There are very few words not sung but spoken in the rock musical “Tommy,” but three that might be relevant are “Brilliant, wasn’t it?” spoken by a local lad that happens to be part of a larger audience, amazed, while watching Tommy play his first game of pinball in a pool hall. Unfortunately, they are not the three words that…
When does “life” begin? Depending upon one’s religious beliefs, or scientific beliefs, or social media threads, the answer to the question is different. Does “life” begin at conception; in utero; at birth; in childhood; in adolescence; in old age; in death; or after death? Seen through the eyes of his older self in “Water for Elephants” (currently on at the…
The new Off-Broadway show “Dracula a Comedy of Terrors,” now playing at New World Stages, certainly lives up to its title, ensuring lots of laughs infused into the original storyline along with some brilliant performances. Playwrights Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen have penned a script that skewers the original novel with gender bending characters, risqué innuendos, and over the top…
Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting a new Broadway production entitled “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” penned by Jocelyn Bioh at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Ms. Bioh has set her dramedy inside a hair braiding shop located in Harlem, during one entire day, and has filled the establishment with an array of colorful and outlandish employees and clientele. The occasional street…
One of the best things about the new incarnation of the musical “Here Lies Love” which has recently opened at the Broadway Theatre, is that it does not rely on that common fact that Imelda Marcos had more than enough shoes. There are many other aspects of this production that make it an entertaining evening, including the cast, music, technology,…
After all the hype and waiting it is here. The new Broadway musical “Shucked,” with a book by Robert Horn, and music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, has opened and is currently playing at The Nederlander Theatre. The result resembles the aftermath of a collision between “The Music Man” and “Hee Haw” that took place in a…
Broadway has had quite a roster of juke box musicals grace the stage in the past and it seems that this season will add a few more to the archive. Opening at The Stephen Sondheim Theatre is “& Juliet” featuring music and lyrics by Max Martin and Friends and a book by David West Read. Songs from Mr. Martin’s repertoire…
In heeding the advice mentor Lester Bangs gives young music journalist William Miller, the following comments will be “honest and unmerciful.” Fans of the movie “Almost Famous” released twenty-two years ago may have mixed feelings about the musical stage version now playing on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. On the one hand, book writer Cameron Crowe has religiously…
The most recent revival of the 1987 Broadway musical “Into the Woods” featuring music and lyrics from the late, great Stephen Sondheim is now making its triumphant return, playing at the St. James Theatre. It is without a doubt a fitting tribute to this musical theatre giant. Director Lear deBessonet has assembled an unrivaled cast of astute actors, who are…
The new musical “A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet” with music, book and lyrics by Ben Fankhauser and Alex Wyse, who also star in the Off-Broadway production now occupying the DR2 Theater is old. That’s a compliment and a good thing. It comes across as a good old fashioned musical comedy from decades ago with a present-day spin. The book…