPT on his iPhone to predict whether…