All stories by Howard Miller on BroadwayStars

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Oh, Mary!" 7/11/24 by Howard Miller

Say you had managed to pull off a consummate fusion of talent and good fortune to become the darling of the 2023-24 Off-Broadway season with a queer-centric, campy, and raucous comedy that w…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:41PM
Friday, June 28, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "N/A" - 6/27/24 by Howard Miller

Tonight, even as the theatrical face-off between presidential candidates Joseph Biden and Donald Trump is unfolding on television, another political theatrical event is opening at an actual …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:02AM
Thursday, June 20, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Appraisal" - 6/20/24 by Howard Miller

They say that wonderful things sometimes come in small packages. Case in point: Appraisal, a thrilling and splendidly performed cat-and-mouse play opening tonight as part of the Brits Off Br…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:06PM
Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Blizzard" - 6/19/24 by Howard Miller

Dottie and Dottie could not be less alike. He (let's call him Dottie 1) is a tight-assed neuroscientist whose life is pretty much wrapped up in his research. Not what you'd call a social but…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:16PM
Thursday, June 13, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Titanic" - 6/13/24 by Howard Miller

Titanic, the 1997 musical by Peter Stone (story and book) and Maury Yeston (music and lyrics), is about as massive a theatrical endeavor as you are likely to encounter. The cast alone number…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:07PM
Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Welkin" - 6/12/24 by Howard Miller

British playwright Lucy Kirkwood has a propensity for writing big, bold works that draw from real-world events to tackle disturbing subjects in ways that make us consider the larger implicat…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:46PM
Thursday, June 6, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Home" 6/5/24 by Howard Miller

You might think of Home, a Tony nominee for Best Play in 1980 when it was originally performed on Broadway, as a folk tale with roots in the Black farming community. But it's also a romance …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:34AM
Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Actors" - 5/8/24 by Howard Miller

Never judge a book by its cover, or, apparently, a playwright by his prior works. This certainly applies to playwright Ronnie Larsen, whose oeuvre includes such titles as An Evening with Joh…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:05PM
Thursday, May 2, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Message in a Bottle" - 4/2/24 by Howard Miller

When it comes to the art form known as dance theater, the spotlight is definitely shining on Illinoise, which just made a bold jeté from a near sold-out run at the Park Avenue Armory to bec…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:45PM
Thursday, April 25, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Mother Play" 4/25/24 by Howard Miller

Playwright Paula Vogel's brother Carl, who died of AIDS in 1988 and whose story she related in her partly autobiographical 1992 play The Baltimore Waltz, is back on stage, one of the trio of…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:40PM
Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Mary Jane" 4/24/24 by Howard Miller

How do we categorize Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov's play about family life on an estate and working farm in late nineteenth century rural Russia? Is it a comedy, a melodrama, an excursion into…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:04PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Mary Jane" 4/24/24 by Howard Miller

Don't cry for Mary Jane. Not in front of her, anyway. She hasn't the time for your pity or to feel sorry for herself, as she single-mindedly pours everything she's got into the care of her c…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:26AM
Monday, April 22, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Patriots" 4/22/24 by Howard Miller

It's the Fiery Oligarch vs. the Icy Dictator in Peter Morgan's Patriots, opening tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Only one of them can survive, though in the end you may come away fee…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:35PM
Sunday, April 21, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Cabaret" 4/21/24 by Howard Miller

Listen up. Time to put down the knitting, the book, and the broom and hie on over to the imaginatively staged, directed, and performed multiple Olivier Award-winning revival of Kander & Ebb …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:53PM
Thursday, April 18, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Suffs" 4/18/24 by Howard Miller

There is a certain subgroup of musicals whose aim it is to set the record straight, or at least enlighten us on some aspect of history, even if they do occasionally stray from the actual fac…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:59PM
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "The Who's Tommy" 3/28/24 by Howard Miller

