Friday, September 29, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Melissa Etheridge: My Window" 9/28/23 by Howard Miller

There's no telling how many fans of the raspy-voiced, label-defying, pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock/indie-rock singer Melissa Etheridge are flocking to the Circle in the Square Theatre, whe…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:22AM
Thursday, September 28, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Golden Rainbow" - 9/28/23 by Marc Miller

Winners! Losers! Sinners! Boozers! So goes a line in "24 Hours a Day," the opening number of Golden Rainbow, the 1968 musical being given a rare airing at York Theatre Company's Musicals in …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:51PM

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch" 9/27/23 by Howard Miller

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, Ossie Davis's 1961 satirical play about Jim Crow racism, opens tonight at the Music Box Theatre in a long-overdue first-ev…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:28AM
Saturday, September 23, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Mary Gets Hers" - 9/23/23 by Kimberly Ramírez

In scripted prefatory remarks for Mary Gets Hers, playwright Emma Horwitz teases, "The girls are buzzing at the abbey at Bad Gandersheim because tonight, they're putting on a play!" This liv…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:15AM
Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice: Jeff Harner and "Harmony" - 9/02/23 by Rob Lester

A Collective Cy: Jeff Harner Sings Cy Coleman and "Harmony" OBC cast recording reviewed.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:45AM
Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Infinite Life" - 9/12/23 by Howard Miller

Playwright Annie Baker is the ultimate eavesdropper, a seeming fly on the wall, able to capture with meticulousness the voices of ordinary people, examine them under a microscope, and distil…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 03:19AM
Monday, September 11, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Lieutenant" - 9/11/23 by Marc Miller

Indulge us for a moment, please, we collectors of cast albums and mavens of Tony Awards trivia. In 1975, a lot of Jerry Herman fans were very upset when his favorite among his scores, Mack a…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 02:59PM
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Tempest" - 8/30/23 by Howard Miller

There are few theatergoing pleasures that can compare with the joy of attending a performance at the Public Theater's open-air Delacorte Theater in New York's Central Park. It's especially t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:36PM
Monday, August 28, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "How to Steal an Election" - 8/28/23 by Marc Miller

Sounds current, doesn't it? When I told friends I was reviewing something called How to Steal an Election, at least one responded, "Oh, is it new?" Not at all: The Off-Broadway musical by Wi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:16PM
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Pay the Writer" - 8/21/23 by James Wilson

"Pay the Writer" could be this summer's rallying cry for the striking members of the Writer's Guild of America, but it is also the name of Tawni O'Dell's new play about a celebrated writer's…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 05:31AM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "The Shark Is Broken" 8/10/23 by Howard Miller

"We want Bruce! We want Bruce! We want Bruce!" So shouted the audience-in-my-head at frequent intervals during the 95-minute talking version of a tribute band that is The Shark Is Broken, op…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:09PM

Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice: "The Wizard of Friendship," Fanny Brice, and "The Flasher!" - 8/10/23 by Rob Lester

New album reviews: "Lewberger: The Wizard of Friendship," Fanny Brice: Rare and Unreleased Recordings, and "The Flasher!" soundtrack.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:29PM
Thursday, August 3, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Back to the Future" 8/3/23 by Howard Miller

No question but that the musical adaptation of Back to the Future, opening tonight at the Winter Garden Theatre and directed to a turn by John Rando, is a genuine star-studded extravaganza t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:01PM
Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Toros" - 8/1/23 by James Wilson

Although Toros, Danny Tejera's play currently running at Second Stage's McGinn/Cazale Theater, takes place in a posh suburb in Madrid, the twenty-something characters are metaphorically at s…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:07AM
Monday, July 31, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Let's Call Her Patty" - 7/31/23 by Howard Miller

Zarina Shea's Let's Call Her Patty, opening tonight at the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, is a thin wisp of a play, a miscellany of memories about a woman, the narrator's aunt, who es…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:38PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Half-God of Rainfall" - 7/31/23 by James Wilson

