All stories by Elisabeth Vincentelli on BroadwayStars

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Thisbe OK, but not great by Elisabeth Vincentelli

This production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” looks real good. And not just because the cast includes Christina Ricci, Bebe Neuwirth and at least two guys who can’t …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:01PM
Thursday, April 26, 2012

Celebrate ‘Leap’ here by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Even if you haven’t caught the movie it’s based on, you can see everything coming a mile away in “Leap of Faith.” The only surprise in this predictable, mushy new Broadway musical is…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:21PM

Comic pileup falls short of farcical heights by Elisabeth Vincentelli

It’s pointless to even try to summarize “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” a sex farce more tangled than a plate of spaghetti. Actually, there isn’t so much a story as a pileup of contrived…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:20PM

This just in: well-heeled boredom by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Few people today remember journalist Joseph Alsop, but once upon a time he was a big deal. Or so everybody in “The Columnist,” a new Broadway show about him, repeats over and over. That …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:01AM
Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Hardly seems like ‘Work’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

There’s a lot of fun stuff in “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” a new musical made of old parts. For starters, this Gershwin jukebox is loaded with unimpeachable classics and a few brilli…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:19AM
Monday, April 23, 2012

You’ll be Lavin it by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Ben may be in the throes of terminal cancer, but his wife, Rita, is determined to know what he thinks about redoing their living room. “I’m dying,” he groans. “Yes, I know,” she re…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:59PM

B’way ‘Ghost’ busted by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Something peculiar is happening in “Ghost the Musical.” It’s nothing to do with the plot, which involves a dead man looking after his (living) girlfriend, and a sham psychic with a 4G …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:29PM

Substandard Stanley by Elisabeth Vincentelli

If pumping up improved acting, Sylvester Stallone would have as many Oscars as Meryl Streep, and Channing Tatum would be playing Hamlet. But sadly, bulging biceps and taut pecs aren’t enou…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 01:03AM
Friday, April 20, 2012

Race to this ‘Park’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The new Broadway show “Clybourne Park” is about cultural stereotypes and race relations. Wait, don’t run away! Bruce Norris’ play is also razor-sharp and funny as hell. When some ch…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:14AM

From Russia with love, but without joy or clarity by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” are unhappy all the time. The two who work are miserable. The married one doesn’t love her husband. All of them are sick and tired of their dreary country l…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:14AM
Thursday, April 19, 2012

Hilarious tour de farce by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The humor in the new Broadway farce “One Man, Two Guvnors” is so broad, you could drive an 18-wheeler through it — which the actors gleefully do, at 100 mph and without seat belts. Pra…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 01:22AM
Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Williams play gone wild by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Too many shows these days are workshopped or focus-grouped to death. As a result, they’re nicely crafted but comfortably safe. “In Masks Outrageous and Austere” is the exact opposite. …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:25AM
Sunday, April 15, 2012

The pirate steals ‘Peter’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

You can do a play about Peter Pan and his gang with top hats, wire-assisted flying and sets that dutifully evoke a 19th-century British home or a tropical island. Or you can do it with jokes…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:58PM
Friday, April 13, 2012

Sparring sibs run out of gas by Elisabeth Vincentelli

There’s something primal about one-on-one confrontations, and David Harrower knows it. The Scottish playwright’s acclaimed drama “Blackbird” pitted a middle-aged man against a woman …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:29PM
Thursday, April 12, 2012

A bunch short of bananas by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The opening of “Massacre (Sing to Your Children)” is the single scariest minute of the year. It would spoil the surprise to describe the scene in detail, so let’s just say it involves …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:50PM
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Yes, and it counts by Elisabeth Vincentelli

What makes “Magic/Bird” work isn’t the mystique still attached to its subjects, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, legends though they are. Rather, the joint tale that opened on Broadway la…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:14PM

Sweet but awkward volley: fault, playwright by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Unlike Broadway’s “Magic/Bird,” which really is about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, “Federer Versus Murray” doesn’t focus on those two tennis champions. That’s a bummer, becaus…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:42AM
Friday, April 6, 2012

You must love Che by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Last night, “Evita” returned after a 30-year absence from Broadway. The wait was worth it: This is a big, fat, juicy blockbuster of a show. Naturally, everybody’s flipping out over the…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:04AM
Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Close-knit odd couple go the distance in ‘Miles’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

How refreshing that the mismatched leads of “4000 Miles” don’t look or act like one of the odd couples we’ve seen a million times. Vera — the extraordinary Mary Louise Wilson, who …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:21AM
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

‘Shrew’ mastered by a powerful Kate by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” has such a bad rep that this new production’s program is full of scholarly quotes that basically say, hey, it’s really not as chauvinistic a…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:08AM

Take on Judy a real beauty by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Big Broadway performances are polished, sometimes to a fault: They’re perfectly enjoyable, but they often lack a certain unpredictable battiness. Not so with Tracie Bennett’s tour de fo…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:06AM
Monday, April 2, 2012

See ‘Man’ for the women by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The most memorable part of “The Best Man” is the women. Gore Vidal’s 1960 chestnut may center on three powerful male politicians, but it’s the ladies hovering on the periphery who st…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:44AM
Saturday, March 31, 2012

Remember the time by Elisabeth Vincentelli

It's tough enough to fill an arena when you have a superstar. What do you do without one? If somebody could come up with a solution, it’s Cirque du Soleil, whose latest spectacle, “Micha…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:09PM
Friday, March 30, 2012

Nothing fishy about this sweet ‘Pipe Dream’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Watching “Pipe Dream” at City Center, you have to pinch yourself now and then to make sure you’re not hallucinating. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1955 show — presented in concert by E…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:02AM

Striking ensemble is on tap by Elisabeth Vincentelli

As Disney shows go, “Newsies — The Musical” covers all the familiar bases: a wily scamp of a hero matched with a plucky girl, a blustery villain, and a young smarty-pants overcoming ev…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:02AM
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Rocker magicians do the trick by Elisabeth Vincentelli

A magic show is a magic show is a magic show. You’ve got illusions, mentalist feats and sleights of hand. Animals appear out of thin air. Someone may or may not be cut by a sharp blade. T…

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New songs, but now not the time to hear ‘This.’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

Back in 2006, the sly little tuner “[title of show]” made a pretty big splash. As quirky as its moniker, this was a selfreferential musical about writing and performing a musical, starri…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:30AM
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sorry excuse for a play by Elisabeth Vincentelli

The new drama “Regrets,” set in 1954 Nevada, looks quite nice: Small wood cabins are huddled onstage, with the desert sky in the back and a cooking fire in the center. You can almost sme…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:23PM
Monday, March 26, 2012

These shows are ‘moving’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

You need a lot of bells and whistles to get noticed these days, let alone land a hit. Some shows bank on stars, usually brought in from the screen. Some rely on songs so popular, the audienc…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:48AM
Friday, March 23, 2012

Bloody good tale of sibling ribaldry by Elisabeth Vincentelli

If “’Tis Pity She’s a Whore” debuted today, John Ford’s gory, perverse play would land in a downtown hole and possibly cause a ruckus comparable to past NEA scandals. But “Pity�…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:37AM

Praise be for ‘Jesus’ by Elisabeth Vincentelli

It’s hard to pin down Jesus in the 1971 rock musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Sometimes, co-creators Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice seem to agree with Mary Magdalene, who sings “H…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:37AM

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