Plays Shows and Concerts
Review: “Once on This Island” at Circle in the Square Theatre
Coming into the Circle in the Square Theatre on an icy winter’s day, the stark contrast of islanders fishing in the lagoon, milling on the beach, and parading around a goat wearing a diaper was striking. Theatergoers in the first row had their feet in sand.
It’s clear something untoward had happened. The upturned boat, what appears to be workers tending to the villagers, their shoes and clothing hung out to …
Review: ‘Who’s Holiday!’ at Westside Theatre
Just in time for the holidays, playwright Matthew Lombardo has taken on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” with his “Who’s Holiday!”, turning the former into a risqué adult comedy. Now an adult, Cyndi Lou Who, portrayed brilliantly by Leslie Margherita, has been released from prison and lives in her uncle’s trailer that she recently inherited. It’s Christmas Eve and she’s hosting a holiday party.
Despite proximity to Whoville’s Mount Crumpet, “that …
Saying Goodbye to Lyric Soprano Barbara Cook
The Broadway community gathered together Monday night at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center to honor one of its own, Barbara Cook, who died on August 8, 2017.
“A Tribute to Barbara Cook” looked back at the star’s career that began in the golden age of Broadway musicals and was reborn in later years in concert halls and cabarets. Ms. Cook won a Tony Award in 1958 for her performance …
Review: ‘The Children’ at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Something is askew in the English seaside, a fact made immediately apparent by the off-kilter set of “The Children,” which transferred to the Manhattan Theatre Club from a successful run at the Royal Court Theater in London this month. It isn’t just the earthquake or the tsunami that follows, nor is it the shutdown of the nuclear reactor because the emergency generators will take over.
Alas, they are in the basement.
Perhaps …
Six Must See Shows for the Holidays
Despite warm, almost summer-like weather into early November in the Northeast, the holiday season and colder clime are finally upon us and millions of people will be visiting New York City to see a show or two in the coming weeks.
While the sheer number of musicals and plays can be daunting, there are some our theater critics, Jonathan Spira and Blaise Buckley, believe you shouldn’t miss.
Here are their top six …
Theater Review: “Annie” at Paper Mill Playhouse
Everyone’s favorite orphan is back. It’s almost as hard to resist staging it as it is to resist seeing it, and the 1977 Tony-award winning megahit is once again at the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Led by Tony winner Beth Leavel as a disheveled and inebriated Miss Hannigan and a sonorous Christopher Sieber as Daddy Warbucks, “Annie” opened Sunday night with the talented young Cassidy Pry (alternating with Peyton Ella) as the redheaded …
A Conversation with Max Vernon, Playwright and Performer, Creator of ‘The View UpStairs’
One of the most moving and powerful musicals of the past season was “The View Upstairs,” which ran for 105 performances Off-Broadway at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre. Written by Max Vernon, it tells the story of a contemporary man who finds himself back in 1973 immediately before the anti-gay carnage that was the fire bombing of UpStairs, a bar in New Orleans, and received a surfeit of awards and nominations. …
