All stories by Neal Newman on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Review: ‘The Color Purple’ at the Forrest Theatre by Neal Newman

It may take place in rural Georgia circa 1909, but because of today’s headlines about the mistreatment of women, The Color Purple is more relevant than ever. The tour of the recent Broadwa…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:01PM
Monday, November 27, 2017

Review: ‘The Miser’ at The Stagecrafters Theater by Neal Newman

A play by Moliere in the Philadelphia area? Be still my heart! I took a quick unscientific survey in the lobby, prior to the performance, and discovered that not many visitors to The Miser, …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:50PM
Sunday, November 12, 2017

Review: ‘The New World’ at Bucks County Playhouse by Neal Newman

A Thanksgiving musical? We can think of musicals that sometimes involve that observance, but an entire show about how the holiday evolved? Bucks County Playhouse’s The New World may be ont…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:09PM
Saturday, November 4, 2017

Review: ‘By the Bog of Cats’ at The Irish Heritage Theatre by Neal Newman

“To the Bog of Cats I one day will return In mortal form or in ghostly form And I will find you there and there with your sojourn Forever by the Bog of Cats, my darling one.” If there ev…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:03PM
Friday, November 3, 2017

Review: ‘Quartet’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre by Neal Newman

Every few weeks we read in the news about the death, at 90+ years, of a beloved celebrity or artist. Someone always asks, “Whatever happened to them? I thought s/he was already dead.” Wh…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:38PM
Sunday, October 8, 2017

Review: ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’ at Quintessence Theatre by Neal Newman

Family is everything according to Eugene O’Neill. The relationships you form as a child will haunt and guide all of your future life. Rebellion is a basic of the dynamic, and as much as O�…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:49PM
Monday, September 25, 2017

Review: ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ at Delaware Theatre Company by Neal Newman

What’s the most impressive technical production in the area? What’s just as astounding as Disney World or any show on Broadway? It’s Delaware Theatre Company’s Something Wicked This …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:53PM
Sunday, September 24, 2017

Review: ‘Carousel’ at The Media Theatre by Neal Newman

Musical Heaven. Is there a better way to describe the production of Carousel at the Media Theatre? It would be hard to find a better-sung production than that given by the surpassingly yout…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:51PM
Monday, September 18, 2017

Review: ‘Funny Girl’ at Candlelight Dinner Theatre by Neal Newman

What would you rather see: Fanny Brice singing on a tugboat in New York harbor, or a real live Fanny Brice in the Ziegfeld Follies? Funny Girl, the original 1964 Broadway musical, is a real …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:34AM
Saturday, September 16, 2017

Review: ‘Souvenir, A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins’ at Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3 by Neal Newman

How is theatre superior to film or TV? What special magic is found in live performance? This question is superbly answered in Souvenir, A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins, Ste…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:13PM
Sunday, September 10, 2017

Review: ‘A House with No Walls’ at Old Academy Players in Philadelphia by Neal Newman

Confederate statues are toppled because they ignite memories of slavery. Colleges are compelled to rename buildings because their namesakes turned out to be slaveholders. Theater companies m…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:25PM
Friday, July 28, 2017

Review: ‘Rabbit Hole’ at Theater With a View by Neal Newman

Warning: You don’t have much time left! Nearly one third of Theater With a View’s performances of Rabbit Hole have been rained out (including the earlier one I was supposed to attend.) T…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:28PM
Thursday, July 27, 2017

Review: ‘Scarborough Fair: A Tribute to Simon & Garfunkel’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre by Neal Newman

Whenever a musical group has the name “brothers” or “sisters” (as in “Smothers” or “Andrews”) you can expect a tight, controlled sound with seamlessly blended harmonies. Clos…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:06PM
Sunday, July 23, 2017

Review: ‘Barefoot in the Park’ at The Candlelight Theatre by Neal Newman

Six days do not a week make. These famous words of nonsense, uttered by the young wife Cory, will tell all serious theatergoers that they are in the domain of Neil Simon and his oft-performe…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:26PM
Saturday, July 8, 2017

Review: ‘2017 Summer One-Act Bonanza’ at Old Academy Players by Neal Newman

Ten-minute plays are a modern phenomenon. Some critics refer to them as “theatrical fast food” or “audience sound-bites” but this type of play demands a writer who can present exciti…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:59PM
Monday, June 26, 2017

Review: ‘The Nerd’ at Bucks County Playhouse by Neal Newman

The summer stock experience has nearly passed away. Half a century ago it was a vacation custom to visit a picturesque village and, after a day of sightseeing complemented by great food, sto…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:38AM
Saturday, June 17, 2017

