Joseph Verlezza

Off-Broadway Review: “Mind Mangler: A Night of Tragic Illusion” (Closed Monday, March 4, 2024)

Mischief Theatre, responsible for “The Play That Goes Wrong” and “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” is at it again, bringing yet another production to the New York stage billed as “Mind Mangler, A Night of Tragic Illusion.” If you happened to view either of the two previous shows you might find yourself a bit disappointed with this newest endeavor, which might…

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Broadway Review: “Harmony” at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (Closed Sunday, April 4, 2024)

The Comedian Harmonists was an internationally famous all-male German singing group that was formed during the Weimar period and was forced to disband in the early 1930’s when the Nazi regime came into power. The group consisted of six males, three of whom were Jewish or of Jewish decent and one that had married a Jewish woman. The story of…

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Off-Broadway Review: “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” at Classic Stage Company (Closed Sunday, December 17, 2023)

The latest show offered at Classic Stage Company is the revival of the 1962 musical “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” with a book by Jerome Weidman and music and lyrics by Harold Rome. This is only the third revival since it’s run on Broadway featuring Barbra Streisand, with one in 1991 by American Jewish Theatre and one in…

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Broadway Review: “Gutenberg! The Musical!” at the James Earl Jones Theatre (Closed Sunday, January 28, 2024)

One of the latest offerings to open on the Great White Way is no stranger to New York theatre audiences since it has had several productions Off Broadway since the mid-2000s, after it was developed by Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre as a forty-five-minute, one act. In this present, over produced, Broadway incarnation, you might start to feel as if it…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors” at New World Stages (Closed Sunday, January 7, 2024)

The new Off-Broadway show “Dracula a Comedy of Terrors,” now playing at New World Stages, certainly lives up to its title, ensuring lots of laughs infused into the original storyline along with some brilliant performances. Playwrights Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen have penned a script that skewers the original novel with gender bending characters, risqué innuendos, and over the top…

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Theatre News: Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, in Partnership with The Town Players of New Cannan, Connecticut, Finds a New Home

Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, the only theatre festival where playwrights take center stage, will be back and better than ever in the summer of 2024 with a beautiful new theatre space thanks to an exciting new partnership with The Town Players of New Canaan. When asked about the festival’s return, Festival Director Lenore Skomal said “After five successful seasons and…

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Broadway Review: “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (Closed Sunday, November 19, 2023)

Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting a new Broadway production entitled “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” penned by Jocelyn Bioh at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Ms. Bioh has set her dramedy inside a hair braiding shop located in Harlem, during one entire day, and has filled the establishment with an array of colorful and outlandish employees and clientele. The occasional street…

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Off-Broadway Review: Primary Stage’s “Dig” at 59E59 Theaters (Closed Sunday, October 22, 2023)

Primary Stages current offering is Theresa Rebeck’s new play entitled “Dig.” Now playing at 59E59 theatres, the play revolves around the situations that develop in a small plant shop that has its name “dig” stenciled on the glass window of the front door. The playwright takes every possible opportunity to utilize a plant or horticultural metaphor to translate or foreshadow…

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Off-Broadway Review: “Swing State” at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre (Closed Saturday, October 28, 2023)

The latest production produced by Audible titled “Swing State”, which has transferred from Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and is now playing at the Minetta Lane Theatre, is not really what the recognizable phrase in the title may imply. It does not focus on the present political great divide, even though playwright Rebecca Gilman touches on many current troubling themes including grief,…

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Broadway Review: “Back to the Future” at the Winter Garden Theatre (Currently On)

The new musical “Back to the Future” is certainly a blast from the past, with Bob Gale penning a book that sticks closely to his original 1985 screenplay written with Robert Zemeckis. Those familiar with the film will once again enjoy the adventures of Marty McFly (an energetic Casey Likes), and his zany, eccentric friend Doc Brown (a loveable Roger…

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