Monday, February 2, 2026

“JUST DESSERTS” LACKS THE INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS by Ron Fassler

A production that feels half-baked.

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:25PM

‘Jazz Chanson’- A French Nightingale Captivates by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen When Frenchwoman Margot Sergent appeared at the doors of Berklee School of Music 12 years ago, she had a classical harp background. When she left, the vocalist was a jazz baby.…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 10:12AM
Sunday, February 1, 2026

‘Forging American Musical Identity’ – American Symphony Orchestra by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen “No one could have predicted this is an ironic moment for traditional patriotism…I worry about the direction of the country,” Leon Botstein notes beginning his brief pre-…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:31PM
Friday, January 30, 2026

‘Blackout Songs’-A Consummately Acted Nightmare by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” F. Scott Fitzgerald They meet in a church basement outside an AA Meeting. “She” is cle…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:06PM
Thursday, January 29, 2026

Peter Calo- Singer/Songwriter by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Peter Calo has worked with such diverse artists as Dionne Warwick, Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Bernstein, Lesley Gore, and The Platters. He spent …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:50PM

Q&A with Carmel Dean, Music Supervisor for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” by Eyal Solomon

By Eyal Solomon, Publisher & Editor, Theater Pizzazz... Ms. Dean discusses her career and her involvement with the hit musical, from its early Broadway success to its current revival

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:38PM

BroadwayCon Offers First Look at New Shows by Melissa Griegel

The Phantoms of Masquerade

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:37PM

‘Data’- AI is Not Only Watching, It’s Judging by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen While fearful about AI’s ability to create fake information, its replacing humans at the workplace, or its thinking for itself, most people don’t consider insidious impact …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:43AM
Monday, January 26, 2026

Sea Dog Theater –Stories of Alienation and Reconciliation by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Christopher Domig was an increasingly self-produced actor when asked to become artistic director of The Firebone Theater Company in Manhattan. He’d fostered no such ambitions…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:25AM
Sunday, January 25, 2026

Michele Bettancourt : ‘Vampire Time’ by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Protest songs proliferated in the 1960s. Writer/adapters like Pete Seeger made way for original songwriters. Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Buffy St. Marie and Nina Simone were some of …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:48AM
Friday, January 23, 2026

Dorothy Dandridge Musical “That’s Love!” Opens At Axelrod PAC in February by Andrew Poretz

By Andrew Poretz (Photos: Melissa Griegel Photography) Theater Pizzazz was on hand for this week’s press event at the historic Players Club for That’s Love!, the Dorothy Dandridge musica…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 05:13PM
Friday, January 16, 2026

‘The Bookstore’ – Respite by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen January 2017: Fifty-something Carey (Janet Zaresh) has always had unerring instinct for what someone should read. There’s a kind of justice to her owning a bookstore after a …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:40PM
Thursday, January 15, 2026

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s ‘Oklahoma!’ in Concert- Terrific! by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Oklahoma! redefined the American musical by fully integrating songs, dances, and story into a unified dramatic whole. Richard Rodgers first collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:52PM
Tuesday, January 13, 2026

‘Going Bacharach – The Songs of An Icon’ by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Composer Burt Bacharach’s harmonically adventurous pop songs reshaped popular music from the late 1950s onward. Working most famously with lyricist Hal David, he wrote dozens…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:16AM
Sunday, January 11, 2026

Happenstance Theater presents ‘Juxtapose’- A Theatrical Shadow Box by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Genre-defying Happenstance Theater offers an arsenal influences, inventiveness, and subtlety. Collectively devised, the company landscapes a stage with fine-spun virtuosity. Ju…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 07:30AM
Saturday, January 10, 2026

OLD BOTTLE, NEW WINE: KINOSHITA KABUKI’S KANJINCHŌ by Eyal Solomon

By Samuel L. Leiter... This unusual reimagining deftly expresses the play's inherent drama even as its historic visual and aural attractions have been replaced or pared away.

