All stories by Broadway & Me on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

"Fly By Night" Smartly Navigates a Quirky Path by Broadway & Me

Whimsy is not usually my thing. But, what can I say, I was charmed by Fly By Night, the quirky new musical that is playing at Playwrights Horizons through Sunday.The show was originally crea…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:07AM
Saturday, June 21, 2014

"Arrivals & Departures" is Just a Passable Trip by Broadway & Me

Intermission had arrived for Arrivals & Departures, the latest Alan Ayckbourn play (reportedly his 77th!) that is running along with two of the master playwright’s earlier works in the…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:23AM
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

"The Village Bike" Offers an Adventurous Ride by Broadway & Me

Sign me up for the Greta Gerwig fan club. A few months ago, I saw—and very much liked—this appealing young actress in “Frances Ha,” the indie movie she and her boyfriend director Noa…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:03AM
Saturday, June 14, 2014

This "Macbeth" is Brawny But It Lacks Magic by Broadway & Me

You might think that I’d be ready to give Shakespeare a rest after the recent Bard-heavy season on Broadway. But I bought tickets to Kenneth Branagh’s acclaimed production of Macbeth the…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:24AM
Wednesday, June 11, 2014

"Just Jim Dale" is Just Fine by Broadway & Me

If you should ever be invited to a dinner party with the actor Jim Dale, you should go. For Dale has all the qualities anyone would want in a table companion: he's got great stories to tell,…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:54AM
Saturday, June 7, 2014

Flipping Over Being Featured by Flipboard by Broadway & Me

No new post today since I figure you’re probably still making your way through the mammoth one I did on Wednesday. Besides let’s face it, everyone who cares about theater, including me, …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:42AM
Wednesday, June 4, 2014

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

As usual, I haven’t gotten around to weighing in on all the shows that opened during the run up to the Tony nominations. Although I have managed to have my say in these posts on all four o…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:01AM
Saturday, May 31, 2014

"The Anthem" Marches to An Oddball Beat by Broadway & Me

Cheesy musicals aren’t my thing. Unless, of course, they’re good cheesy musicals. Which is an apt description for The Anthem, the new Culture Project production that opened at the Lynn R…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:30AM
Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Some Help in Handicapping the Tony Race by Broadway & Me

We’re 10 days away from the Tonys and the campaign is in full stride, with nominees in several categories running neck and neck. Which is great for us theater junkies because it means that…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:01AM
Saturday, May 24, 2014

"Heathers The Musical" Is Mistimed Mayhem by Broadway & Me

Some people (the Tea Party, the Republicans in the House) don’t mind being scolds but I find no pleasure in it, which is why I’ve taken so long to say anything about Heathers The Musical…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:07AM
Wednesday, May 21, 2014

How "The City of Conversation" Spoke to Me by Broadway & Me

The City of Conversation, now at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse theater through July 6, is the kind of show I love: a well- made drama about big issues and ideas that isn’t afraid to…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:31AM
Saturday, May 17, 2014

"An Octoroon" Transforms an Old Melodrama into a Postmodern Meditation On Race by Broadway & Me

The first time I saw An Octoroon it was a hot mess. Its director had quit the show, then called The Octoroon: An Adaptation Of The Octoroon Based On The Octoroon, two weeks before it was sch…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:44AM
Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Time Out for Spring Fever…and Spring Reading by Broadway & Me

After my marathon of non-stop play going over the past few weeks, I’ve developed a serious case of spring fever. So I played hooky over the last couple of days: took long walks, took naps,…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:17AM
Saturday, May 10, 2014

"The Few" Doesn't Fully Add Up to Much by Broadway & Me

The Whale, a play about a 600 lb. man eating himself to death, won Samuel D. Hunter a spot high on the leaderboard of hot young playwrights. But I was so simultaneously fascinated and repuls…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:25AM
Wednesday, May 7, 2014

"Casa Valentina" Houses a Superb Production by Broadway & Me

The last time I tried to rally support for an underappreciated show, I failed miserably. Despite my appeal for The Bridges of Madison County (click here to read what I wrote) the show failed…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:36AM
Saturday, May 3, 2014