For basketball aficionados, the all-time great players–LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and others on the deified short list of the NBA pantheon–are not mere mortals. They ar…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 08:03PM
Monday, July 24, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "The Cottage" 7/24/23 by Howard Miller

Sandy Rustin's The Cottage, opening tonight at the Hayes Theater, is a farcical take on a Noöl Coward drawing-room comedy, but one that seemingly has been paired with party games like Truth…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:10PM
Saturday, July 22, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Unentitled" - 7/22/23 by Howard Miller

Will blood turn out to be thicker than the waters that lap along a valuable Long Island beachfront property? That's the question raised in Charles White's Unentitled, a Negro Ensemble Compan…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:06PM
Thursday, July 20, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Here Lies Love" 7/20/23 by Howard Miller

It's been a decade since the disco/pop musical Here Lies Love, based on the rise and fall of former Philippines politico Imelda Marcos, made its highly successful New York debut at the Publi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:04PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Flex" - 7/20/23 by Howard Miller

There's a lot of talk about basketball in Candrice Jones' Flex, opening tonight at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center. If you are not well versed in the specifics of the sport, …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:02PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Prejudice and Pride" - 7/20/23 by Howard Miller

59E59 Theaters is having a bit of a Jane Austen season this summer. A few weeks ago, it played host to the solo show Being Mr. Wickham about a ne'er-do-well character from "Pride and Prejudi…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:21PM
Friday, July 14, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Saviour" - 7/13/23 by Marc Miller

It can't be easy to cram two separate plays into one 70-minute running time, but that appears to be what playwright Deirdre Kinahan has done with The Saviour, a compact drama now on Irish Re…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 04:56AM
Thursday, June 29, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Hamlet" - 6/28/23 by Howard Miller

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." OK. Wrong play, but right playwright, and very applicable to the Kenny Leon-helmed Public Theater production of Shakespeare's…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:03AM
Monday, June 26, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Just for Us" 6/26/23 by Howard Miller

If you read the "Author's Note" in the Playbill for comic Alex Edelman's solo show Just for Us, opening tonight at the Hudson Theatre, you will see in writing some of what you will see on st…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:06PM

Talkin'Broadway Sound Advice Reviews by Rob Lester

"New York, New York" OBC, Matthew Scott, "Other Lives", and Chloé Jean album reviews.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 10:58AM
Thursday, June 22, 2023

Talkin' Broadway on Broadway Review: "Once Upon a One More Time" 6/22/23 by Howard Miller

Behold a recipe for Broadway Surprise Cake. Start with a distillation of Into the Woods. Incorporate two heaping tablespoons of Six. Add a generous dash of & Juliet and another of Wicked. Bl…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:17PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Gospel According to Heather" - 6/22/23 by Kimberly Ramírez

If The Gospel According to Heather were billed as theatre for young adults, tween crowds might find it appealing, but it is likely to land as trite and trivial with adult audiences. As TYA, …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:07PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "The Light in the Piazza" - 6/22/23 by Howard Miller

Composer/lyricist Adam Guettel is not exactly known for writing hum-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mable melodies, but that doesn't mean he doesn't write beautiful, emotionally gripping musical numbers t…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 07:24PM

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Rock & Roll Man" - 6/21/23 by James Wilson

Although largely forgotten today, disc jockey and performance promoter Alan Freed is an important figure in popular music history. He is credited with standardizing the term "rock and roll,"…

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 06:09AM
Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Off-Broadway - "Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground" - 6/20/23 by James Wilson

"Great American–not great president." This is how a poll of 75 historians damningly characterized Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1962, not even two years after he left office. Richard Hellesen's …

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 09:15PM
Thursday, June 15, 2023

Talkin' Broadway Sound Advice: Legends by Rob Lester

Reviews of newly released albums: Eleri Ward; Legends of Broadway and Vaudeville; Chet Baker Blue Room.

SOURCE: TalkinBroadway at 01:48PM

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