Sometimes there is no reason to try and improve or change something which would adhere to the adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Adjusting, tweaking, or trying to improve things when they already work well, can spell disaster. By altering the original parts or embellishing the simplicity of the original, it may in fact complicate or confuse the…
In the current 20th anniversary production of “Topdog/Underdog,” Suzan Lori-Parks reminds the audience that when one does not receive unconditional and nonjudgmental love and chooses to disconnect from one’s cultural and family histories, things can and will go terribly wrong. From the first scene of the play currently running at the John Golden Theatre, it is evident that there is…
There is too much noise on the set of Victor I. Cazares’s “american (tele)visions” currently running at New York Theatre Workshop (co-produced with Theatre Mitu). Although that noise comes from what is certainly a dynamic and innovative set design by Bretta Gerecke and a clever technical design by Theatre Mitu’s Justin Nestor, Alex Hawthorn, and Kelly Colburn, it unfortunately masks…
Applause Books is proud to announce the November 2022 release of Magic to Do (192 pages • 978-1-4930-6435-9• Hardback) by Elysa Gardner. In Magic to Do, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of Pippin’s opening, two-time Pulitzer Prize jury member Elysa Gardner turns her attention to this innovative show, the musical retelling of the story of Prince Pippin, son of Charlemagne,…
“Cost of living indexes are meant to compare the expenses an average person can expect to incur to acquire food, shelter, transportation, energy, clothing, education, healthcare, childcare, and entertainment in different regions.” – Investopedia The folks in Martyna Majok’s “Cost of Living,” currently running at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, are not “average people” and they experience the…
Anyone who might enjoy an evening at the theater and resides within a reasonable distance to New Hope, Pa., should definitely set aside some time to enjoy the current production of “Evita” at Buck’s County Playhouse. Director Will Pomeranz has transferred his production of this show from Bay Street Theater in New York, which is reimagined, placing dance front and…
Elodie (Francesca Carpanini) and Otto (Uly Schlesinger) reunite in a bedroom after they meet in a town square in Chartres, France in August 1944. Crazy things happened in the square including Elodie having what seems an epileptic seizure. A woman laughed at Elodie, and Otto wanted to spit on her. Before Elodie arrives, she has visited the bombed out Gornall’s…
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the definition of “cycle” is a permutation of a set of ordered elements in which each element takes the place of the next and the last becomes the first. Using that definition, it seems safe to interpret the new musical production “Los Otros,” now playing at A.R.T., a song cycle. Two characters, Lillian (an enthralling…
The box office for the critically lauded and wildly popular new musical, Kimberly Akimbo, will open on Wednesday, September 7 at 10 a.m. at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street). The Booth Theatre box office will be open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm. After opening to rave reviews last fall, Kimberly Akimbo will begin previews on Broadway…
Tony and Grammy-nominated multi-platinum recording artist Josh Groban and Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford will both return to Broadway this spring in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Thomas Kail. Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Hugh Wheeler, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street will begin performances on February…