Reckless
Patio Playhouse

The stage is bare. The lights come up. A staff of three technicians (Steve Stetak, Miranda Porter, Peggy Schneider) wheel in a bed and an exterior corner of the house belonging to Tom and Rachel (Michael Alexander, who plays two other roles, and April Boatman). Tom is sprawled on the bed, obviously in anguish. Rachel is looking out the window as snow is falling (provided by technician Porter), overly joyously happy. After a lengthy monologue she bounces over the Tom snuggling romantically, trying in vain to arouse his affection or, at least, attention.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Saturn Returns
Lincoln Center - Mitzi Newhouse Theater

 Saturn Returns by Noah Haidle concerns three times in the life of a man, played by three actors -- age 28, age 58, age 88 -- as he relates to and then remembers his dead wife and daughter. It starts with the old man (wonderfully played throughout by John McMartin) and his caretaker, and that works as a bit about his past is revealed.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Billy Elliot
Imperial Theater

 Freedom from persecution for one's sexual orientation is vitally important, but so is freedom from the bonds of stereotype. The stage musical Billy Elliot,like the beautiful film that inspired it, is about an adolescent boy who wants to become a professional ballet dancer even though he's not gay - or, to use the British slang terms, not "bent" or a "pouf." And shouldn't a kid be allowed to love classical dance without everyone assuming he's a proto-homo?

Michael Portantiere
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Streamers
Roundabout - Laura Pels Theater

 David Rabe's Streamers is historically significant in that it was written more than 30 years ago by a heterosexual white male, yet it's an ultimately sympathetic play about sexual, racial and class tension in the military during the Vietnam era. The Roundabout's gripping Off-Broadway revival at the Laura Pels Theater is one of the company's finest productions ever to be offered in that venue.

Michael Portantiere
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Wedding Belles
Bathhouse Cultural Center

 One Thirty Productions, Dallas' only all-matinee production company, opened its second season October 29, 2008 at the BathHouse Cultural Center on White Rock Lake with an original play by Alan Bailey (Smoke on the Mountain) and Dallas writer/actress, Ronnie Claire Edwards.

Rita Faye Smith
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
American Buffalo
Belasco Theater

When I first saw David Mamet's American Buffalo in 1976, it was just a short time after the United States Supreme Court opened the way to free verbal expression on the stage, and the use of vulgar expletives was new, groundbreaking, shocking. Now, "fuck," the word that got Lenny Bruce arrested, is so common in everyday speech, it is used as an adjective, and most comedians overuse it in their routines.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Murderers
Off-Broadway Theater

 Next Act Theater presents a real-life version of the board game "Clue" in its production of Murderers. However, unlike the popular board game, the play offers a heaping helping of wit, style, irony and complex characters.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Music Man, The
Lewis Middle School

Such `n Such's production of Meredith Willson's perennial classic, The Music Man, is a big, bold, rollicking entertainment. Director Arlene J. Wall, with choreographer Alisa Williams, musical director Kirk Vales, and a cast of 46 have staged a classical production of this 1957 hit.

Frank Remiatte was born to play Harold Hill. Sandra Kopitzke, with her golden voice, is a wonderful Marion Paroo. The large cast also included many familiar names and lots of new faces.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
March 2008
Greater Tuna
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Stackner Cabaret

Here in Wisconsin, we can be forgiven for thinking of Greater Tuna as "Lake Wobegone" with a Texas twang. (As most local folks know, the weekly radio reports of life in fictional Lake Wobegon are relayed by Garrison Keillor, the Minneapolis-based author and star of "A Prairie Home Companion.)" Interestingly, Greater Tuna also prominently features a radio station. Two actors portray the DJs of the local station in Tuna, Texas. In fact, the two actors comprise the show's entire cast.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
U.S. Drag
Ion Theater

 Laughing out loud! Something new at Ion? Not new, but certainly unusual. Ion Theater ttends toward more serious plays, so the choice of U.S. Drag is somewhat of a departure. Granted, there's an underlying touch of drama; Ed, a killer prowling the streets of New York, is the subject of conversation, but this really is the story of Allison (Karson St. John) and Angela (Laura Bozanich).

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Billy Elliot
Imperial Theater

 "Billy Elliot," a very moving film about a coal miner's son who wants to be a ballet dancer, written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daltry, came out in 2000. The same team wrote and directed the musical now on Broadway, with music by Elton John, and it's a deeply layered piece with cinematic power that only many years of work, including a long run in London, can produce.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
War Stories
The New Los Angeles Theater Center

 Joyce Guy, an African-American theater pro who acts, writes and dances, has reached back into her own life for the basis of her solo show, War Stories. Guy was born into a military family; her father was a career soldier, a staff sergeant in the Army mail system who was posted overseas most of the time. Thus, Guy spent her childhood in places like Taiwan and Japan, an experience that left her unprepared for the kind of racism she encountered when she returned to the USA for high school. As she recalls, "I had to learn to be Black when I came back from Asia."

