Monday, April 21, 2025
If you’re already a fan of Floyd Collins’s score, you are likely to enjoy this eminently respectable performance of it, and maybe even respond to it emotionally. If not, though—if, lik…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:29PMTuesday, April 15, 2025
At a high school in a rural town in Georgia, an English class is studying The Crucible, but the students are more preoccupied with navigating young love, sex ed, and a few school scandals. A…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:45AMTaymor’s production is entirely sympathetic — to the characters and to the text. Though thrilling in its refusal to tamp down the show’s sometimes anarchic spirit, it does not ignore t…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:44AM“John Proctor” executes sleight of hand very well — it begs us to reconsider the stories, events and people we’re told to trust. And Belflower gives this ensemble of actors wells of …
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:43AMThere’s a moment in the play featuring a song by Lorde that elicited in me a dizzy gasp, then an eye-roll, then gave way to a moment of catharsis. In one gesture, it brilliantly tied up th…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:42AMSink shines in using her physicality here. With more room for her and the other actors to play and relax, there’s potential for this production to be even better. But despite its shortcomi…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:42AM“John Proctor Is the Villain” is the best play of the season, but even more significantly, it is a feminist masterpiece sure to become one of the defining works of art from and about the…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:41AMForget the villain — Belflower’s play hits as hard as it does because at its heart, fighting their way through one hell of a junior year, are the kind of heroes we actually need.
The pos…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:41AMBut although themes and incidents from The Crucible reverberate throughout this work, you don’t need to be an expert on Miller’s drama to appreciate this one. Belflower’s first Broadwa…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:41AMAnd as events unfold that could break a small town apart and almost certainly make national news, the characters stick to a sit-com style. That’s the play that Belflower wanted to write, a…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:41AMIt’s a testament to the subtle brilliance of Kimberly Belflower’s writing and Danya Tamor’s direction that you can hardly feel the 105-minute, no-intermission runtime of John Proctor I…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:41AMCombined, John Proctor Is the Villain not only serves as a modern day recontextualization of the original play, but also a laugh-out-loud funny and deeply affecting examination of girlhood, …
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 02:41AMThursday, April 10, 2025
The post SMASH appeared first on Did They Like It?.
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:39PM“Smash,” which opened on Thursday at the Imperial Theater, is more of a who’ll-do-it, and when the big song comes, it’s a killer. But the effect is the same: It’s the great musical…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:38PM“Smash” sells the promise of slap-happy Broadway™, but don’t be fooled: Elice and Martin have salted the whole thing with disdain. Contempt is what they must have for actors, writers…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:36PMThe sharpness of the production’s cynicism shines through, assisted by the strength of the musical numbers and the all-around stellar performances, which imbue a palpable love of the form …
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:35PMHurder shines as a triple-threat of perfect comic timing, stunning vocals, and athletic dance. She expertly maintains vocal stability whether giving high-kicks or being whisked off mid-air b…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:35PMFor those fans dying for more “Smash” content, this musical will absolutely scratch that (more than seven-year) itch; for those uninitiated, this production offers a high-energy, fun mus…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:35PMI’m a sucker for a self-referential theatrical tale. Give me an All That Jazz or a 42ndStreet and I’m happy. But in the version of Smash that made it to the stage, the magic flickers out…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:35PMWith its transition to the stage, Smash finally realizes its full potential as a hilarious, pointed satire that both skewers and celebrates the Great White Way.
The post The infamous NBC dra…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:35PMIt’s hard to judge whose decisions are more misguided: those of the back-stabbing, wacky creators of “Bombshell,” the fictional musical comedy about Marilyn Monroe we see implode, or t…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:35PMIt’s not that the musical all goes wrong, exactly. With a cast as good as this one – Robyn Hurder, The Prom‘s Brooks Ashmanskas, Krysta Rodriguez, John Behlmann and the invaluable Kris…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:34PMThat quality of surprise, crucial to the best episodes of the TV show, is missing from the new live musical staging, which opened Thursday night at the Imperial Theatre. Especially given the…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 11:34PMTuesday, April 8, 2025
Celebrate the life and work of the great Stephen Sondheim, with an irresistible company headlined by none other than Tony Award® winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Stephen Sondheim�…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:12PMThese gems had been waiting in the 12 tones of the Western scale and the million words of the English language, unobserved, until [Sondheim] came along with his flashlight and pickax. Any op…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:11PM“Old Friends” boasts a larger cast than previous Sondheim revues, filled with a mélange of theater stalwarts and newcomers, each finding pockets of comedy, passion and showmanship while…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:10PMBernadette Peters – of course! – and Lea Salonga lead a cast of talented singers and hoofers, who make the most of this opportunity to shine.
The post Good Times, Not Bum Times, Will Be …
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:09PMThis is no musical shiva for close friends and family. More than a tribute, it’s a feast — and one of the most heartfelt and joyous shows of the season.
The post Not Just a Broadway Trib…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:09PMOnce you accept the show’s limited ambitions, as I gradually did over the course of this pleasant and jauntily staged musical revue, you can let yourself to have a good time. Sure, Steve h…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:09PMOld Friends stretches to two and a half hours, counting an intermission, which is both way too long and woefully incomplete. You can’t take offense at the concept — it accomplishes exact…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:08PMIt’s a rare and special experience to watch performers of the calibre of Peters and co-stars like Lea Salonga backed by a sensational 14-piece orchestra in an intimate room that seats just…
SOURCE: Did They Like It? at 10:08PM 
