By ROY BERKO Confession: I am not a big fan of juke box musicals, the now popular Broadway vehicle which is a genre of American musical theatre in which pre-written songs are woven, mostly with no real reason, into an often soap-opera-like story. Reality: MJ: The Musical, now on stage at the Key Bank State Theatre […]
By ROY BERKO In 1985, “Back to the Future,” the feature film, opened. It starred Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. It quickly became a cult favorite and spun off two sequels edged on by those who like the bizarre, the farcical, the outlandish and the quirky! When a musical version of the tale opened on Broadway, […]
By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – The Broadway Series at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts concludes its 2023-24 season with a bang. No, this is not a reference to the confetti-spewing walking stick owned by the impresario in Moulin Rouge! The Musical now playing in Milwaukee for a two-week run (May 14-26). It […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) In what may be the greatest bit of casting for a national tour in decades, Rob McClure, the Tony-nominated actor brought his A game to the stage of the Saenger Theater as Mrs. Doubtfire began playing out nightly to what should rightfully be sold out shows. What […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Producers of Broadway shows that performed reasonably well on the Great White Way have largely been upping their game in the years since the pandemic. With theatre-starved audiences shut out during the COVID pandemic, demand has been ramping up and the producers have been delivering star quality […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) After celebrating its 20th anniversary this past October, the juggernaut that is Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked on Broadway seems like it will never stop, still taking in weekly gross sales figures of more than $2 million dollars. The success of this alternative retelling of “The Wizard of Oz” has […]
By ROY BERKO David Greene, the Senior Vice President of Programming at Playhouse Square, informs theater-goers in his program notes for Girl from the North Country that “it is a non-traditional musical which features songs by music legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bob Dylan.” He goes on to say, “[the songs] do not always […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When award-winning playwright Lynn Nottage accepted the task as book writer for MJ, the Michael Jackson musical, she probably knew there would be critics surrounding her, finding fault with her saying too much or not saying enough about the mysterious popular figure. Nottage’s book is a truly […]
By ANNE SIEGEL The American musical theater has been graced with another revival of Company, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1970 musical about our basic human need for togetherness. In this 2021 Broadway rendering by Marianne Elliott, which won an Olivier Award in London in 2019 and a COVID-delayed Tony Award for Best Revival last […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) (NEW ORLEANS) – A Wonderful World, sub-titled “A New Musical About the life and Loves of Louis Armstrong,” made its bow in New Orleans during the first week in October at the historic Saenger Theater. Situated along famous Basin Street and Canal Street – two famous thoroughfares […]