Category Archives: Broadway
Review: Newsies
Newsies has the Twinkiest. Chorus. Ever. On the top of that, it also features one of the sexiest young leading men to come along in years, Broadway-star-in-the-making Jeremy Jordan, who plays Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy in late 19th Century … Continue reading
Review: Jesus Christ Superstar
I’ve always preferred the early “rock operas” of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to Webber’s later Rice-less musicals. So I’m thrilled that Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita are back on the boards this season. And with director Des McAnuff’s … Continue reading
Review: Porgy & Bess
I have never seen Porgy & Bess before this production, I’m only familiar with it through the songs from it that have become standards, as sung by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Christine Ebersole. Many purists have … Continue reading
Review: The Road to Mecca
I’m not the biggest fan of South African playwright Athol Fugard, but this revival of his The Road to Mecca has raised my opinion of what he has to offer as a writer and a thinker. The things I don’t … Continue reading
Review: Stick Fly
Back in the late 1970s Ashford & Simpson wrote a classic, elegant instrumental disco song “Bourgie Bourgie”, to which they later added lyrics for Gladys Knight. The vocal version of the song is an anthem of African-American upper mobility, celebrating … Continue reading
Review: Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway
What can you say? The man is almost supernaturally good-looking, has the charisma of a sun god, can sing and dance like Gene Kelly – so much so that he has become this generation’s definition of a song and dance … Continue reading
Review: Seminar
I’ve been following playwright Teresa Rebeck for a very long time, and I’ve always been impressed with her ability to create sparkling, cutting dialogue that actually gets to the heart of important issues with a truly provocative level of insight. … Continue reading
CD Review: Follies
Stephen Sondheim’s Follies is revered in the theater community, and I think rightly so. It contains some of the best musical comedy songs ever written – funny and poignant, often at the same time. Thank goodness, then, that the new … Continue reading
Review: Private Lives
I’m a big fan of Noël Coward – here’s a gay playwright who married queer wit to a penetrating understanding of human emotions. Director Richard Eyre’s breezy new production of his Private Lives largely does right by my boy Noël, … Continue reading
