Walking into the Palace Theater to view the new musical extravaganza “SpongeBob SquarePants,” your senses are attacked by a barrage of Crayola colors, shimmering tinsel, happy music and an array of ornamental objects that appear as though Pee Wee Herman went overboard at Party City, shopping for a big beach bash. As you scrutinize the multifarious audience, there is a…
Beau Willimon is perhaps best known for creating the successful Netflix original series “House of Cards” which is completing its final season. Much of what made the series so savvy was the way the writers exposed the chicanery and dishonesty of politics without “naming names.” The episodes wisely left making connections to current events to the viewers. Inspired by Henry…
The highly anticipated new play by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar entitled “JUNK” – referring to the bonds sold in the 1980s by Machiavellian inside traders – does tend to sacrifice intrigue for the sake of entertainment. The plot centers around the fictional junk bond king Robert Merkin (played with unscrupulous charisma by Steven Pasquale), as he manipulates his…
“No, Time’s only a kind of dream, Kay. If it wasn’t, it would have to destroy everything—the whole universe—and then remake it again every tenth of a second. But Time doesn’t destroy anything. It merely moves us on—in this life—from one peephole to the next.” – Alan to Kay Rebecca Taichman’s staging of “Time and the Conways,” currently running at…
Broadway Across America’s collaboration with the award-winning morning show “The Balancing Act®,” on the Lifetime® Channel continues Season Four of the six-part series “Broadway Balances America” with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LOVE NEVER DIES. This new episode debuts on Monday, September 25th at 7:30 am ET and will re-air on Monday, October 2nd at 7:30 am ET. In episode two, viewers…
“Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist/Before they’re allowed to be free/Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head/And pretend that he just doesn’t see/The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/The answer is blowin’ in the wind.” – Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1962) Did the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties at the…
Theatre remains one of the most effective ways to look at the world. Recently, Theatre Reviews Limited critiqued Michael Moore’s “The Terms of My Surrender” playing at the Belasco Theatre. The review stated, “In short, the effect of Michael Moore’s monologue is a significant contribution to the discussion about what Americans can and should do to in the current political upheaval since Donald…
Some audience members attending the engaging “Prince of Broadway,” currently running at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, might find themselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea: either they are unforgiving musical theatre aficionados and find themselves constantly comparing the iconic musical numbers with the original Broadway production of the shows from which they come, or they have…
Michael Moore is without doubt an iconic figure. Mr. Moore’s “The Terms of My Surrender,” currently playing a limited engagement at the Belacso Theatre, dispels any doubt about his archetypal status. Near the end of the lengthy two-hour and twenty-five-minute monologue (with a guest and some needless dancing and questionable – though pleasurable – stripping male “police officers”), Michael Moore…
With dramatic revivals, the question always becomes: is it too soon or is it too dated? Now, John Guare’s 1990 award- winning dark comedy, “Six Degrees of Separation,” has made its first return to Broadway. Fortunately, this proves a perfect time to savor a play about a momentous evening – and its immediate aftermath – when a seemingly desperate but…