By EDWARD RUBIN Kimberly Akimbo, the newly penned musical with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Shrek the Musical) and music by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline, or Change) is the most loving, loveliest, and poignant theatrical experience of the year. Starring the invincible Victoria Clark, whose every performance is pure gold (she […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Crittic (“Steppin’ Out“) Tovah Feldshuh had described herself as a “transformational” actor. Among her previous outings in one-woman shows were Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (“Golda’s Balcony“) and hotel magnate Leona Helmsley in a play (‘The Queen of Mean“) and a cabaret show (“Tovah is Leona!“). She also played Supreme […]
By EDWARD RUBIN Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of British playwright Simon Stephens’ three-generation memory play Morning Sun runs through Sunday, December 19th at New York City Center. For the discerning theatergoers who live and die theater, and perhaps still remember the dazzling effectiveness of Stephen’s Tony-winning play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the […]
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By AARON KRAUSE A story that is ripe with rich, raw, and real emotion is often a tale worth musicalizing. Certainly, Frank McCourt’s award-winning memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” is a work that fits into that category. Fortunately, composer/lyricist Adam Howell, and librettist Paul Hurt saw the musical possibilities in McCourt’s self-described “epic of woe,” a best-seller […]
By AARON KRAUSE “Hello Broadway. Gee, you’re good to see. You look good to me,” theatrical legend George M. Cohan sings. Well, George, you sure do look and sound spry yourself, considering that you’ve been dead almost 80 years. And it’s great to see you, too…especially now, as we anticipate a return to live, in-person […]
By EDWIN RUBIN The very mention of the New York City’s own wildly popular actress and comedian Jackie Hoffman – she of 1000 facial expressions, bodily quirks, a score of well-placed ad libs, and a mesmerizing voice that takes you prisoner with a waterfall of precisely enunciated words – signals that somewhere lurking around a […]
By EDWARD RUBIN Of all the celebs channeled by drag queens and female impersonators, Bette Davis, like flies to honey, has always been at the top of every performers list. Her mannerisms, her clipped New England cadences, her famous lines like “Fasten your seatbelt; this is going to be a bumpy ride,” and the forever […]
By AARON KRAUSE What are some “gifts” that you’ve brought to dark, anxiety-inducing times, places, or situations? Perhaps you smiled brightly while visiting a lonely, scared person forced to spend quarantine alone because she has no family or friends. Maybe another gift was your warm, re-assuring voice. Or, perhaps your gift was as simple as […]
The 65th annual Drama Desk Awards, which had been postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then rescheduled for Sunday, May 31, only to be postponed again due to the emerging protests and violence touched off by the notable deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, were finally announced on Saturday, June 13. The […]
By EDWARD RUBIN Surprise of all surprises, the 1969 movie “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” thanks to The New Group and Pershing Square Signature Center, is back in the news again—this time, not as a film but as a play with music. Cleverly directed by Scott Elliott, from a book by Jonathan Marc […]