photo credit @ Jeremy Daniel The play “Cost of Living” by Martyna Majok will touch your heart and resonate in your consciousness long after you’ve left the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. …
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 10:22AMphoto by Matt Murphy / @murphymade When a show moves from a big Broadway stage to an off-Broadway venue, something’s gotta give. Whether it’s the staging, the size of the cast, or the nu…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 09:39AMPhoto by Aaron Cobb Do you believe that a person can be hypnotized? How about 20 people at the same time on a stage in front of an audience? As long as you believe or, at least, accept the p…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 08:04PMOften a visit to the theater can be an opportunity for discovery. That’s what happened when I attended a performance of The Butcher Boy at the Irish Repertory Theatre. The musical, based u…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 10:41AMDespite its charms, and there are many, the new musical “BetweenThe Lines” at the Tony Kiser Theater is a show in search of a target audience. Based upon a young adult novel by best-sell…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 04:05PMphoto by Joan Marcus Adapting a beloved bestselling book into a Broadway show is not without its challenges. While the show has name recognition and is sure to attract loyal readers, it also…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 01:53PMphoto by Matt Murphy Sometimes those of us not easily impressed can be impressed. So it is with Into The Woods, now at the St. James Theater. The revival marks a return to the original, foll…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 12:44PMPhoto by Joan Marcus Free Shakespeare in the Park is quintessential New York. If you are lucky enough to score the free tickets and it’s a gorgeous evening, theater doesn’t get any bette…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 10:48AMWhat? Another show about a moody, overweight, young Black man with family issues? Like “A Strange Loop,” “Fat Ham” hasan endearing young main character. But “Fat Ham” delivers mu…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 12:57PMClassics remain classics because they speak to us-no matter when they were written or where they are set. In a newly-imagined version of Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” a family remain…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 10:39AMby Joan Marcus There’s something to be said for star power filling theater seats. Despite some tepid reviews for the latest version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the Longacre Theatre was fil…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 02:16PMMr. Saturday Night I’m a staunch Billy Crystal fan, and judging from the audience’s reaction at the Nederlander Theatre the other night, I’m not alone. I love Crystal’s quick wit, ea…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 10:51AMOnce upon a time there was a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan called The Five Points. For over 70 years, it was a crowded slum, populated mostly by newly -freed slaves and ethnic Irish. Altho…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 02:05PMA female press secretary, a female chief of staff, a first lady and several female assistants but even all of them together can’t keep the hapless president from occasionally opening his m…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 08:04AMBlack comedy, or gallows humor, is a style of story telling that makes light of subject matter usually considered somewhat taboo, like death, suicide and disease. Either term applies to Mart…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 11:06AM“The Minutes” Playwright Tracy Letts possesses the extraordinary ability to lull an audience into expecting something dry and ordinary but then making it explosive. Teaming up again with…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 02:01PMFood is often the centerpiece of family holidays and celebrations. In “Birthday Candles”, the new play presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, the s…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 05:08PMPhoto by Julieta Cervantes When TV’s Murphy Brown was mocking singer Barry Manilow, I was buying his albums and attending his concerts. I was unabashedly a Fanilow. So I looked forward to …
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 10:36AMWhat a quandary! There was a new show to review, but it was opening night for my favorite baseball team. Which one should I choose? The theater won this time. A timely revival of Richard Gee…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 09:32AMWhen we see married actor couples working together on stage, we feel a special connection. It’s as if we are in on the joke. We expect chemistry and smile when they kiss and caress because…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 06:38PMWhen was the last time you smiled for two hours? Were you wearing a mask? Under their masks, audiences at the Winter Garden Theater are grinning broadly eight times a week. Despite any criti…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 12:35PMFor many audiences, Phylicia Rashad will always be the elegant unflappable TV wife/mother/lawyer in The Cosby Show. She came into their homes every Thursday like a welcome friend. After the …
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 09:04PMLynn Nottage must be the hardest-working playwright in New York, having written three shows for the Fall 2022 season. First was Clyde, a terrific show about ex-convicts and second chances. D…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 01:40PMA viewer should be prepared for intense theater when attending a Eugene O’Neill play. If the show is “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” she should be ready for a lengthy assault on her…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 02:35PMIt’s been almost 25 years since the 1997 release of the first Harry Potter book. Its young readers have grown up, gotten jobs and now have families of their own. Do the Harry Potter charac…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 05:11PMOnly Stephen Sondheim could have taken a motley group of would-be murderers and made them sympathetic and funny. At one time, a musical about killing presidents would have been controversial…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 09:07AMIt felt strange to be attending a show last Saturday night instead of sitting in front of the television waiting for SNL to begin. Fortunately, the play was “The Search for Signs of Intell…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 11:40AMBy now, everyone associated with musical theater has written a tribute to legend Stephen Sondheim who died Nov. 26, 2021 at age 91. Productive until the end, Sondheim died while working on a…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 02:09PMFirst let’s get rid of the elephant in the room- Rob McClure, hardworking star of Broadway’s “Mrs. Doubtfire” is NOT Robin Williams who created the 1993 movie role. However, he doesn…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 12:30PM“What’s your justification?” demands the director, prodding his actors to consider their characters’ motivations in the play “Trouble in Mind.” Playwright Alice Childress had her…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 09:17AMFor some, food is merely sustenance; for others, it is an art form. And for the former convicts who work at Clyde’s, a truck stop in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the perfect sandwich may of…
SOURCE: stagebuddy.com at 04:26PM