Richard III shouldn’t work very well. It looks like a quest narrative, but nothing of substance stands between the anti-hero and his goal, so it’s more like a project narrative. Not much dramatic tension there. It’s true that several people must be stabbed, or smothered, or beheaded, before Richard gets to sit on England’s throne, […]
Archives for February 4, 2014
The Best Man
With midterm elections still months away and the 2016 presidential tilt lurking in the distance, it’s a perfect time to step back and consider the bloodsport that is the American political campaign. In its bracing production of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Keegan Theatre has staged an all-too-real political clash between between two polar opposites […]
Sheldon Harnick in mufti at The York
The York Theatre Company, an attractive beehive producing unit, is buried two levels below the ground in the Citicorp Building on East 54th Street just off Lexington Avenue. In addition to mounting new musicals, doing readings and workshops, it sponsors a program called “Musicals In Mufti” (“mufti” is an army term which means ‘out of […]
Before Sound of Music and Smash – TV musicals, 1944 – 1996
The success of NBC’s live telecast of The Sound of Music last December has sparked interest in the televising of musicals. That interest may only increase now that NBC has announced it is going to do another one next December – this time it will be the venerable Peter Pan, a show that many associate […]