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Jeffrey Lodin

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]

Liberty: A Monumental New Musical

July 13, 2016

The production team uses most of the same people who were involved with the show’s 2014 run at Theater 80 St. Marks as well as four of the eight actors. Directing again, Evan Pappas keeps the show moving along, but some of the characterizations are allowed to descend into caricature and the waiting game for the money to be raised becomes a bit wearisome. Shapiro, now two years older, is charming as Liberty and has a sweet voice but it fails to project in this venue. Emma Rosenthal is impassioned as Emma Lazarus, caught between her liberal beliefs and her family’s conservative leanings. [more]