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 06:53PM

Matthew Morrison: Rhythms & Revelations at 54 Below by Melissa Griegel

By Melissa Griegel… Photos by Melissa Griegel Photography Matthew Morrison (Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific), made his debut on Broadway in Footloose and then went on to …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:00PM
Friday, January 9, 2026

‘Bug’- Alarmingly Topical or Sci-Fi? by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen 40ish Agnes White (Carrie Coon) lives in a low end motel room on an interstate highway in Oklahoma. A bar waitress, she seems to spend the rest of her time high. Today, ex-husb…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:13AM
Thursday, January 8, 2026

MATTHEW MORRISON: RHYTHMS & REVELATIONS AT 54 BELOW by Ron Fassler

By Ron Fassler . . . A cabaret show that's the perfect way to start the New Year off with optimism and heart.

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:08PM

‘Marjorie Prime’- Are We Our Memories? by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen When Jordan Harrison wrote Marjorie Prime, (a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize), the play emerged among a succession of dramatic pieces concerning analog vs. digital. A.I.,…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:36AM
Tuesday, January 6, 2026

“Tartuffe” at New York Theatre Work Is a Raunchy, Raucous Rendition of the Immortal Classic by Eyal Solomon

Review by Carol Rocamora... This raucous revival reaffirms Moliere’s immortality as a satirist of society and human foibles.

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:31PM
Monday, January 5, 2026

‘Charles Kirsch’s Backstage Babble Live!’ by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen On winter vacation from Harvard, Charles Kirsch returns to 54Below with 15 Broadway notables, most interviewed on his inimitable podcast. Once again, selections are wide, many …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:34PM
Friday, January 2, 2026

‘The Porch at Windy Hill’ by Alix Cohen

A New Play with Old Music- Returning to Urban Stages January 25- February 22, 2026 By Alix Cohen Mira (Tora Nogami Alexander), a biracial, Korean American, classical violinist, and her boyfr…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:41AM
Wednesday, December 31, 2025

‘Thank You, Tom Lehrer’ by Alix Cohen

“Nonsense wakes up the brain cells…If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.” Dr. Seuss By Alix Cohen Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) was a New York–b…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:19AM
Monday, December 29, 2025

LEITER LOOKS AT BOOKS: John Doyle’s OPENING DOORS: REIMAGINING THE AMERICAN MUSICAL by Eyal Solomon

Book review by Samuel L. Leiter... Casual notes on show-biz books, memoirs and studies, dust gatherers, and hot off the presses.

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:05PM
Friday, December 26, 2025

New York Pops: A Place Called Home by Andrew Poretz

By Andrew Poretz . . . The New York Pops, under the direction of Maestro Steven Reineke, presented its annual holiday concert on December 19 and 20 at Carnegie Hall. Performed before a full …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:52PM
Wednesday, December 24, 2025

NORM LEWIS PULLS HIS SLEIGH INTO TOWN IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS by Ron Fassler

Review by Ron Fassler . . . It’s that time of year and Broadway stalwart Norm Lewis is back at 54 Below with “Christmas Lives Here.”

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:44AM
Monday, December 22, 2025

Dream Music Puppetry Program’s 26th Annual Puppet Parlor by Alix Cohen

A Vaudeville By Alix Cohen Imagination, theatrical skill and physical puppet craft has had a home at HERE Arts Center’s Dream Music Puppetry program since 1999. Endowed by his grandmother …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:26AM

Duke Ellington’s Shakespearean ‘Such Sweet Thunder’ by Alix Cohen

“If music be the food of love play on.” Orsino, Twelfth Night By Alix Cohen In August 1956, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn were performing in Canada when they crossed paths with the …

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:35AM
Sunday, December 21, 2025

‘Alice presented by MOMIX’ by Alix Cohen

By Alix Cohen Moses Pendleton’s 2022 Alice, aka this Alice in Wonderland-ish dance/theater piece, is a visual feast: wildly imaginative, impressionistic and allusive, rather than depicting…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:45PM
Saturday, December 20, 2025

“Guys and Dolls” Sparkles in a Capital Production by Ron Fassler

Review by Ron Fassler . . . As musicals go, Guys and Dolls is a show I’ve seen productions of in more venues than any other. Over the years, I’ve sat through versions by elementary, mi…

SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:01PM

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off