Tuesday, September 10, 2024
James Earl Jones (1931–2024).September 10, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
James Earl Jones, who died yesterday at ninety-three, was not only the first dramatic actor to…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:18AMFriday, August 30, 2024
Cabaret review by Ron Fassler … While attending Isaac Mizrahi’s new show at 54 Below, a well-known Shakespeare quote came to mind. In the scene from Hamlet where Polonius is chatting w…
SOURCE: theaterpizzazz.com at 04:49PMWednesday, August 14, 2024
Theater Review by Ron Fassler. . . City Centers Encores! scored a winner with its 2022 staging of the distorted fairy tales created by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine for Into the Woods…
SOURCE: theaterpizzazz.com at 03:54PMFriday, August 9, 2024
August 9, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Richard Nixon address the nation on August 8, 1974, the night he resigned the presidency.“So it’s really happening,” smiled…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:37AMSaturday, July 13, 2024
July 13, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today
Forty-seven years ago tonight, on July 13, 1977 at exactly 9:29 p.m., New York City suffered an electrical blackout that lasted into afternoon the…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 10:06AMThursday, July 4, 2024
Cabaret Review By Ron Fassler… I’m happy to report that old friends and top-notch singers and performers Liz Callaway and Jason Graae are in fine form at 54 Below this holiday week i…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:11PMMonday, June 24, 2024
“Titanic” at City Center “Encores!” (photo by Joan Marcus).June 24, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
As someone who saw all fifteen Tony-eligible Broadway musicals…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 02:45PMStarring Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe, N/A is a new play by first-timer Mario Correa that is having its world premiere at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center. Correa, self-d…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:20PMFriday, June 21, 2024
A repurposed logo of David Byrd’s original poster for “Follies” for the one-night only concert at Carnegie Hall, June 20, 2024.June 21, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fass…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 01:34PMMonday, June 17, 2024
Cabaret review by Ron Fassler . . . . Gavin Lee must know that he can’t really go wrong musically by saluting songs first introduced by Fred Astaire, right? Though naturally best known…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:56AMSunday, May 19, 2024
Nina Hoss as Ranevskaya in “The Cherry Orchard.” Photo by Johan Persson.May 19, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
The Cherry Orchard is one of my favorite plays. I was…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 07:48AMTuesday, April 9, 2024
Robert Morse as Jerry/Daphne and Tony Roberts as Joe/Josephine in “Sugar” (1972). Photo by Martha Swope.April 9, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
Fifty-two years ago …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 06:55AMWednesday, January 31, 2024
Chita Rivera (1933–2024). Photo by Gregg Delman for The New York Times from “The Visit” (2015).January 31, 2024: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
Chita Rivera first start…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 01:34PMSaturday, December 30, 2023
2014 Revival of “On the Town” with Clyde Alves, Tony Yazbeck and Jay Armstrong Johnson in the front line.December 30, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
This week’s tw…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:20AMFriday, December 29, 2023
“On the Town” Playbill cover with photo by Chris Alexander, who played Chip. Later, he would go on to become a professional photographer.December 29, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, b…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:01AMThursday, December 28, 2023
Youth and work (and play): Leonard Bernstein at the piano, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.December 28, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
It’s hard to imagi…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:33AMThursday, November 30, 2023
Frances Sternhagen (1930–2023).November 30, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
With fifty Broadway and off-Broadway shows to her credit over a career that spanned more than…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 06:14AMWednesday, September 27, 2023
Modeling Raoul Pène Du Bois “76 Trombones” costume, built for Robert Preston in “The Music Man” in 1957.September 27, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
By chance l…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 07:31AMSaturday, September 16, 2023
Cover of Alan Shayne’s “The Star Dressing Room: Portrait of an Actor.”September 16, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
There are not a whole lot of people around toda…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:39AMMonday, July 17, 2023
Barnard Hughes in Murray Schisgal’s “All Over Town” (1974). Photo by Martha Swope. “There wasn’t a basement in New York I didn’t work in.”July 17, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:30AMTuesday, July 4, 2023
Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin in “1776” (1969). Photo by Martha Swope.July 4, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
I’ve been writing 1776-themed columns on July 4…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 12:30PMFriday, June 30, 2023
Alan Arkin in “Enter Laughing” (1963).June 30, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Not to be too emphatic about it, but Alan Arkin was among my most favorite actors. King …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 01:26PMSaturday, June 24, 2023
Sheldon Harnick (1924–2023). Photo by Carlo Allegri for the Washington Post.June 24, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
News that Sheldon Harnick left us yesterday at age n…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 06:26PMWednesday, June 21, 2023
Picture postcard of the Priscilla Beach Theatre in Plymouth, Massachusetts circa 1940s.June 21, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
On this first day of summer, I find myself…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 08:18AMSaturday, June 10, 2023
June 10, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Between 41st and 66th streets there are forty-two legit Broadway theatres (this includes the Palace, currently under renovation an…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 12:59PMFriday, May 12, 2023
Sutton Foster (center) hosts PBS’s “Great Performances: Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway’s Best.”May 12, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Premiering tonight on PBS …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:27AMTuesday, May 9, 2023
May 9, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Forty-five years ago tonight, the musical revue Ain’t Misbehavin’ opened at the Longacre Theatre. Based on music made famous by …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:16AMFriday, May 5, 2023
Alfred Lunt as Anton Schill and Lynn Fontanne as Claire Zachanassian in “The Visit” (1958). Photo by Vandamm.May 5, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
On this date sixty…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:56AMSaturday, April 15, 2023
After April 16, 2023 the marquee goes dark.April 15, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Tomorrow, after thirty-five years, the epic run of The Phantom of the Opera will come…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 08:54AMTuesday, April 11, 2023
Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel taking their bows at a curtain call of “Wicked” (2003).April 11, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Tonight, Wicked will become the 4t…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:28AMSaturday, April 8, 2023
Michael Bennett (1943–1987).April 8, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Had he lived, today would mark Michael Bennett’s 80th birthday. He died in Tucson, Arizona in 1987…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 10:35AM 