Review: ‘The Roses in June’ at Seagull Productions by Neal Newman

June 1967. What memories does that bring? Sgt. Pepper, The Rolling Stones, bell bottoms, assassinations, the conflict with ’50s conformity, trouble in the Middle East? This is the era summ…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:29PM
Monday, June 12, 2017

Review: ‘Shakespeare in Hollywood’ at the Stagecrafters Theater by Neal Newman

A good American farce is as rare as a diamond. If you can write a crazy comedy that will keep audiences laughing, regional and community theaters will beat a path to your door. Ken Ludwig, o…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:16PM
Sunday, June 11, 2017

Review: ‘Morning’s at Seven’ at Old Academy Players in Philadelphia by Neal Newman

Alone. Lonesome. Free. These three words appear often in Paul Osborn’s classic Morning’s at Seven, now on view at Old Academy Players in East Falls. This play has become a staple of regi…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:09PM
Monday, May 29, 2017

Review: ‘Making History’ at The Irish Heritage Theatre by Neal Newman

The Confederate statues have been removed from their pedestals. Some people are disappointed. Their rosy vision of the lost genteel South has been taken away. To them, history has been rewri…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:48PM
Sunday, May 28, 2017

Review: ‘Disney’s The Little Mermaid’ at Steel River Playhouse by Neal Newman

Memorial Day Weekend usually means a trip to the shore, but Steel River Playhouse brought the ocean to Pottstown, with its glorious rendition of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. True, the show…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:42PM
Saturday, May 20, 2017

Review: ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ at Act II Playhouse by Neal Newman

Are there any award nominators out there? Is so, get down to Act II Playhouse. This superb production of Brighton Beach Memoirs deserves a bundle of them. Much of the production’s success…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:47PM
Sunday, May 14, 2017

Review: ‘Betrayal’ at Allens Lane Theater by Neal Newman

Adultery, the trespass that has fascinated human beings through the ages, offers many emotional highs and lows. There is the desire that overwhelms all reason. There is the joy of stealing a…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:14PM
Saturday, April 15, 2017

Review: ‘Equus’ at The Forge Theatre by Neal Newman

Theatergoers of the 1970s will remember Peter Shaffer’s Equus as the ultimate phantasmagorical theater ride. The revolving stage, the omnipresent stage smoke, the blasting music, and the …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:24PM
Sunday, April 9, 2017

Review: ‘Detroit ’67’ at The Stagecrafters Theater by Neal Newman

Two young black men stumble upon an expensively dressed but badly beaten young white woman in the ghetto. What do they do? If it’s Detroit in 1967, you certainly can’t involve yourself w…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:05PM
Friday, March 24, 2017

Review: ‘My Son the Waiter, A Jewish Tragedy’ at Bucks County Playhouse by Neal Newman

Nearly everyone in the arts has taken another job such as waiter, receptionist, or office temp just to pay the rent. Brad Zimmerman has an unfortunately typical problem: He’s Jewish and hi…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:24PM
Saturday, March 11, 2017

Review: ‘Side Show’ at The Media Theatre by Neal Newman

Come look at the freaks Come gape at the geeks Come examine their aberrations Is this any way to begin a Broadway musical? Well, if the subject matter is any individual who has been the vict…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:53PM
Saturday, March 4, 2017

Review: ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ at Old Academy Players by Neal Newman

What did happen to Sebastian last summer? This sounds like a murder mystery, right? But if Tennessee Williams writes the mystery, one can be certain that it will be highly poetic, and involv…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:04PM
Monday, February 20, 2017

Review: ‘Uncle Vanya’ at Hedgerow Theatre by Neal Newman

A group of people are seated at a dinner table. They discuss the weather. Meanwhile, their lives are falling apart. With the revealing use of subtext like this, Anton Chekhov and others intr…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:49PM
Friday, February 17, 2017

Review: ‘Brooklyn Doo Wop Explosion’ at Bristol Riverside Theater by Neal Newman

Who put the bomp in the bomp be bomp bah bomp? Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? It these lyrics fill you with happiness in the remembrance of days gone by, then run to the Bristol…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:09PM
Sunday, February 12, 2017

Review: ‘After Birth of a Nation’ at City Theater Company by Neal Newman

Today’s audiences need farce. Wild men chasing beautiful women through many doors, visual running gags, women dressed as men, and vice versa, all enhanced by a desperation throttled perfor…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:17PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards