Off-Broadway

Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now!

December 4, 2024

The trio demonstrates that their voices are as supple and fine as they ever were. Each gets to play their best suit: Winokur’s loud, clarion voice, Bundy’s wry wit and Butler’s recounting her hilarious but painfully missed opportunities even though she has appeared in 12 Broadway shows and been nominated for the Tony Award. Their patter and narration is entertaining and hilarious and the musical numbers are both tributes to their careers as well as songs we have not heard them sing before. [more]

Welcome to the Big Dipper

November 30, 2024

"Welcome to The Big Dipper" is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Jimmy Roberts and a book by Catherine Filloux and John Daggett (inspired by the play "All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go" by Filloux). It is under the direction of DeMone Seraphin and is billed as being based on an actual event. However, the nature of the event is never revealed. It is a mixed bag of things that work and don’t, which leads to confusion about what it’s about and where it’s trying to go. [more]

We Are Your Robots

November 25, 2024

While the musicians are exemplary, it is Lipton who does the heavy lifting in the show. With what amounts to a very witty hosting duty, his singing voice is one that is rich and quite comfortable in various genres. Director Leigh Silverman keeps him moving and talking at all times, always engaging the audience even when he is being upstaged by his “Grandpa Morrie,” a Roomba that speaks (and sings) in Roomba-ese. Morrie has the audience wrapped around his finger, rather circuitry, when Lipton asks him to wait backstage and Morrie can’t make it back up the ramp without help. Morrie later duets with Lipton and at one moment stops cold. Lipton’s attempts at restarting Morrie fail (is this what Roomba death looks like?) until bass player Riggs offers a battery from his own mouth to recharge Morrie. The whole audience goes “Awww” and applauds. [more]

Music City

November 17, 2024

By all outward appearances, the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on West 86th Street is an unlikely location for a performance space, but deeply nestled into its 2nd floor can be found the West End Theatre, current home of the new country-western musical "Music City," featuring songs and lyrics by successful songwriter J.T. Harding. Harding’s songs have been sung by the likes of Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and others, but they are a perfect fit for this small musical with a big heart. [more]

Ragtime

November 9, 2024

"Ragtime," thought of as an unwieldy musical with too many characters and too many themes, hit Broadway in 1998. Based on the 1975 E.L. Doctorow novel of the same name, the many storylines were artfully tamed by the team of Terrence McNally (book), Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics). New York City Center has chosen "Ragtime" as its 2004 Annual Gala presentation in a brilliantly streamlined production directed with an eye to its still-important message by Lear DeBessonet with a large and exceptional cast and an excellent orchestra under the baton of James Moore playing William David Brohn’s original rich orchestrations. [more]

Medea: A Musical Comedy

November 3, 2024

Fisher directs a solid ensemble through a production of "Medea" that is a spoof of a college production with a gay man in the role of Jason and a feminist as Medea. It takes place from the last days of rehearsals to opening night. It is a play within a play with a romantic entanglement between the actor playing Jason and the actor playing Medea. It is amazing that with all the different elements of two storylines being played out the show works as well as it does. [more]

Little House on the Ferry: The Musical

November 3, 2024

The good news is that "Little House on the Ferry" is full of heart and brimming with laughs. Sook’s use of the space is commendable even if she struggles to wring a few ounces of earnestness out of the largely cartoonish characters. Michael McCrary’s choreography is simply awesome, and the music and songs are super fun. The actors are having such a great time that even some of the lesser jokes and moments of duller wit in the script are forgiven. “So far, so fun!” exclaimed my theater companion after the first number, and when a towering Galganni as Xana DuMe breaks out into a vigorous tap dance, it’s truly a fantastic moment that throws the audience into a delicious tizzy, present company included. [more]

The Big Gay Jamboree

October 31, 2024

Following her star turn as “Celine Dion” in "Titaníque" which she co-wrote, Marla Mindelle has a new role in "The Big Gay Jamboree," another parody musical which she co-wrote with Jonathan Parks-Ramage. As Stacey, with a degree in musical theater, on her wedding day to chauvinist millionaire Keith, she wakes up to find herself trapped in an Off Broadway musical comedy, circa 1945, in the provincial town of Bareback, Iowa. Rather scattershot with its many multitudinous references to both pop culture and musical theater, the show is both raunchy and erotic in the style of a cabaret or nightclub act. The corny humor may charm some theatergoers, but put others off by its old-fashioned and familiar humor spiced up with bawdy, off-color jokes. [more]

The Christine Jorgensen Show

October 25, 2024

Donald Steven Olson’s "The Christine Jorgensen Show," a two-hander, focuses on the creation of her nightclub act. Jorgensen (portrayed by Jesse James Keitel known for "Younger," "Queer as Folk" and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds") approaches showbiz veteran Myles Bell. Mark Nadler, virtuoso pianist, cabaret superstar, and co-composer for this show, takes on the role of this quirky, energetic performer and songwriter. [more]

Honeyland

October 20, 2024

The story weaves together the group's history with flashbacks to their childhood, high school years, and a time immediately after college. It is a show that tries to cover too much territory without getting a solid handle on any of it. There are two potential dramatic threads, either of which would provide a strong story arc if developed as the heart of the story. One is the Vietnam War's social, political, and personal impact on the group members, and the other is the interpersonal romantic relationships within the group. These two themes are the strongest in the show but lack the depth to explore the dramatic possibilities fully. [more]

InunDATEd

October 9, 2024

The problem with the show is two-fold: first, it doesn’t have anything new to say about dating other than trying to turn it into a cabaret commentary, and visually the show looks the same throughout with the staging having Lucy sit at the same place at the table and the 16 men (all played by the versatile Taylor Crousore) sitting or standing opposite her. None of his men are allowed to be charming or ingratiating, not only showing the negative side of modern dating, but making a great deal of this one-act musical feel too much the same. [more]

Distant Thunder

October 8, 2024

We’ve come a long way from "Annie Get Your Gun" to the new musical "Distant Thunder" produced by Amas Musical Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres. The Irvin Berlin song “I’m an Indian, Too” from "Annie" is filled with silly clichés about our indigenous people that "Distant Thunder" puts to rest. "Distant Thunder," written by Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Shaun Taylor-Corbett (book) and Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Chris Wiseman (music and lyrics), (with additional music and lyrics by Robert Lindsey-Nassif and Michael Moricz,) deals sensitively with issues facing Native Americans today. All of the actors are members or descendants of Native Americans and all give body and soul to their characters. [more]

Magnificent Bird/Book of Travelers

October 7, 2024

Gabriel Kahane’s pair of song cycles are a welcome throwback to when lyrics were poetry and told great stories. Think of the 70's when the airwaves were blessed with the voices and songwriting of Harry Chapin, Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens and you will have a basic understanding of what Kahane has successfully put together here. [more]

Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song

September 30, 2024

The spate of Sondheim shows both this past season and opening this fall is given prime place in this musical revue. Unsurprisingly, the new "Merrily We Roll Along" which ran all of last season comes in for the most ribbing as the subtitle hints. Collins-Pisano plays Daniel Radcliffe in a parody of the show’s “Good Thing Going” and then is joined by Stern and Hayward as his co-stars Lindsay Mendez and Jonathan Groff as they review the troubled history of the show which famously flopped in its first Broadway iteration in 1981 in a revised version of the song “Old Friends.” Collins-Pisano sings to that show’s “Franklin Sheppard, Inc.” about Radcliffe's stage career after the Harry Potter films. This is followed by a tribute to "Company" which had a female Bobby to the tune of “Bobby, come on over for dinner.” Most if not all of the "Forbidden Broadway" revues have featured one of its actresses as the ubiquitous Patti LuPone and here we have Stern belting “The Ladies Who Crunch,” the scenery that is, satirizing "Company"’s most famous song. [more]

