Thursday, June 5, 2014

Review: Macbeth by Frank Scheck

Kenneth Branagh in Macbeth (©Stephanie Berger) It’s doubtful you’ll ever see as compelling and visceral a interpretation of Macbeth as the one being performed for much too…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:55PM
Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch by Frank Scheck

Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (©Joan Marcus) The colorful title character of Hedwig and the Angry Inch can be described as many things, but loveable is not usually …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:08AM
Monday, April 21, 2014

Review: The Cripple of Inishmaan by Frank Scheck

Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan (©Johan Persson) His face may be prominently displayed on the Playbill cover and theater marquee, but Daniel Radcliffe melts seamlessly i…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:37AM
Thursday, April 17, 2014

Review: Of Mice and Men by Frank Scheck

James Franco and Chris O'Dowd in Of Mice and Men (©Richard Phibbs) Review: Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a beloved classic that is a staple in high scho…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:30AM
Monday, April 14, 2014

Review: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill by Frank Scheck

Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (©Evgenia Eliseeva) Audra McDonald doesn’t look or sound anything like Billie Holiday. So it’s a credit to t…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:24AM
Friday, April 11, 2014

Review: Bullets Over Broadway by Frank Scheck

Marin Mazzie in Bullets Over Broadway (©Paul Kolnik) Imagine a splashy Broadway musical comedy based on a beloved film, written by its original creator who once toiled for Sid Caesar …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:30AM
Friday, April 4, 2014

Review: A Raisin in the Sun by Frank Scheck

David Cromer, Bryce Clyde Jenkins, LaYTanya Richardson Jackson, Anika Noni Rose, Denzel Washington, and Sophie Okonedo in A Raisin in the Sun (©Brigitte Lacombe)   If director…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:05AM
Monday, March 31, 2014

Review: If/Then by Frank Scheck

Idina Menzel in If/Then (©Joan Marcus) When a performer’s mere opening utterance of “Hello, it’s me” garners huge sustained applause, you know you’re in …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 08:26AM
Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Review: Mothers and Sons by Frank Scheck

Bobby Steggert, Frederick Weller, Grayson Taylor, and Tyne Daly in Mothers and Sons (©Joan Marcus) There’s a distressing air of familiarity about Terrence McNally’s Mother…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:00AM
Monday, March 24, 2014

Review: Les Miserables by Frank Scheck

Ramin Karimloo in Les Miserables (©Matthew Murphy) Les Miserables could well refer to more than a few theater critics, this one included, faced with the prospect of yet again seeing …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:54AM
Friday, March 21, 2014

Review: Aladdin by Frank Scheck

Courtney Reed and Adam Jacobs in Aladdin (©Deen van Meer) When James Monroe Iglehart sings “Friend Like Me” in Disney’s new Broadway musical adaptation of its classi…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:19AM
Friday, March 14, 2014

Review: Rocky by Frank Scheck

Andy Karl in Rocky (©Matthew Murphy) You’ll leave the new Broadway musical Rocky humming the score. Unfortunately, it won’t be the wholly unmemorable one by veteran compos…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:27AM
Friday, March 7, 2014

Review: All the Way by Frank Scheck

Michael McKean, Bryan Cranston, and Brandon J. Dirden in All the Way (©Evgenia Eliseeva) Playing Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Schenkkan’s ambitious historical drama All the Way, …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:03AM
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Review: Kung Fu by Frank Scheck

Frances Jue and Cole Horibe in Kung Fu (©Joan Marcus) The title of David Henry Hwang’s bio-play about Bruce Lee is ironic in a way that the screen icon would surely have appreci…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:06AM
Friday, February 21, 2014

Review: The Bridges of Madison County by Frank Scheck

Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale in The Bridges of MadisonCounty (©Joan Marcus) Is it too much to ask of a show called The Bridges of Madison County that we actually see one of the co…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:46AM
Thursday, February 20, 2014

Review: Love and Information by Frank Scheck

A scene from Love and Information (©Joan Marcus) Caryl Churchill’s new play Love and Information features more than a hundred characters in some fifty short scenes ranging in le…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:56AM
Thursday, January 30, 2014

