Cool Papa’s Party Written and Directed by Tom W. Jones II Produced by MetroStage Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson Cool Papa’s Party is a frantic smattering of music, dance, with bits of dramatic elements tossed on an overlay of historical chronology, coarsely swirling together as a wild-eyed homage to the life spirit of Sammy Davis, […]
Tin Pan Alley, Dante, Tommy Tune and Broadway Today
Here’s To The Ladies! The Women of Tin Pan Alley, A Dante Rehearsal, Tommy Tune: Steps in Time and Broadway Today. No winter blues here! As the snowflakes fell and the freezing temperatures made us shiver, there was a buffet of song and dance appetizers on our local stages. Here are four shows and special […]
Billy Elliot, August: Osage County, The Third Story
Billy Elliot, August: Osage County and The Third Story by Richard Seff Here we are into February and I’m just catching up on two of last year’s big winners. I’d seen Billy Elliot in London last April, but saved the New York production until it properly settled in for its long run on Broadway. I […]
Cool Papa’s Party creators, Maurice Hines and Tom Jones on Sammy Davis, Jr inspired musical
It was late, the end of a long evening rehearsal, and the cast of Cool Papa’s Party had one more song in them – “Sho’ Can Dance” which they recorded for us before quitting the stage, leaving just me, 12-time Helen Hayes Award-Winning writer and director Thomas W. Jones II, and the legendary dancer, director […]
Shrek’s Brian d’Arcy James
Brian d’Arcy James Talks with Richard Seff Recorded by Joel Markowitz Sixteen years ago Richard Seff met Brian d’Arcy James when the two performed in Lend Me AaTenor at the Players Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. A bond was formed, and Richard has watched Brian grow from the Bellboy in Tenor to Shrek The Ogre in Shrek The […]
Cody Green from West Side Story
CODY GREEN ON PLAYING RIFF IN WEST SIDE STORY By Joel Markowitz Canadian-born dancer/actor/singer Cody Green is used to taking big risks. He left The Juilliard School to join the ensemble of the Mama Mia! national tour. Playing Eddie in the tour of Movin’ Out led to joining the Broadway cast in its last few […]
Rooms Set for Off-Broadway Run
The long anticipated announcement came yesterday: Rooms, a rock romance, which made its World Premiere here at MetroStage last season, debuts in New York next month at New World Stages. Doug Kreeger continues the role of recluse 1970’s Glasgow musician Ian Wallace, and Leslie Kritzer replaces Natascia Diaz in the role of Scottish/Jewish princess Monica […]
Karen Olivo
An Interview with actress Karen Olivo, who plays Anita in West Side Story by Joel Markowitz When I saw Karen Olivo playing Faith in the musical Brooklyn, I knew, by the power and beauty of her voice, that a star had been born. When I saw Karen as Vanessa in the 37 Arts Off-Broadway production […]
West Side Story
West Side Story Book by Arthur Laurents Music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim| Directed by Arthur Laurents Reviewed by Gary McMillan The National Theatre is home to a good-as-gold Golden Anniversary production of the Laurents-Bernstein-Sondheim-Robbins classic musical West Side Story. For those who missed the 1980s revival or were too young for the 1957 […]
Pal Joey
by Richard Seff One of the more quoted critical quotes of the last century is Brooks Atkinson’s conclusion to his review of the original production the Rogers-Hart-O’Hara collaboration Pal Joey in 1940. The terminal sentence was: “Can you draw sweet water from a foul well?” Well, no, you can’t, but that’s just the point of […]
The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks By Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt Directed by Lucinda Merry-Browne Produced by Bay Theatre Reviewed by Ted Ying “Deep in December, our hearts should remember. And follow.” It’s December and definitely a perfect time to “Try to remember” this classic show. The original off-Broadway production ran for over 41 years and 17,162 performances. […]
Shrek, Cripple of Inishmaan
Shrek, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and a visit to the Players Club by Richard Seff