Ghost of John McCain

September 25, 2024

If, to paraphrase Mark Twain, a liar's greatest enemy is laughter, then the new musical comedy "Ghost of John McCain" is certainly no friend of Donald Trump. It's also not a hagiography of the late Arizona senator and famed prisoner of war who, after dying in 2018, is condemned for his own political shortcomings to another captivity, this time in Donald Trump's warped subconsciousness. When the show sticks to this satirically low-brow conceit, it rollicks along humorously, thanks in no small part to a nimble cast unafraid of being supremely silly. But Ghost of John McCain also has an off-putting penchant for strained seriousness, as if losing faith in the power Twain proclaimed. [more]

Monte Cristo

September 25, 2024

However, in the sweeping new musical epic retitled Monte Cristo, canny and adept librettist Peter Kellogg ("Desperate Measures," "Penelope") has streamlined the story, reduced the number of characters and created a much less melodramatic ending that is more satisfying than the original while still covering 20 years in the lives of its characters. The score by Stephen Weiner, who collaborated with Kellogg on "Penelope," an entertaining musical version of Homer’s The Odyssey, has written a lush, romantic score which in every way complements the grand storytelling of love, injustice and revenge. Directed by Peter Flynn as part of The York Theatre Company’s Fall 2024 NEW2NY Series, the production belies the fact that this is a concert version book in hand and that the cast had only four days of rehearsal. It is one of the most accomplished musical productions to be seen currently in NYC. [more]

That Parenting Musical

September 23, 2024

While "That Parenting Musical" will not tell you anything you didn’t already know, it is a pleasant and undemanding way to spend an evening. The six attractive performers four of whom appear continually as other characters are good company and keep the show moving. That Parenting Musical is the latest in the series of cabaret style revues around a single theme. It is obvious Graham and Kristina Fuller are fully versed in their subject matter. [more]

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

September 21, 2024

This adaptation, directed by John Hickok, uses the Fitzgerald story as a counterpoint to a tale of a couple caught in the legal vagaries of the United States and Canadian immigration laws. The connection between their experiences at the border and the satirical nature of the Fitzgerald piece does not work even with the addition of musical numbers. It would be better to make a show of the original story without the contemporary border issues thrown into the mix. [more]

Twist of Fate

September 10, 2024

Levin’s lyrics have unusual and surprising rhyme patterns which add to their interest. The powerful score with music by Ron Abel (who also plays a mean piano with the orchestra of five which sounds much bigger than it actually is) is performed by big talent: Lianne Marie Dobbs’ Dominique, Ben Jones’ Michael Boardman, Maya Lagerstam’s Olivia and Allyson Kaye Daniel in a series of roles including that of the Evangelist impress with the size of their voices and their technique. The uncredited orchestrations include violin and bongo solos which add texture to the songs. [more]

Lifeline

September 5, 2024

However, instead of telling Fleming’s story in chronological order, it travels backwards and forwards in time beginning with Fleming’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Stockholm in 1945, then skipping to Athens, Greece, in 1952, then traveling back to New York and London’s St. Mary’s Hospital in 1946, then further back to St. Mary’s lab in 1940, and finally ending Act 1 with Fleming’s discovery of penicillin at St Mary’s in 1928. Not only does all this alternate with the Jess/Aaron story in Edinburgh in the present, it often divides the stage in two and tells both stories simultaneously. There seems to be no gain in telling Fleming’s story out of order, as it makes it confusing and hard to follow, while asking us to keep track of the contemporary story with its permutations and additional characters at the same time. [more]

