Broadway lights will dim on January 7, 2020 at 6:45 p.m. for Jerry Herman, who died on Thursday, December 26 at the age of 88, and at the end of a year that saw at its beginning the death of Carol Channing, who was the first star of his biggest hit, Hello, Dolly!. Eighty-eight is […]
About Richard Seff
Hal Prince as I knew him: from back stage apprentice to Broadway producer and director
Top drawer producer-director Hal Prince died on July 31st in the unlikely city of Reikvik, Iceland, although, come to think of it, nothing was unlikely for this man who spent his working life exploring the world and its ways. We had two things in common: we were born just 3 months apart in age, and […]
Helen Mirren reigns supreme over The Audience
It’s always a pleasure to welcome Helen Mirren back to the Broadway stage. Her new vehicle by Peter Morgan, who served her well once before as author of “The Queen,” a film in which by playing Elizabeth II for the first time, she won herself a well deserved Oscar for best performance. Now here she […]
Larry David’s Fish in the Dark a smash hit
Larry David’s ‘Fish’ gives new meaning to the word “promising.” There’s no question his play is full of laughs, but it is peopled by over a dozen completely one dimensional characters who remain where they began until minutes before the final curtain, by which time all or most have seen the light, and spread some joy.
Lady, Be Good! at Encores
At the conclusion of the Saturday matinee during the seven performance run of each Encores! presentation at New York’s City Center, there is always a talkback with members of the company, or artists connected to the original productions will speak to us. In the case of George and Ira Gershwin’s first collaboration to hit Broadway, […]
Honeymoon in Vegas
I hadn’t been to the Nederlander, the theatre that is the furthest south in the neighborhood called “Broadway”, since Rent opened there in 1996. That musical stayed put for 12 years and was followed by a two year run of Newsies. Marching down the aisle to my 4th row seat at Honeymoon in Vegas, I […]
The Invisible Hand, new play from “Disgraced” author, Ayad Akhtar
Playwright Ayad Akhtar has Disgraced running on Broadway. It’s found its audience, which responds to the play’s sparkling and insightful dialogue dealing with the complicated relationships among a black woman, a Jewish American, a Muslim Pakistani and a white Protestant, sharply spoken during an elegant dinner party on New York’s upper east side. In a […]
The Elephant Man, now at the Booth Theatre
Bernard Pomerance’s play from 1977 has been revived on Broadway for a fourteen week run, starring Bradley Cooper in the title role, which is the only big news connected with the production.
Hurricane Sandy aftermath in MTC’s By the Water
It’s a few months after Hurricane Sandy hit New York on October 29, 2012. Staten Island took a beating from the storm and when the lights come up on Sharyn Rothstein’s new play, By the Water, we are there in the aftermath. What looks like it might once have been a house is open to […]
On a Stool at the End of the Bar
One of the unexpected pleasures of covering New York theatre for our site is that I have the opportunity to view the wide spectrum of subjects, themes, current issues that playwrights use as source material. In the recent weeks they have dealt with Judeo-Christian-Islamic conflicts (Disgraced) , the search for truth in affairs of the […]
Side Show on Broadway
Another revival has plunked itself down on Broadway . As the original new musicals are mostly half baked, I wonder what the season will be like 20 years from now, when there is nothing to revive? And I wondered as I entered the St. James Theatre: “Haven’t I seen this before?”
It’s Only a Play but it’s the hottest ticket in town
I have to credit Jack O’Brien, the director, and lead producer Tom Kirdahy for delivering what is unquestionably the hottest ticket in town as we hit the mid-season mark. I say that because every element in this production spells “Hit!”. Scott Pask’s set of the upstairs drawing room in a swank New York brownstone, and […]