The thing about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is that before you can get to the "post" part, you are going to have to endure the trauma part. And there is trauma aplenty in the first half o…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 11:02PM
Thursday, March 21, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Water for Elephants" 3/21/24 by Howard Miller

Ladies and gentlemen!!! Children of all ages!!! Feast your eyes on the center (and only) ring, where you will witness feats of wonder the likes of which have never been seen before!!! Welcom…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:32PM
Friday, March 15, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "The Notebook" 3/14/24 by Howard Miller

Love at first sight. Love everlasting. 'Til death do us part. That, in a nutshell, is a description of The Notebook, the heartfelt musical adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' best-selling 1996 no…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:40AM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Ibsen's Ghost" - 3/14/24 by Howard Miller

Anyone who thought plays featuring men in drag were on the way out (Pick your poison: Insulting to women? Exploiting transgender stereotypes? Too old hat for words?) should cast their eyes o…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:40AM
Thursday, March 14, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Slow Dance" - 3/14/24 by Howard Miller

Neurosis meets whimsey in Lisi DeHaas's The Slow Dance, opening last night at 59E59 Theaters, a play about a whiny, immature, and insecure middle-aged man who, over the course of 75 minutes,…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:34AM
Thursday, March 7, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Doubt: A Parable" 3/7/24 by Howard Miller

Never underestimate Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principal of St. Nicholas Elementary School. It's easy enough to peg her as a stereotype, a tough-minded old-fashioned conservative nun who, whe…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:38PM
Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Ally" - 2/27/24 by Howard Miller

"The meaning of a performance depends most of all on who is in the audience." So says one of the characters in Itamar Moses's scorching new play, The Ally, opening tonight at the Public Thea…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:37AM
Sunday, February 25, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Deadly Stages" - 2/25/24 by Howard Miller

Deadly Stages, Marc Castle and Mark Finley's genial comedy opening today at Theater Row, is a spoofy, affectionate homage to low-budget movie murder mysteries that might have been third on t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:04PM
Thursday, February 22, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Jelly's Last Jam" - 2/22/24 by Howard Miller

Death comes for us all, of course, though it is not typically featured in the opening moments of a big splashy musical such as the one on view at New York City Center, which is hosting an al…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:33PM
Friday, February 9, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Oh, Mary!" - 2/8/24 by Howard Miller

History generally has not been terribly kind in its portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the 16th President of the United States. More like the bane of his existence. Angry, bitter, depre…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:57AM
Monday, January 29, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Days of Wine and Roses" 1/28/24 by Howard Miller

If you had the good fortune of experiencing the intimate Off-Broadway production of Days of Wine and Roses a few months back, anchored by the exquisite lead performances by Kelli O'Hara and …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:53AM
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Greatest Hits Down Route 66" - 1/23/24 by Howard Miller

If you've ever been curious about who the "she" is in "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain," you will be happy to learn several differing hypotheses in The Greatest Hits Down Route 66, a so…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 12:15AM
Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Prayer for the French Republic" 1/9/24 by Howard Miller

Prayer for the French Republic, Joshua Harmon's deep-dive of a play about a family caught up in the growing surge of antisemitism in France, has taken on a darker, more urgent tone in its tr…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:01AM
Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Buena Vista Social Club" - 12/13/23 by Howard Miller

Go for the music. Stay for the music. And the dancing. And the acting. And the story. And the direction. And the set design. And all the rest of the et ceteras thrown into the mix. Buena Vis…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:45PM
Sunday, December 10, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "How to Dance in Ohio" 12/10/23 by Howard Miller

Remember how it felt during the months leading up to your high school prom? Ignore this question if you were full of confidence, aware of who you would be going with, sure of your appearance…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:12PM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Manahatta" - 12/5/23 by Howard Miller

The Public Theater in New York City regularly makes it a point to respectfully acknowledge that the land on which it stands is the original homeland of the Lenape people. How fitting it is, …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:04PM

All that Chat