All stories by Alan Smason on BroadwayStars

Sunday, July 25, 2021

North Coast Rep Theatre presents its final 2021 streaming drama: ‘Dr. Glas’ by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS It’s amazing what the human mind can understand and accomplish when it comes to the world of theatre and its sister art form the motion picture.  Both are potent art forms …

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 11:14AM
Saturday, July 24, 2021

Summer Lyric Theatre’s ‘Jesus Christ Superstar: There’ll be some changes made by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) The second and final weekend of Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane’s Jesus Christ Superstar brings with it the final shows of the …

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 11:09AM
Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings): A big presence on a tiny stage by Alan Smason

By EDWIN RUBIN The very mention of the New York City’s own wildly popular actress and comedian Jackie Hoffman – she of 1000 facial expressions, bodily quirks, a score of well-placed ad l…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 05:52AM
Saturday, July 3, 2021

Ed Dixon’s lovable tribute to George Rose blooms in online stream by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When the shutdown of Broadway occurred in March of 2020, there were few devotees who expected it to drag on for more than 16 mon…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 11:43AM
Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Flawless direction guides SLT’s ‘A Grand Night for Singing’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) It’s taken two years for the darkened stage of Tulane University’s Dixon Hall to be witness to the frenetic work of dozens o…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 08:11AM

North Coast Rep revels with Tovah Feldshuh’s ‘Becoming Dr. Ruth’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Tovah Feldshuh has made a career of originating memorable roles of strong female characters on both the small and large screens,…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 07:48AM
Saturday, June 26, 2021

‘Tennessee Rising’: The Dawn of Jacob Storms by Alan Smason

By Edward Rubin The night I attended a live production of Jacob Storms’ one man show, Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams, held at the Cell Theater in New City, it was raining…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 02:02PM
Monday, June 21, 2021

Broadway, film star Tovah Feldshuh morphs into ‘Becoming Dr. Ruth’ now streaming by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS North Coast Repertory Theatre (NCRT) of Solana Beach, CA., brings gifted, multiple award-winning actor Tovah Feldshuh to their stage to star in playwright Mark St. Germain’s …

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 04:15PM
Sunday, June 20, 2021

George Street Playhouse’s ‘It’s Only a Play’ finishes virtual season by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) At the start of this pandemic-impacted season, New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse unveiled bold plans to present four productio…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 09:50AM
Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Summer Lyric Theatre’s imaginative ‘Songs for a New World’ now streaming by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) It’s been a year of firsts for Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane’s (SLT) artistic director Michael McKelvey. After a year of sh…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 02:19PM
Thursday, June 10, 2021

HBO scores with riveting film version of Broadway drama ‘Oslo’ by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS If this COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, then it’s forced the American viewing public to think outside the traditional creative arts box when it comes to entertainme…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 05:51AM
Friday, June 4, 2021

Laiona Mitchell brings ‘Dear Sugar’ to life in ‘Tiny Beautiful Things by Alan Smason

By EDWARD RUBIN Tiny Beautiful Things, George Street Playhouse’s filmed play, based on Cheryl Strayed’s book, “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar,” a  2…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 09:06PM
Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Heather Massie’s one-woman vehicle showcases Hedy Lamarr’s dual lives of screen icon, scientist by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, Theatre Critic, WYES-TV (“Steppin’ Out”) When Heather Massie arrived on the stage of BB’s Stage Door Canteen after 14 months of postponed performances from COVID safe…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 07:00PM
Thursday, May 20, 2021

Rivertown’s ‘Grease’ dances its way into theatre lovers’ hearts by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) If there were any indication that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us and that a return to what we formerly considered �…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 02:34PM
Friday, May 14, 2021

Laiona Mitchell leads cast of George St. Playhouse’s ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Cheryl Strayed published her book “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar” in 2012, based on several…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 10:55PM
Saturday, April 17, 2021

Superb cast makes ‘Nunsense’ a guilty pleasure by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON Look out! The Little Sisters of Hoboken are back, but you need not reach for your rosary beads or prepare to make an act of contrition. All you need do is head over to Riverto…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 07:36AM

Hemingway film captures the man, the myth by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS Ernest Hemingway, the American novelist and author, became a giant of American 20th century literature.  His style was new in the early 1920s.  It was fresh and it was larg…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 06:10AM
Thursday, April 8, 2021

John Cullum celebrated in ‘An Accidental Star’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) John Cullum, the two-time Tony Award winning leading Broadway actor, might have been content to rest on his well-deserved laurel…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 11:43PM
Sunday, April 4, 2021

Streaming stars of yesteryear seen in filmed reading of ‘Middletown’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON No. It’s not a latter-day Our Town. Nor is it Love Letters for couples. It is, however, somewhere in between. Streaming sales for a filmed stage reading of Dan Clancy’s Mi…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 12:07PM
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Maulik Pancholy dials into hilarious characters in ‘Fully Committed’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON When playwright Becky Mode wrote her first piece Fully Committed, she wrote well of what she knew. She had worked for many years as a worker in fine New York eateries taking r…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 12:49PM
Friday, March 26, 2021

Updated, virtual ‘God of Vengeance’ colored through modern lens by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The story of God of Vengeance (Got fun Nekome), the three-act drama in Yiddish by Sholem Asch, was famously recounted in 2017 wi…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 04:27PM
Friday, March 12, 2021

Bad Dates: A dazzling array of shoes, clothes, men, police and the Romanian mafia by Alan Smason

By EDWARD RUBIN For great fun, and a breathless romp through one woman’s topsy-turvy life, Bad Dates, George Street Playhouses’ filmed version of Theresa Rebeck’s 2003 zany one-woman p…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 02:54PM
Monday, March 8, 2021

Beck Center streams concert of Broadway alums by Alan Smason

By ROY BERKO Beck Center often coordinates with Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre program to produce some of the Cleveland area’s best musical theatre.  Not only does the stage often sparkle…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 07:37PM

Andréa Burns Dons Shoes and Discards ‘Bad Dates’ Delightfully by Alan Smason

Andréa Burns sizzles and sparkles as Haley, a single parent trying to raise a teenage daughter, run a barely legitimate restaurant that only takes cash and still find time to search for lov…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 01:35PM
Saturday, March 6, 2021

JPAS finishing its run of ‘Arsenic & Old Lace’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) For three and a half years, Joseph Kesselring was the toast of Broadway with his dark comedy Arsenic & Old Lace. The play, w…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 06:19PM
Wednesday, March 3, 2021

American Evangelicals support for Israel showcased in ”Til Kingdom Come’ by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS How does one cover 2000 years of religious history of the Jewish people and Gentiles in the Common Era (C.E.)?   Perhaps, a good start would be seeing life through the lenses…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 11:56PM
Friday, February 26, 2021

Andréa Burns stars in ‘Bad Dates’ streaming from George St. Playhouse by Alan Smason

When the worldwide theatre community shut down last March, Andréa Burns was riding high. She was getting ready to fly out to San Diego to be one one a group of actors who would be mounting …

SOURCE: www.crescentcityjewishnews.com at 06:02PM
Saturday, February 13, 2021

The Melancholy Soul of ‘Tchaikovsky’: A Cinematic Journey by Alan Smason

By EDWARD RUBIN The first name that comes to mind whenever the name Hershey Felder comes into play is that of actor Sacha Baron Cohen. Not only do both men physically resemble each other, ar…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 09:18AM
Friday, January 29, 2021

Kenyatta’s star rises in Robeson tribute: ‘The World Is My Home’ by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, Special to Theatrecriticism.com For the past two decades, Stogie Kenyatta has researched, performed and perfected his one-man show The World Is My Home – The Life of Paul R…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 03:57AM
Monday, January 4, 2021

‘Casablanca’: How and why it became an iconic Hollywood movie by Alan Smason

By JACK LYONS, Special to Theatrecriticism.com (Desert Local News) – When the movie “Casablanca” merged the powerful elements of love, war, and destiny in 1942, the film and its produc…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 05:10PM
Thursday, December 31, 2020

New ‘Estella Scrooge’ is Dickensian love letter by Alan Smason

By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It might be easy to dismiss Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist as another in a continuing procession of holiday far…

SOURCE: Theatre Criticsm at 10:00PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre