Every once in a while the inbox has something that few of our readers would know about – even those who try very hard to stay up to date with new releases in the musical theatre field. Sometimes these items fall into the category of a real find. Others are less exciting, but interesting nonetheless.
Archives for December 2010
Oy Vey! Schmoozing with The Kinsey Sicks
I thought I was interviewing the four outrageously loveable, funny and eccentric members of The Kinsey Sicks who are tearing up the mistletoe at Theater J. But, instead, eight showed up – since sometimes the KS actors/writers responded as their boy names and sometimes as their character’s girl names.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
I knew little about Andrew Jackson, our seventh President, when I entered the Jacobs Theatre on Broadway at an Actors’ Fund Benefit performance this past week. When I left, I knew quite a lot, but it certainly wasn’t presented to me in the ways of the old schoolhouse I knew as a kid taking my […]
Oy Vey in a Manger
Seasonal schmaltz making you farklempt? Tarnish that tinsel with a refreshing nip of filth in The Kinsey Sick’s raunchy holiday roundelay Oy Vey in a Manger. The Aaron and Cecile Goldman Theater at Theater J has seen some sights in its time, but probably not four men in perfectly-coiffed drag singing seamless a capella harmony […]
Showtime
Need a last minute gift for a theatre lover? Here’s my recommendation: A new book covering the history of the Broadway musical theatre from its antecedents to the start of this century that is well written, its observations are thoroughly thought through and it happens to be on hand in many local book stores as […]
Wrapping up the year with Musical Scene Stealers
I saw a lot of musicals the last three months so sitting down and going through programs and notes to select this talented new group of “Scene Stealers’ was so much fun, and also very challenging.
A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas
Paul Morella brings A Christmas Carol up front and personal in an inspired, deeply-felt, moving one-man marathon monologue. On opening night, this consummate actor brought a full-house audience to a standing ovation. That’s impressive.
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is not the best musical that Andrew Lloyd Webber ever composed. While its primary storyline—the decline and fall of an aging silent film diva–is oddly compelling, its score gets repetitious and its lyrics often fail to scan with the music. That having been said, Signature Theatre’s new production of this show is slick, […]
South Pacific
David Pittsinger and Carmen Cusack may not be household names in the annals of theater, past or present. For sure, they can’t be called theater legends, even in the age of instant hyperbole. But maybe they should be, oughta be, and just maybe will be.
Cinderella
Be it the idea of wishes coming true or the hope of finding one’s charming prince or beautiful princess, fairytales possess lasting and almost universal appeal – perhaps none more so than the story of Cinderella. With a charming cast dancing and singing their way through Rodgers and Hammerstein’s popular score, Toby’s Dinner Theatre has […]
Driving Miss Daisy and the Pinter plays
Driving Miss Daisy is a holiday gift from some seventeen producers (imagine, for a play with 3 actors, 3 costumes and a few set pieces!). It’s a gift because, although the play is a pleasant visit with 3 interesting characters, its primary virtue is it offers two roles with which to lure the best we’ve […]
Merry, Happy … What?
Since the fine dramatic actor Helen Pafumi has written the Hub Theatre’s current offering, Merry, Happy…What? you may be fooled into thinking it is a heavy drama, full of Christmasy angst. It is not! The company has inaugurated its residency in the John Swayze Theare in Fairfax with something that is every cubic inch a […]