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Theater Review

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Rivalry Goes on Stage: A Campy Parody That Delivers Surprising Heart
theater5 days ago

Rivalry Goes on Stage: A Campy Parody That Delivers Surprising Heart

An Off-Broadway review of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, praising Jay Armstrong Johnson and Jimin Moon for lending surprising depth to a campy spoof of a popular TV hockey romance. The show mirrors key series moments with some tweaks, features 14 songs over about 80 minutes, and is framed by three playful narrators. Performed in a cramped sixth-floor venue, it mostly appeals to superfans, but the performers’ heft occasionally elevates the material into genuinely moving musical theater.

via newyorktheater.me|
#heated-rivalry#lgbtq-themes#musical-parody
Broadway Revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come Back Roars Back to Life
culture1 month ago

Broadway Revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come Back Roars Back to Life

A Broadway revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come Back, Come and Gone at the Ethel Barrymore brings Wilson’s Pittsburgh saga to life with a powerhouse ensemble led by Taraji P. Henson; the production blends naturalistic speech with mythic intensity to illuminate Black working-class life in 1911 Pittsburgh, delivering warmth, humor, and spiritual ache.

via Vulture|
#august-wilson#broadway#culture
Beaches the Musical Delivers Sparkle But Struggles to Move the Heart
theater1 month ago

Beaches the Musical Delivers Sparkle But Struggles to Move the Heart

A vocally dazzling but emotionally thin adaptation of Beaches: The Musical, the show splashes glamour and nostalgia across the Majestic stage while stacking cliché upon cliché in a nearly three-hour run. Jessica Vosk shines, and the young cast gives energy, but the book and score feel dated and overstuffed, leaning on wind-beneath-the-wings grandiosity rather than genuine emotional momentum.

via Vulture|
#beaches#iris-rainer-dart#jessica-vosk
Broadway Revival of Rocky Horror Show Struggles to Keep its Ghoulish Spark
entertainment1 month ago

Broadway Revival of Rocky Horror Show Struggles to Keep its Ghoulish Spark

Broadway’s third Rocky Horror Show revival at Studio 54 opens with fanfare but quickly sags as Sam Pinkleton’s staging grows abstract and the pacing becomes unfocused, delivering an uneven experience; Luke Evans brings punch in the music but is wary with Frank-n-Furter’s dialogue, Stephanie Hsu and Rachel Dratch offer flashes of charm, while Eddie is underheard and the production largely serves nostalgia rather than minting new fans.

via The Guardian|
#broadway-revival#entertainment#luke-evans
Quiet Suburb, Loud Politics: The Balusters Skewers a Neighborhood Clique
theater1 month ago

Quiet Suburb, Loud Politics: The Balusters Skewers a Neighborhood Clique

David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters, staged at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, skewers suburban discourse as Kyra, a new neighbor, clashes with Elliot, head of a wealthy neighborhood association, over a practical stop sign that would upset the area’s ‘picturesque’ life. The play uses sharp comic banter to explore class and liberal piety through strong performances by Anika Noni Rose and Richard Thomas, under Kenny Leon’s direction, but its satire remains tidy and familiar rather than aggressively provocative.

via Vulture|
#anika-noni-rose#david-lindsay-abaire#richard-thomas
Gavel, Gossip, and Privilege: The Balusters Dials Up Civic Comedy
theater1 month ago

Gavel, Gossip, and Privilege: The Balusters Dials Up Civic Comedy

David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters, directed by Kenny Leon, is a sharp Broadway comedy about a diverse homeowners association in Vernon Point whose petty squabbles expose deeper tensions around race, class, and communal duty, anchored by Anika Noni Rose’s Kyra and Marylouise Burke’s Penny; the play blends wit with social critique and invites the audience to reckon with what “holding up” a community really means.

via The New York Times|
#david-lindsay-abaire#neighborhood-association#race-and-class
Broadway's Dog Day Afternoon Reimagined as a Tender, Timely Heist
theater2 months ago

Broadway's Dog Day Afternoon Reimagined as a Tender, Timely Heist

On Broadway, Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Dog Day Afternoon reimagines the 1975 classic as an actor-forward drama directed by Rupert Goold. Jon Bernthal’s Sonny Amato is charismatic and deeply felt, with Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Sal; the production foregrounds character, love, and political conscience rather than a simple heist. The show uses David Bowie cues and a New York–tinged sensibility to explore Sonny’s queer love for Leon and broader social stakes, including trans rights and economic inequality. While it departs from Lumet’s film, it remains a humane, timely portrait of people on the edge of the night.

via Vulture|
#dog-day-afternoon#ebon-moss-bachrach#jon-bernthal
Giant on the Stage: A Stark Portrait of Roald Dahl
theater2 months ago

Giant on the Stage: A Stark Portrait of Roald Dahl

In Giant at the Music Box, John Lithgow channels Roald Dahl in a spare two‑act drama directed by Nicholas Hytner, as a publishers’ meeting spirals into a confrontation over the writer’s antisemitic remarks; the play uses brisk, high‑volume language and stark staging to reveal both Dahl’s linguistic genius and the moral danger of his worldview, ending in a tragedy as the giant proves smaller than the outrage surrounding him.

via Vulture|
#giant#john-lithgow#roald-dahl
Waiting Room of Truth: Moths, Mortality, and the Masks of Love on Stage
theater2 months ago

Waiting Room of Truth: Moths, Mortality, and the Masks of Love on Stage

Vulture critic Sara Holdren reviews Wallace Shawn and André Gregory’s What We Did Before Our Moth Days at Greenwich House Theater, a three-hour, four-actor dramatic meditation on marriage, desire, and death. Structurally similar to My Dinner With André, the piece uses monologues and a stark set—windows and moth projections—to peel away surfaces and reveal the characters’ evasions, fears, and cruelties. The cast—Josh Hamilton, Maria Dizzia, Hope Davis, and John Early—delivers a precise, unnerving balance of humor and horror, guided by Gregory’s exacting, long-rehearsed direction. The play examines how love persists and dissolves through performances and lies, presenting death as a guiding presence that finally exposes what’s real. What We Did Before Our Moth Days runs at the Greenwich House Theater through May 10.

via Vulture|
#andre-gregory#moths#theater
Broadway's 'Death Becomes Her' Shines with Dazzling Revival
theater-review1 year ago

Broadway's 'Death Becomes Her' Shines with Dazzling Revival

"Death Becomes Her" is a Broadway adaptation of the 1992 horror comedy, featuring Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard as dueling divas Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp. The musical embraces camp and humor, with standout performances and witty songwriting by newcomers Julia Mattison and Noel Carey. While the show excels in comedic moments and special effects, it lacks depth in exploring its characters' inner lives, maintaining a surface-level focus that leaves the second act feeling repetitive. Despite this, the production is an entertaining, if not emotionally resonant, theatrical experience.

via Vulture|
#adaptation#broadway#comedy
Broadway's 'Swept Away': Avett Brothers' Folk Musical Faces Stormy Seas
theater-review1 year ago

Broadway's 'Swept Away': Avett Brothers' Folk Musical Faces Stormy Seas

"Swept Away," a new Broadway musical featuring songs by the Avett Brothers, opened at the Longacre Theatre, offering a peculiar mix of folk music and a storyline involving cannibalism. The 90-minute show, based on a fictionalized American whaling expedition, struggles to balance its dark themes with the band's melodic tunes. Despite impressive performances, particularly by Adrian Blake Enscoe, the production's second half, set on a lifeboat, fails to captivate, leaving audiences with a strange and unsettling experience.

via New York Post |
#avett-brothers#broadway#cannibalism