All stories by Robert Windeler on BroadwayStars

Monday, May 25, 2015

No One Finer Than Frank Shiner by Robert Windeler

If you thought celebrity stalking was a recent phenomenon, meet Marla and Kate, two 22-year-olds with nothing better to do than have daily picnics on the grounds outside the gated estate of …

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Trick Boxing by Robert Windeler

As performers rather than actors, in an extended sketch rather than a play, Megan McClellan and Brian Sostek are showing off a variety of talents, which seems to be the point of their self-w…

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Menny + Milla by Robert Windeler

Paul Schultz has written the book, music, and lyrics for what is essentially a two-character musical. So who are all those other people on stage?

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

The Timing of a Day by Robert Windeler

It's a rare privilege to be invited into unfamiliar territory and yet to feel instantly at home. Something like that happens on seeing Owen Panettieri's play about three New York roommates o…

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Once Upon a Time in New Jersey by Robert Windeler

This charming, tuneful, and lovingly produced musical provides the perfect antidote to the image of the Garden State projected by Snooki and "The Sopranos."

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Dramatis Personae by Robert Windeler

Despite a solid production and some good acting, this one-act is grounded by its three main characters' talk of writing novels instead of actually doing it, allowing their muses to take over…

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Malfi, Inc. by Robert Windeler

Rather than an updating of John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi" for the 21st century, Bethany Larsen's play comes off more like a rejected spec script for the short-lived TV series "Dirty Sexy Money."SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Broken Nails: A Marlene Dietrich Dialogue by Robert Windeler

This 45-minute piece is more about the fine art of puppetry than it is revealing of Marlene Dietrich's last years or nostalgic about her glamorous life.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Clemenza & Tessio Are Dead by Robert Windeler

Author-producer Gregg Greenberg’s somewhat clever sketch idea has been extended to a full-length play, with ever-diminishing results.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Mapping Möbius by Robert Windeler

Despite some dazzling stagecraft and amusing moments, the central premise of this 70-minute piece palls about halfway through its presentation.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Pants on Fire's Metamorphoses by Robert Windeler

Inventive, amusing staging often trumps the consistency of content here, but the multiple subplots in search of a through-line are frequently witty and never dull.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

Nightsong for the Boatman by Robert Windeler

A pale, truncated take on the Faust legend, this 20-year-old "trunk" play, by the late Jovanka Bach, wasn't ready to be read, much less performed. It still isn't.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Robert Windeler

This is a rare chance to see Francis Beaumont's groundbreaking Jacobean comedy about the theater, but Richard Mazda's production is spoiled by strained contemporary pop-culture references.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM

The Rover by Robert Windeler

Despite some problematic audibility, here is a rare chance to see a decent production of a watershed but seldom-performed 1677 Restoration comedy—and the price is right: It's free.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:58PM
Thursday, July 26, 2012

NY Review: 'Zapata!' by Robert Windeler

Most of the important elements are in place for "Zapata!," a promising and highly original musical at NYMF by Peter and Ana Edwards. But there are problems.

SOURCE: Backstage at 06:44AM
Thursday, July 19, 2012

NY Review: 'Final Analysis' by Robert Windeler

A few too many characters and themes lessen the impact of Otho Eskin's "Final Analysis," a well-acted one-act in the Midtown International Theatre Festival.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:13AM
Monday, June 4, 2012

NY Review: 'La Callas & Medea' by Robert Windeler

Jaime Salom’s play pairing the lives of Medea and Maria Callas gets the production it deserves at Thalia Spanish Theatre, full of passion and panache.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:56AM
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

NY Review: ‘Diana Sands: A Certain Toughness of Spirit’ by Robert Windeler

Nehassaiu deGannes is the ideal surrogate for Diana Sands, a groundbreaking actress who died young, but this bioplay needs a serious overhaul.

SOURCE: Backstage at 03:27AM
Tuesday, May 8, 2012

NY Review: 'Brontë: A Portrait of Charlotte' by Robert Windeler

Alloy Theater Company’s account of William Luce’s one-woman play about Charlotte Brontë, starring Maxine Linehan, can’t overcome the writing’s contrivances.

SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AM

NY Review: 'The Chalk Circle' by Robert Windeler

Denver Chiu’s riveting performance and a look at Brecht’s basis for “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” are reasons to see this uneven trilingual production.

SOURCE: Backstage at 07:26AM
Sunday, May 6, 2012

NY Review: 'The President' by Robert Windeler

The Storm Theatre's "The President" rescues a forgotten charmer of a short satirical play by Ferenc Molnár through topflight acting and direction.

SOURCE: Backstage at 07:13AM
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

NY Review: 'Sitting Pretty (in Concert)' by Robert Windeler

This staged reading of “Sitting Pretty,” a deservedly forgotten 1924 musical with music by Jerome Kern, is more engaging than the material it serves.

SOURCE: Backstage at 04:28AM
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

NY Review: 'Federer Versus Murray' by Robert Windeler

Actor-author-director Gerda Stevenson pulls off an impressive hat trick in “Federer Versus Murray,” a moving one-act about loss, denial, blame, and escape.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:34AM
Friday, March 30, 2012

NY Review: 'Satan’s Whore, Victoria Woodhull' by Robert Windeler

Richard Geha’s interminable “Satan’s Whore, Victoria Woodhull,” at Theater for the New City, gets lost in Geha’s obsession with Woodhull’s sexual histor…

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:51AM
Tuesday, March 6, 2012

NY Review: 'Blood and Dancing at Lunacy' by Robert Windeler

This twin bill at the Cell of one-acts by Larry Kirwin and Seamus Scanlon offers a vivid look at Irish Republicanism in 1916 and 1984.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:38AM
Thursday, March 1, 2012

NY Review: 'The Yeats Game: A Farce of Improbable Darkness' by Robert Windeler

John J. Ronan's 80-minute play, produced by American Storyboard at the Producers' Club, like W.B. Yeats is full of large themes, but it has small people.

SOURCE: Backstage at 06:12AM
Sunday, February 26, 2012

NY Review: 'Drowning Ophelia' by Robert Windeler

Riff Collective's rock riff on Shakespeare's "Hamlet," part of Frigid New York, has much to recommend in its music and performances, but the plot palls.

SOURCE: Backstage at 02:35AM
Saturday, February 25, 2012

NY Review: 'Afternoon Tea With Jane Austen' by Robert Windeler

Actor-author Tali Brady's one-woman play about Jane Austen, part of Frigid New York, is charming and insightful but marred by contemporary references.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:40AM
Monday, February 13, 2012

NY Review: 'An Evening of Awkward Romance' by Robert Windeler

Two attractively symbiotic actors demonstrate diversity in this aptly titled 75-minute series of sketches, which, like most such programs, has its ups and downs.

SOURCE: Backstage at 03:27AM
Monday, February 6, 2012

Holy Child by Robert Windeler

Joe Lauinger's perfectly fine realistic one-act play is undercut by tacking on a slapdash absurdist second act, which seems as if it was written by a different playwright.

SOURCE: Backstage at 05:52AM
Thursday, December 1, 2011

Let Lorna Luft Sing in "White Christmas: The Musical" and She's Happy by Robert Windeler

Every August, Lorna Luft calls her agents to remind them that it's time to start booking her into a year-end production of the stage version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas."

SOURCE: Backstage at 03:38AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards