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Saturday, September 12, 2015

Fall Preview: The Can't Wait to See Edition by Broadway & Me

The fall preview lists started streaming out soon after this summer’s blue moon appeared at the end of July. The New York Times’ comprehensive list of this season's new shows went online…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:16AM
Wednesday, September 9, 2015

"Love and Money" Isn't Nearly Rich Enough by Broadway & Me

No one is a bigger fan of Signature Theatre than I am. For 25 years now, the company has centered its seasons around the work of one playwright, providing theater lovers the rare chance to t…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:15AM
Saturday, September 5, 2015

A Labor Day Celebration of Playwrights by Broadway & Me

It’s been a glorious summer. The weather, for the most part, has lingered in a sweet spot where it’s warm enough to sit outside late into the night (in my case, on my terrace) and yet no…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:50AM
Saturday, August 29, 2015

"Informed Consent" Asks Smart Questions by Broadway & Me

Are we humans the creation of a Supreme Being or just the product of genetic mutation? Should a benefit for the larger good supersede the rights of a small group? Is race just a construct or…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:49AM
Saturday, August 22, 2015

An Up and Down Day at The Fringe With "Schooled," "Little One" and "Loose Canon" by Broadway & Me

Quentin Maré and Lilli Stein in SchooledThe New York International Fringe Festival prides itself on being eclectic. Which means you never know what you’re going to get when you attend one…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:10AM
Saturday, August 15, 2015

"Cymbeline" is a Mess, But Still Merry by Broadway & Me

OShakespeare scholars say that Cymbeline is one of the Bard's problem plays. That's in part because it’s perversely named after a secondary character and is classified as a trage…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 10:16AM
Saturday, August 8, 2015

"King Liz" Pays Tribute to Strong Women by Broadway & Me

Strong, successful women don’t fare well in most contemporary plays. As I've complained before, something always seems to come along to cut them down to size. And so at the risk of violati…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 01:18PM
Thursday, August 6, 2015

BONUS: A Special Tribute to "Hamilton" by Broadway & Me

There'll be no regular post until Saturday since I'm on my summer schedule but I'm writing now to let you know that I've set up a special Flipboard magazine in honor of Hamilton's official a…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:26PM
Saturday, August 1, 2015

Shifting Into Summer Vacation Mode by Broadway & Me

The dog days of summer are really here. Big show openings are slowing down and I am too. Which suggests it’s time for a break. So while I’ll still see a few things here and there, I’ll…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:33AM
Wednesday, July 29, 2015

"Three Days to See" is Too Nearsighted by Broadway & Me

The title of the new play Three Days to See comes from a 1933 magazine article in which Helen Keller, blind and deaf since she was a toddler, wrote about what she’d do if given just 72 hou…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:10AM
Saturday, July 25, 2015

"Amazing Grace" is Far Too Ordinary by Broadway & Me

Whatever happens to Amazing Grace, the first musical to open in this new Broadway season, Christopher Smith, the main creative force behind the show, should consider himself a winner. For ag…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:28AM
Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Summertime is Theater Festival Time by Broadway & Me

Summer was once a slow time in the New York theater world but the number of summer theater festivals has been rising so fast that even the most avid theatergoer would have a hard time keepin…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 04:37PM
Saturday, July 18, 2015

"The Wild Party" is Way Too Mild by Broadway & Me

Right before my husband K and I went to see the Encores! Off-Center production of Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, I re-read the 1928 narrative poem on which the musical is based. I found it…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:56AM
Wednesday, July 15, 2015

"Of Good Stock" Isn't Quite Good Enough by Broadway & Me

You can’t say that Of Good Stock doesn’t aim to please. It’s set in a spacious Cape Cod vacation home that’s been appealingly designed and lit by Santo Loquasto and Peter Kaczorowski…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 01:58PM
Saturday, July 11, 2015

"Shows for Days" is Just a Passing Fancy by Broadway & Me

Shows for Days is Douglas Carter Beane’s paean to the power of theater to change lives. But theater is most powerful when a playwright transforms his personal experience into a story that …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:06PM
Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Why “Happy Days” is Happy Theatergoing by Broadway & Me

