The Lincoln Center 3 series has been offering new writers an introduction via a series of productions at its Laura Pels Theatre underground at the Lincoln Center Theatre complex. But the long awaited Claire Tow Theatre atop the Beaumont has now been completed, and its first entry is a complete success. [Read more...]

Each year at this time if you listen carefully, you can hear the hoots and howls ranging from “We was gypped” to “How can you ignore the brilliantly reviewed originator of a role and give the nomination to her replacement?” And there are a few comments like “They nominated ME? And I only have one scene in the play!” and “I’m so proud to have a nomination, but winning doesn’t matter; I’m just so proud to be part of the theatre community.”  So as everyone else is sounding off and submitting opinions, please indulge me if I offer a comment or two of my own. [Read more...]

They might have called this show A LITTLE BITTA THIS, A LITTLE BITTA THAT. I don’t know the way in which it was formed, but there is a vague connection to Oh, Kay! a hit from 1926 when everybody was very young and George Gershwin a little bit in love with Kay Swift who was married to a man named Jimmy, so he used their names for his hero and heroine. The lyrics to Oh, Kay! came from his brother Ira and the book from the prolific Brit librettists Guy Bolton and P.G.Wodehouse. [Read more...]

This poor show was treated badly by most of the New York critics, and the Tony committee favored it with only one nomination — but that was for Best Musical! Now how can you be considered a contender for  ”best”when none of the creators of the show are mentioned?  [Read more...]

We owe the Brits a great debt for gifting  us with the bombshell called Tracie Bennett.

The slim actress/singer, who would appear from her photo to be a contemporarily coiffed blonde, has immersed herself into the psyche and spirit of Judy Garland in the play called End of the Rainbow which exposes us, in grim detail, to the final weeks of Ms. Garland’s life, when she was encamped at the Ritz Hotel and playing a five week engagement at London’s Talk of the Town.   [Read more...]

Richard Bean, prolific British playwright, has landed with a bang with this, his first export to American shores. A great success for two seasons at the National Theatre in London, a transfer to the West End, where it is now booked through the summer with a second cast, which means we get the first cast here at the Music Box, where I imagine it will remain until one or all die of exhaustion from the goings on in their wild and very funny farce.  [Read more...]

I was certainly alive during the reign of Joseph Alsop as a syndicated political columnist, but the truth is he and his writings never attracted me, so I approached David Auburn’s play The Columnist with little background information and no particular interest.  [Read more...]

The interior of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway is decorated to the nines with bunting, campaign photos; hoopla music is playing over the speakers; the management wants you to know  from the get go that you will be attending the July 1960 Presidential convention in Philadelphia, and will be having a look at all the shenanigans that precede it. [Read more...]

Matt Charman, playwright, is on the rise. His first play, A Night at the Dogs, which opened at the Soho Theatre in London, won the prestigious Verity Bargate Award for new writers. Richard Eyre directed his The Observer and he’s been produced at the National Theatre in London. He’s won awards in Britain, he’s currently writing a screenplay for Universal/Working Title Film and an original drama for the BBC. [Read more...]

Andrew Lloyd Webber is returning with a vengeance. His Phantom of the Opera sizzles along in its 25th profitable year at the Majestic, his revived Jesus Christ Superstar set up shop at the Neil Simon on March 16, and the London transported revival of  Evita just opened at the Marquis, all on Broadway. [Read more...]