Sometimes it doesn’t take an assassination, an earthquake, or a war to make headlines. Sometimes a production stocked with dazzling dance moves, a gifted cast, and catchy melodies is enough to get the public’s attention. Which is exactly the case at the National Theatre, where Newsies is running through the end of the month.
Finding Neverland Broadway review: Peter Pan. Again.
Is it pointless to pan Peter? Are we helpless in the face of the massive Peter Pander/Pandemic/Pandemonium (pick your Peter Pan pun.) Shortly after Peter and the Starcatcher and Peter Pan Live on NBC, we now get Finding Neverland, a musical adaptation of the 2004 film about how playwright J.M. Barrie came to create Peter […]
An American in Paris Broadway Review: A mesmerizing new Gershwin ballet
Both Gigi and An American In Paris are adapted from Oscar-winning 1950’s movie musicals directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Leslie Caron. Both take place in Paris. Both have revised books, tuneful songs, able performers, pleasing designs. So why does An American in Paris feel so fresh, and Gigi…not?
Hand to God Broadway review: Puppet pleasures and religious people’s pain
For an evil sock puppet who eventually bites a teenager’s ear off, Tyrone is quite the philosopher. In the prologue in Hand to God, Robert Askin’s funny, filthy, violent and sensitive play, Tyrone tells us that all the trouble began when some jerk “invented right and wrong,” which led to the invention of the devil. […]
Gigi Broadway Review: Vanessa Hudgens in visually stunning, emotionally threadbare production
Gigi, an imitation French confection of a musical starring High School Musical sweetheart Vanessa Hudgens, is based on a novella by Colette about two aging prostitutes grooming their illegitimate relative, a child of 15, to attach herself to a rich older man. Colette added a twist to this sordid story, which she set in high-toned […]