Having never seen Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, I approached the production that’s now playing at The Flea Theater through July 18 in the same way that many people approach a bowl of Brus…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 10:43AM
Saturday, July 4, 2015

Theater Books for Summer Reading 2015 by Broadway & Me

Some people claim Memorial Day as the beginning of summer. Other say the season starts when the school year ends and people begin to skip out from work early on Fridays. Sticklers insist tha…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:58AM
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

A Last Look at Three June Shows: "Guards at the Taj," "The Qualms" and "The "Tempest" by Broadway & Me

June is the Indian summer of the New York theater season. Falling between the heat of the shows rushing out to qualify for the Tonys and other awards and the relative freeze that settles ove…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 01:38PM
Saturday, June 27, 2015

Why "Significant Other" is a Significant Play by Broadway & Me

The gay best friend has become a stock character in contemporary plays. From The Heidi Chronicles to If/Then, he’s the sidekick there with a shoulder to cry on, a snappy wisecrack to …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:21PM
Wednesday, June 24, 2015

"Gloria" Takes Its Author into New Territory by Broadway & Me

In some ways, Gloria, which has been extended at the Vineyard Theatre through July 18, isn’t remarkable at all. Like a growing number of books, movies, magazine articles and even other pla…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:00AM
Saturday, June 20, 2015

"Doctor Faustus" Commits Too Many Sins by Broadway & Me

Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus was “The Exorcist” of its day. Sixteenth century theatergoers were so horrified by Marlowe’s retelling of the tragic story of the ambitious schol…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:10AM
Wednesday, June 17, 2015

"Office Politics" Sidesteps Its Real Drama by Broadway & Me

Office Politics is the kind of show that I rarely see. Its playwright, director and actors are all new to me. Its entire run, including previews, is just two weeks (it closes this weekend). …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:58AM
Saturday, June 13, 2015

"Why "10 out of 12" Didn't Score With Me by Broadway & Me

Anne Washburn clearly loves the theater. Her 2013 play Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play was an ode to theater's power to crate order out of chaos. I'll confess that I was lukewarm about it (c…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 12:31PM
Wednesday, June 10, 2015

"An Act of God" is Just a Small Blessing by Broadway & Me

A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that the number of non-believers—atheists, agnostics, people who check the “none of the above” box when asked about their religious affi…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:01AM
Saturday, June 6, 2015

Hi's and Lo's of Four Tony-Nominated Shows by Broadway & Me

Once again, Tony time has rolled around before I’ve had a chance to sound off on all the shows that are in contention for the big prizes. And as anyone who pays even the slightest attentio…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:31AM
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

"Cagney" Lacks the Moxie of its Namesake by Broadway & Me

As the story goes, a drama school teacher once told Robert Creighton that he reminded him of the old movie actor James Cagney. And indeed, Creighton does resemble Cagney and radiates the sam…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:20PM
Saturday, May 30, 2015

"Permission" is Too Self-Indulgent by Broadway & Me

Everything, including playwrights, gets branded these days. And Robert Askins has glommed onto what's turning out to be a surprisingly marketable one: he's the “religion guy.” Hand …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:34AM
Wednesday, May 27, 2015

"Tuesdays at Tesco's" May Be Out-of-Date by Broadway & Me

When Le Mardi à Monoprix premiered in France five years ago, playwright Emmanuel Darley’s sympathetic look at the life of a transgender woman must have seemed a bold statement. The play m…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:24AM
Saturday, May 23, 2015

"The Way We Get By" and "What I Did Last Summer" Go Outside Their Comfort Zones by Broadway & Me

There’s a comfort in the familiar that makes it’s hard to try something new, particularly when the rewards roll in for doing the same old thing. So although I have mixed feelings ab…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:26AM
Saturday, May 16, 2015

A Brief Intermission for a Very Happy Cause by Broadway & Me

My much adored niece Jennifer got married to a really great guy yesterday and we're all still celebrating so there will be no post today but I'll be back next week. In the meantime, I hope y…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:12AM
Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Gutsy Women Command the Stage in the Solo Shows "Forever" and "Grounded" by Broadway & Me

Holding a stage all by one’s self takes guts.  But two very talented actors step up to the challenge and, with varying degrees of success, show how it can be done in the new one-woman…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:17AM