Turning on the Ghost Light by Broadway & Me

This is one of those crazy times when I find that I can either see shows or write about them but not both (cause as much as I love myself some theater—and sharing it with you all—there a…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:47AM
Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Taking Time Out for Tony Talk: 2014 Edition by Broadway & Me

The Tony nominations announced yesterday morning were as perplexing as ever. Maybe even more so. As happens every year, some “sure things” got left out (almost none of the big name movie…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 01:40PM
Saturday, April 26, 2014

"Of Mice and Men" is Mighty Damn Good by Broadway & Me

Appearing in a Broadway play has become almost as popular with Hollywood stars as having a charity of their own. Of course, some Hollywood actors—Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 04:18PM
Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Wishing William Shakespeare a Happy Birthday, On the Occasion of a Really Big-0 by Broadway & Me

The spring season is firing along on all cylinders. Six shows are opening this week. The Outer Critics Circle announced its nominations yesterday (click here to see them), the Drama League l…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:35AM
Saturday, April 19, 2014

How "Aladdin" Worked Its Magic on Me by Broadway & Me

Standing ovations have become so much a part of the Broadway theater-going experience that the producer Ken Davenport recently conducted a survey to find out why people keep jumping up at th…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:01AM
Wednesday, April 16, 2014

"The Library" Isn't as Savvy as It Should Be by Broadway & Me

Moviemaking—the old-fashioned kind with people and plots but no aliens or armageddons—has become so rare in Hollywood that there’s been a mass migration of some of its best talent into…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:26AM
Saturday, April 12, 2014

"Red Velvet" Could Use A Little More Texture by Broadway & Me

Ira Aldridge, the first black man to play Othello before a white audience, is a fascinating character. And Adrian Lester, who recently played the Moor in an acclaimed production by London’…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 03:48PM
Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Go See "The Bridges of Madison County" by Broadway & Me

The new musical The Bridges of Madison County isn’t doing well. And I’m not sure why. It’s based on the 1992 novel about the star-crossed love affair between a war bride turned Iowa ho…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:31AM
Saturday, April 5, 2014

An "I Remember Mama" Worth Remembering by Broadway & Me

Back in the days when both writers and audiences prized loving families as much as dysfunctional ones, people couldn’t get enough of the Hansons, a poor but close-knit clan of Norwegian-Am…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 07:30AM
Wednesday, April 2, 2014

"Breathing Time" Passes the Time Nicely by Broadway & Me

Beau Willimon’s first play, Farragut North, was produced by the Atlantic Theater Company with John Gallagher and Chris Noth in the lead roles and then turned into the movie “The Ides of …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 09:10AM
Thursday, March 27, 2014

Turning on the Ghost Light by Broadway & Me

I can't say exactly how it happened but I've obviously missed the deadline for Wednesday's post and so I'm belatedly turning on the ghost light, the traditional sign that theaters are tempor…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 01:06AM
Saturday, March 22, 2014

"The Open House" Is Underfurnished by Broadway & Me

After years of seeing dramas about dysfunctional families, I’d begun to wonder if it was even possible for there to be a good play about a happy family. So I suppose I should have been hap…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 11:18AM
Wednesday, March 19, 2014

"Appropriate" Reformulates the Race Card by Broadway & Me

The two previous plays by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins that I’ve seen– Neighbors and The Octoroon: An Adaptation of the Octoroon Based on the Octoroon—featured black actors wearing black fac…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:42AM
Saturday, March 15, 2014

A Very Nourishing "Dinner with Friends" by Broadway & Me

If you asked a random sampling of playgoers to list the best living playwrights in the country today, names like Edward Albee, Tony Kushner and Sam Shepard would come up long before anyone g…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:31PM
Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Satchmo, Antony & Cleopatra + "Me" in Playbill by Broadway & Me

Two shows have recently opened that I’d like to talk about but don’t feel as though I should since I’ve a rooting interest in each. The first is Satchmo at the Waldorf, a one-man (but …

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 08:06AM
Saturday, March 8, 2014

How I Fell in Love with "Stage Kiss" by Broadway & Me

Almost everything—the acting, the directing, the costumes, the set, and most especially the play itself—works in Stage Kiss, the romantic comedy now running at Playwrights Horizon throug…

SOURCE: Broadway & Me at 02:33PM