“DRAG: the Musical” which was originally released as a concept album and had brief runs in Los Angeles in 2022 and 2024 has made its way to an off-Broadway theatre at New World Stages. The title lives up to its name, providing the audience with a glimpse into the multifaceted world of drag. The show is not a “drag” (excuse…
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…
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…
There are very few words not sung but spoken in the rock musical “Tommy,” but three that might be relevant are “Brilliant, wasn’t it?” spoken by a local lad that happens to be part of a larger audience, amazed, while watching Tommy play his first game of pinball in a pool hall. Unfortunately, they are not the three words that…
When does “life” begin? Depending upon one’s religious beliefs, or scientific beliefs, or social media threads, the answer to the question is different. Does “life” begin at conception; in utero; at birth; in childhood; in adolescence; in old age; in death; or after death? Seen through the eyes of his older self in “Water for Elephants” (currently on at the…
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…
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…
One of the best things about the new incarnation of the musical “Here Lies Love” which has recently opened at the Broadway Theatre, is that it does not rely on that common fact that Imelda Marcos had more than enough shoes. There are many other aspects of this production that make it an entertaining evening, including the cast, music, technology,…
After all the hype and waiting it is here. The new Broadway musical “Shucked,” with a book by Robert Horn, and music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, has opened and is currently playing at The Nederlander Theatre. The result resembles the aftermath of a collision between “The Music Man” and “Hee Haw” that took place in a…
Broadway has had quite a roster of juke box musicals grace the stage in the past and it seems that this season will add a few more to the archive. Opening at The Stephen Sondheim Theatre is “& Juliet” featuring music and lyrics by Max Martin and Friends and a book by David West Read. Songs from Mr. Martin’s repertoire…