Now Comes the Fun Part

September 2, 2024

The revue alternates between skits by James Hindman and Lynne Halliday and songs with music by Jeffrey Lodin (who is also the music director at the piano) and lyrics by Mark Waldrop, the intrepid director. While the material is diverting and entertaining, it feels derivative rather than original. There appears to have been an attempt to not offend anyone so that everything is rather low key and tame. Some of the tropes though pertinent have already been dramatized: “To You, My Friend,” sung by two women at a college reunion, resembles but feels like a pale imitation of Jerry Herman’s “Bosom Buddies” while “Gonna Get the Band Together” suggests the 2018 Broadway musical with a similar name. “Reunion” in which two old friends reminisce has too much the feel of a "Saturday Night Live" skit. [more]

Cats:”The Jellicle Ball”

August 8, 2024

The dynamic and exciting dances include the five elements of voguing: catwalk, duckwalk, hand performances, floor performances and spins and dips in various combinations. The competitions which include almost every song are taken from real ballroom events and the names are appear on the rear wall over the glitter curtain in Brittany Bland’s projection design. These include Virgin Vogue, Pretty Boy, Realness, Body, Bizarre, Opulence, New Way Vs. Old Way, Labels, Women’s, and All American. One razzle dazzle competition is the Tag Team Performance to the song “Mungojerrie & Rumpleteaser” which pitted “knockabout clowns” Jonathan Burke and Dava Havuesca in matching costumes with ballerina Baby as Victoria and gymnastic Bryce Farris subbing for Primo as Tumblebrutus. [more]

The Sabbath Girl: A New Musical

August 1, 2024

When was the last time you saw a new play in which you cared about the characters and wanted them to end up together? "The Sabbath Girl: A New Musical" is that kind of show. A delightful and charming rom-com adapted by Cary Gitter from his 2020 play of the same name, "The Sabbath Girl" brings together two unlikely people from very different worlds, both at crossroads in their lives. With sensitive performances by Marilyn Caserta and Max Wolkowitz, lovely music by Neil Berg, graceful and emotional lyrics by Berg and Gittter, and a poignant story, The Sabbath Girl is a must-see this summer. [more]

Empire

July 16, 2024

In "Empire," Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull attempt to tell a very big story but are unable to bring this unwieldy tale into suitable shape. The time traveling framework is both unnecessary and obtrusive. Both the historic characters and the fictional ones are underwritten and there are too many names to keep straight. While the music is catchy, the lyrics are often too unsophisticated and repetitious to make their mark. The cluttered setting and the busy staging don’t help to tell the story. "Empire" is an ambitious but unsuccessful musical which is defeated by its very form. [more]

Titanic

June 18, 2024

The tapestry Stone weaves with his multitude of characters—too many to mention here—is always fascinating in its subtle details. Each person stands on his or her own helped by superb performances by the entire cast under the skilled direction of Anne Kauffman ("Mary Jane" and "The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window"). Under her care they all sing magnificently helped by guest music director Rob Berman’s sensitive handling of the Yeston score, directing the large Encores! Orchestra to bring out all the facets of the almost operatic music. [more]

David, A New Musical

June 14, 2024

"David" now at the AMT Theater is an ambitious Off Broadway musical dramatizing the story of the youth of the hero David, later second king of Israel. It has a bouncy contemporary score by Albert Tapper and a large talented cast. Somewhat indebted to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Biblical musicals, it is narrated by the older King David on his deathbed to the Prophet Nathan. Most of David’s adventurous exploits take place off stage, while the dramatized scenes are mainly political and dramatic. [more]

The World According to Micki Grant

June 9, 2024

Grant’s work is well-known to many, but this intimate, compact little revue featuring four actors, Matelyn Alicia, April Armstrong, Patrice Bell and Brian Davis, is an enjoyable, informative, and intimate love letter celebrating Grant anew. Although known for writing the 1959 single “Pink Shoe Laces” (sung by bobby sox darling Dodie Stevens), and the more visible musicals "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God" and "Cope," the evening’s offerings include many lesser-known works by Grant as well as unpublished songs, narratives, and poems, all demonstrating the broad, deep, and cutting edges of her humor, observation, and thought provocation in subjects running the gamut from love, war, rebellion, and justice. Days later, I’m still singing her two big songwriting numbers from the Stephen Schwartz musical "Working," “Cleanin’ Women” and “If I Could’ve Been” in my head. [more]

Three Houses

May 25, 2024

Someone once coined the adage, “Write what you know.” For the past few seasons, we have seen many writers have a lot to say about surviving the Covid lockdown, but none so eloquently as Dave Malloy in "Three Houses." Where there is often the sameness in the stories we’ve heard thus far, Malloy chooses to give us three not so disparate individuals each with a particular heartbreaking loneliness. All three tales are prefaced “so this is the story of how i went a little bit crazy living alone in the pandemic.” Where aloneness is ripe for scenes that are maudlin, Malloy setting these tales to music is rapture. [more]

Winesday: The Wine Tasting Musical

May 24, 2024

When it comes to coffee klatches, wine seems to be a good substitute, or at least that is the case with the women in "Winesday: The Wind Tasting Musical," with book and lyrics by Jenne Wason and music by Joseph Benoit. It is a show that could leave you tipsy at the end but generally satisfied with the experience. The songs are clever and well-sung by a solid group of five actors, and the book doesn't rely on a straightforward plot but provides a series of entertaining vignettes that help define the characters' lives with details about their ups and downs. Jamibeth Margolis's direction effectively guides the cast to deliver funny, well-integrated performances in a constrained setting. [more]

My True Love: A Perfect Musical Fairytale

May 21, 2024

'My True Love: A Perfect Musical Fairytale" is a musical fairy tale, written by Ben Boecker, about the choices made when the world is a place of dreams. Solid direction by Carolyn Popadin guides the diverse cast as it takes the audience on a romp through a magic land of self-discovery as a young witch explores the complex ideas surrounding consent, self-realization, and acceptance. Don’t let the heavy-sounding themes throw you off; the show is a frothy musical comedy with a good ensemble and a couple of outstanding individual performances. It intentionally comes close to a feeling of a student production, but that idea strongly supports the overall thrust of the show. [more]

David and Katie Get Re-Married

May 7, 2024

"David and Katie Get Re-Married" is the creation of David Carl and Katie Hartman. Using original songs, funny and timely commentary, and interesting props, they take a musical romp through the trials and tribulations of tying the knot again. Michole Biancosino provides outside-the-box direction for the humorously demented exploration of whether marriage is an institution or whether the people doing it should be institutionalized. In the end, it becomes clear that it is, maybe, both. It is a show to be savored in the afterglow of the experience. [more]

The Outsiders: A New Musical

April 22, 2024

The cast of "The Outsiders: A New Musica"l bring their own substantial charisma to the stage, but it's been dramaturgically constrained by Adam Rapp and Justin Levine's book, which sacrifices poetry for explanation. That unfortunate choice is abetted by a score from Levine, Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance (the latter two comprising the folk duo Jamestown Revival) that, influenced by "Oklahoma!" instead of pure sentiment, is far too Rodgers and Hammerstein, when it should have aimed for Rodgers and Hart. [more]

Teeth

April 13, 2024

Sarah Benson’s direction is spot-on, but we find ourselves wishing the closing scene was more than just a plethora of bloody penises. This is where the creatives needed to say, “Okay, this is probably not what we wanted to say”. Adam Rigg’s scenic design though spare, is perfect for a mid-America room that can pass as a small church, or AA meeting. The neon cross is a great touch and Jane Cox and Stacey Derosier’s changing colors do not go unnoticed…particularly when the cross is pink amidst a lavender wash when Ryan is in the scene. Enver Chakartash’s costume design is appropriate across the board, although the women’s outfits in the closing scene are a mélange of Tina Turner’s castoffs from "Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome." Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly provides fine ensemble suites for the Promise Keeper Girls. [more]

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