By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Chicago –the longest running show now on Broadway and the second longest running show in history – made its way to the Saenger Theater in New Orleans a week ago to thunderous ovations and to the enjoyment of many who had never seen this fabled musical previously. […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s been a full decade since Lin-Manuel Miranda’s idea of a “mixtape” about the Founding Fathers was playing at the Public Theater to sold out performances and plans for a transfer to Broadway had been announced. If the buzz about Hamilton were to live up to its […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s hard to believe, but until three years ago there had never been a revival of Funny Girl on Broadway. The starring vehicle in 1964 that turned New York phenom Barbra Streisand into a nationally known recording artist and a soon-to-be cinema star was deemed too iconic […]
By ROY BERKO Parade, which is now on stage at the Palace Theatre as part of the Key Bank Broadway series, is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. It is a dramatization of the 1913 trial and imprisonment, and 1915 lynching, of Jewish-American Leo Frank. […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) As hard to believe as it may be, Mamma Mia!, the ABBA hit jukebox musical is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It continues to enthrall fans of the Swedish rock group with its fast-paced and cleverly written book by Catherine Johnson that brings the hit songs […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The biggest problem Broadway has with so-called “jukebox musicals” is they always seem to get mired down by the exposition of the story regarding the person or persons whose music is oftentimes represented. In the case of bookwriter Rick Elice, he drafted what is widely considered as […]
By ALAN SMASON Of all the holiday-themed shows that make their way onto stages in December, Elf: The Broadway Musical may be the one most resistant to the Grinch, Scrooge and other humbugs. Based on “Elf,” the 2003 holiday classic that starred Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf with the late James Caan and Bob […]
By ELIZABETH SCHABINGER Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived! The six wives of British King Henry VIII are back in Washington, D.C. at the National Theatre, fresh from their out-of-town previews in Elmira, New York. Six The Musical tells the story of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England through a Eurovision-style song […]
By ROY BERKO Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, Grease, Carrie, 13 (The Musical), Dear Evan Hansen and Mean Girls. What do all these Broadway musicals have in common? They placed the spotlight on teen angst. OMG! Think back to high school, specifically the cafeteria, at lunch time. Depending on the institution you attended there was probably the table of […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) When Girl from the North Country premiered on Broadway, there were a number of ebullient reviews trumpeting the musical for its inventive reimagining of Bob Dylan’s music and its tautly written book by Conor McPherson. The ensemble nature of this work is at its very heart. Lead […]