Review: Intimacy by Frank Scheck

Laura Esterman and Keith Randolph Smith in Intimacy (©Monique Carboni) For a play that features, among other things, masturbation, ejaculations, fellatio, anal sex, suggestions of inc…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:03AM
Friday, January 24, 2014

Review: Outside Mullingar by Frank Scheck

Brian F. O'Byrne and Debra Messing in Outside Mulllingar (©Joan Marcus) Playwright John Patrick Shanley pours on the Irish blarney in Outside Mullingar, which strains mightily for Moo…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:09AM
Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Review: King Lear by Frank Scheck

Frank Langella in King Lear (©Richard Termine) Following in Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi’s recent footsteps in playing King Lear at BAM’s Harvey Theater, Frank Langella p…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:10AM
Friday, January 17, 2014

Review: Machinal by Frank Scheck

Rebecca Hall (foreground) with Jason Loughlin and Ryan Dinning (background) in Machinal (©Joan Marcus) The Roundabout Theatre Company’s current revival of Sophie Treadwell’…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:28AM
Sunday, January 12, 2014

Review: Beautiful - The Carole King Musical by Frank Scheck

Jessie Mueller and Jake Epstein in Beautiful - The Carole King Musical (©Joan Marcus)    Baby boomer musical nostalgists have a lot to choose from on Broadway these days. Th…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 11:19PM
Friday, December 6, 2013

Review: What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined by Frank Scheck

Kyle Riabko and Laura Dreyfuss in What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined (©Eric Ray Davidson)    Don’t expect brassy horns or Dionne Warwick-style belting in …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:58AM
Monday, November 25, 2013

Review: Waiting for Godot & No Man's Land by Frank Scheck

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot (Photo by Joan Marcus)    Be sure not to rush out during the curtain calls of the new revival of Waiting for Godot starring …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:07AM
Monday, November 11, 2013

Review: Twelfth Night & Richard III by Frank Scheck

Mark Rylance in Twelfth Night" (Photo by Joan Marcus)   Unlike ordinary theatergoers, critics don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing their Shakespeare productions, havin…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 03:45PM
Monday, November 4, 2013

Review: After Midnight by Frank Scheck

Virgil "Lil' O" Gadson, Karine Plantadit and Company in After Midnight (Photo by Matthew Murphy)   It may be called After Midnight, but the new musical revue that’s just opened…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:07AM
Monday, October 28, 2013

Review: Betrayal by Frank Scheck

Daniel Craig in Betrayal.(Photo ©Brigette Lacombe)   That James Bond is being cuckolded nightly onstage at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre is the most startling aspect of the new rev…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:17AM
Sunday, April 14, 2013

Review: Motown: The Musical by Frank Scheck

  It’s a good thing that Motown: The Musical has the music of Motown to depend on. This self-serving musical documenting the rise and fall of the legendary Detroit music label was…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 10:17PM
Friday, April 12, 2013

Review: Matilda by Frank Scheck

It’s getting to where you feel uncomfortable attending a Broadway musical without a little girl in tow. Joining the current tween-friendly line-up of Wicked, Annie and Rodgers and Hamm…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:06AM
Friday, April 5, 2013

Review: Kinky Boots by Frank Scheck

Operating under the principle that Broadway simply isn’t Broadway without the presence of fabulously dressed drag queens strutting onstage, the new musical Kinky Boots has arrived to f…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 01:16AM
Monday, April 1, 2013

Review: Lucky Guy by Frank Scheck

Nora Ephron’s new drama concerns the legendary tabloid journalist Mike McAlary, and its Broadway production has the lurid charge and energy of a tabloid newspaper itself. Directed in b…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 10:24PM
Thursday, January 24, 2013

Review: Not by Bread Alone by Frank Scheck

If the performers onstage at NYU’s Skirball Center seem to be in their own world, that’s because they really are. They’re the members of Israel’s Nalaga’at Thea…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:31PM

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