By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI. – Don’t be late for this class: the School of Rock is astonishing audiences at Milwaukee’s Skylight Music Theatre. Based on the successful 2003 film of the same title, this was prime material to be produced on stage. No less a composer than Andrew Lloyd Webber bought the rights to […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The history of Here Lies Love dates back almost two decades ago when David Byrne and Fatboy Slim came up with an improbable concept album about Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos, the despots of the Philippines who were overthrown by the civil disobedience movement People Power Revolution in […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) There was a time when Tallulah Bankhead was as well known a celebrity as any who dominate the social media channels of our own time. She was the wild child of her generation, beloved as an icon of stage and screen, who hung out at the Algonquin […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The history of Onepiece, billed as “A Splashy Musical Play” goes back many years to a time when Randy Bibb felt especially creative. In his mind, he wanted to create an homage to the glorious musicals of the past like 42nd Street, but set it in a […]
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“) Following the record setting production of The Producers, Mel Brooks set his sight on bringing another of his film classics from the silver screen to the stage. That film was “Young Frankenstein,” co-written with Brooks and his star Gene Wilder, who first proposed the idea to Brooks. […]