All stories by James Wilson on BroadwayStars

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "A Man of No Importance" - 10/30/22 by James Wilson

In the current Classic Stage Company revival of the 2002 musical A Man of No Importance, Doyle applies the tactic sparingly–there are on-stage musicians as well as a handful of ensemble me…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:07PM
Monday, October 24, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "HOUND DOG" - 10/24/22 by James Wilson

Time and space have become glitchy and bafflingly fluid for the young woman protagonist in HOUND DOG, Melis Aker's new play with music in a co-production by Ars Nova and PlayCo. One minute s…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:33PM
Sunday, October 23, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Our Voices, Our Time" - 10/23/22 by James Wilson

The revitalized Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. has reemerged in the last few years as a training ground for up-and-coming Black artists, who are confronted with new and lingering concerns asso…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:20AM
Thursday, October 20, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Albert Camus' The Fall" - 10/19/22 by James Wilson

The Fall, Albert Camus's 1956 novel, is written as a series of confessions in which the narrator grapples with the absurdity of life. True enlightenment, the novel suggests, can only come wh…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:20AM
Thursday, September 29, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Weightless" - 9/29/22 by James Wilson

Weightless, the indie-rock musical by The Kilbanes and produced by the Women's Project, is described as a "theatrical concept album." The company of six musicians and singers present a tunef…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:01PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "This Beautiful Future" - 9/20/22 by James Wilson

This Beautiful Future defies cogent description, and it needs to be experienced to understand how the strange, disturbing, and life-affirming elements all fit perfectly together under Jack S…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:53AM
Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Four Saints in Three Acts" - 9/19/22 by James Wilson

Under Ken Rus Schmoll's spot-on direction and Link's simple but effective lighting, the actor inexplicably becomes one with the words. Every utterance is imparted with the utmost conviction,…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:55AM
Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Jasper" - 9/14/22 by James Wilson

MacDermott addresses important issues about parenting, and there are some affecting moments among all of the conflicted characters. Ultimately, however, the play is unsatisfying as it hints …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:53PM
Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Los Otros" - 8/31/22 by James Wilson

The two characters that populate Los Otros, the affecting and intimate new musical by Ellen Fitzhugh and Michael John LaChiusa, appear to be from different worlds entirely. One is a twice-di…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:56PM
Thursday, August 18, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Patience" - 8/17/22 by James Wilson

As portrayed in Johnny G. Lloyd's Patience, now playing as part of Second Stage's Uptown Season at the McGinn/ Cazale Theater, professional Solitaire is a highly competitive, cut-throat, and…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:59AM
Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Between the Lines" - 7/12/22 by James Wilson

Within the first few minutes of Between the Lines, currently running at the Tony Kiser Theater, audiences may have the feeling they are watching what one might call a "genre musical" of sort…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:19AM
Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "53% Of" - 6/28/22 by James Wilson

The title refers to the percentage of white women that voted Republican in the 2016 presidential election, and the play presents a snapshot of the red and blue, gender and racial divide that…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:21PM
Sunday, June 19, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Lambs to Slaughter" - 6/19/22 by James Wilson

The centerpiece of Romello Huins's set design for Lambs to Slaughter, Khalil Kain's new play presented by the Negro Ensemble Company at the Cherry Lane Theatre, is a large, circular wall clo…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:03PM
Thursday, June 9, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Lessons in Survival: 1971" - 6/9/22 by James Wilson

Lessons in Survival: 1971 re-creates a television talk show from more than fifty years ago, but the evening throbs with intellectual intensity, political urgency, and striking theatricality.…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:13PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Refugees" - 6/9/22 by James Wilson

As audience members take their seats at A.R.T./New York for Stephen Kaliski's The Refugees, they are invited to write a haiku inspired by the statement: "You didn't do enough." The play, pre…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:37PM
Sunday, May 22, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily in That Order)" - 5/21/22 by James Wilson

The evening combines stand-up, humorous guidelines for Jewish rituals, and pointed jabs at cultural stereotypes, but the most powerful moments occur when Takiff addresses his personal religi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:55AM
Monday, May 9, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Oh God, A Show About Abortion" - 5/9/22 by James Wilson

, Oh God feels necessary and urgent in a way that it would not have, say, two weeks ago. Now, that's impeccable timing.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:37PM
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "A Case for the Existence of God" - 5/2/22 by James Wilson

Don't be misled by the title: A Case for the Existence of God, Samuel D. Hunter's gorgeous and heartbreaking new play now running at Signature Theatre, is anything but a theoretical religiou…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:57AM
Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "To My Girls" - 4/12/22 by James Wilson

To My Girls comprises stock figures recognizable from plays like The Boys in the Band, Torch Song Trilogy, Jeffrey, and Angels in America.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:07AM
Sunday, April 10, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Patsy" - 4/10/22 by James Wilson

More than a decade after he first performed the piece, and once again directed by Cummings, Greenspan remains a force of nature. Until he climbs off of the stage after eighty breathless minu…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:01PM
Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Talkin' Broadway Revie "Black No More" - 2/15/22 by James Wilson

The New Group's exhilarating new musical adaptation retains the novel's relevance, and it is the rare show that appeals to the intellect, the heart, and the soul.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:18PM
Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "About Love" - 3/4/20 by James Wilson

While Will Pomerantz and Nancy Harrow's adaptation may not necessarily raise Turgenev's literary stature, it makes for a lovely and bittersweet night at the theater.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:14PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "We're Gonna Die" - 2/25/20 by James Wilson

... one of the most exhilarating, reassuring, and life-affirming performances you may experience this year.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:13PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Cambodian Rock Band" - 2/24/20 by James Wilson

In the end, though, the play, overstuffed with ideas and theatricality, does not pack the emotional wallop one might expect.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:46AM
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" - 2/4/20 by James Wilson

... an ambitious musical, but sadly, its appeal is as lasting as a one-night stand.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:09PM
Thursday, January 23, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Romeo and Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn" - 1/23/20 by James Wilson

Romeo and Bernadette: A Musical Tale of Verona and Brooklyn, does not nearly reach the very high bar that Amas has set in its first half century.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:26PM
Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "17 Minutes" - 1/22/20 by James Wilson

... the play raises complex questions about the desire to assign blame in the wake of a senseless and tragic massacre.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:50PM
Monday, November 25, 2019

All That Chat - NEW - THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA - Talkin' Broadway Review by James Wilson

With direction by Michael Wilson, the cast is uniformly strong, and they keep the audience guessing about the uncomfortable truths.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:24AM
Friday, November 22, 2019

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - The Underlying Chris - 11/21/19 by James Wilson

... Will Eno's strange and wonderful new play currently running at Second Stage Theater ...

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:50AM
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK - Talkin' Broadway's Review by James Wilson

How much do biographers really know about the individuals they research?

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:04PM
Friday, February 15, 2019

STATE OF THE UNION - Talkin' Broadway's Review by James Wilson

In State of the Union, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse's 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning play currently being revived by Metropolitan Playhouse, a presidential hopeful agrees to go on the pre-c…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:15PM

All that Chat