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Moon for the Misbegotten, A
Palm Beach Dramaworks Studio

 Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten concerns the metaphoric unmasking of its three main characters. This is O'Neill's sequel to his monumental Long Day's Journey into Night, a largely autobiographical play with a last-act showdown between the playwright's alter ego and the character derived from O'Neill's alcoholic brother. Misbegotten retains the self-loathing brother, James "Jim" Tyrone Jr., in a fictional story set on the tenant farm he owns but is willing to sell.

Julie Calsi
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Little Dog Laughed, The
Kirk Douglas Theater

 To come out or not come out is the question Beane asks in his scabrous satire of sex and Hollywood. First produced Off-Broadway in 2005, The Little Dog Laughed repeats in L.A. with some actors from the original production. All turn in polished and assured performances.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
November 2008
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Royale Theater

 Twenty years ago, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom announced the arrival of a major new playwright on Broadway. It showed his command of language, humor and tone already at full throttle, while also showing his indulgence for meandering conversation and climactic moments that, however well constructed, feel a little stagey and forced. The playability of Wilson's dialogue has in no way diminished over the years, however; and when you have a force of nature like Charles S. Dutton delivering Black Bottom's powerhouse first-act monologue, not a breath can be heard in the theater.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
March 2003
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Royale Theater

 Unfortunately, even the star power of Academy Award-winner Whoopi Goldberg wasn't enough to draw crowds to August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. The show had a relatively brief run on Broadway, despite the fact that, in addition to Goldberg, well-known actor Charles Dutton returned to recreate the role of Levee (which he played in the successful Broadway original 18 years ago). Ma Rainey is also notable as the first of many Wilson plays to be seen on Broadway. This reviewer was able to see the original version and this slightly altered revival.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2003
Major Barbara
American Airlines Theater

Capable mounting of G.B. Shaw warhorse, as usual proving that the playwright can be astonishingly brilliant yet still anemic when it comes to flesh-and-blood drama. Playing the title, Cherry Jones does her patented Cherry Jones; it's more fun to watch David Warner's matter-of-fact Undershaft, Dana Ivey's snappy matriarch and Zak Orth as mama's boy Stephen.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
July 2001
Mamma Mia!
Winter Garden Theater

There's no getting around that Mamma Mia! is -- as a friend who used to denigrate commercial Broadway product once put it -- crap.There's no defending it on artistic or intellectual grounds. It's a loud, glitzy excuse to shoehorn a bunch of ABBA songs into a ridiculous plot. Like so many new Broadway musicals, the show overwhelms the audience with volume, assuming that decibels will murder dissent. But is Mamma Mia! hateful? Far from it. The writers and performers are, if nothing else, cheerily blatant about the show's dumbness.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
October 2001
Mamma Mia!
Winter Garden Theater

 This is a feel-good evening whose time has definitely come. A scant two years after its London opening, the show has a string of successful productions which spread like lightning all over the English speaking world. When primary producer, Judy Craymer, approached relatively unknown TV/theater writer Catherine Johnson to do the book, she was somewhat incredulous but, a big fan of ABBA, she was eager to comply and is still surprised by its success.

Jeannie Lieberman
Date Reviewed:
February 2002
Mamma Mia!
Winter Garden Theater

 I would give totally different reviews to the two halves of Mamma Mia!. Act One is sweet trivia of no consequence, with a couple of cute songs and some oldies but goodies that work fine. But the enthusiasm on the stage doesn't quite conquer the inane dialogue and foolish plot to reach the audience. The not-very-imaginative choreography is all right on the beat, with most people doing exactly the same thing at the same time. The costumes are a mish-mash of decades.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
October 2001
Man of La Mancha
Martin Beck Theater

 In times of great woe, there's something about Man of La Mancha both reassuring and sad; reassuring because the musical, even more than the picaresque book, calls for courtesy, nobility and personal freedom as antidotes to a hostile environment. The unhappy part is that doddering Don Quixote's delusions cause as much harm as help -- as do so many well-meaning idealists.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Man of La Mancha
Martin Beck Theater

 A reluctant patron, entering Broadway's intimate Martin Beck, commented "its so Sixties, you know, protest and all that." But here we are, 40 years later, our country again embroiled in a war few understand and many fear. We certainly need a dose of idealism and hope now, as we did in l965, when Richard Kiley starred in Dale Wasserman's play, based on Miguel Cervantes' l615 novel, "Don Quixote de la Mancha." The musical, with its Spanish-tinged score by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion, ran an amazing 2328 performances.

Jeannie Lieberman
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Man of La Mancha
Martin Beck Theater

 Man of La Mancha remains an inspiring musical for all time. This production, with a magnificent, ponderous yet airy expressionistic set by Paul Brown and magical lighting by Paul Gallo, starts with acting on the level of Children's Theater, with lines declaimed. Pretty dull, until a bit of theatrical magic when they create horses out of scraps, Brian Stokes Mitchell opens up his pipes, and it's a musical!

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Man Who Came To Dinner, The
American Airlines Theater

 The inaugural production in the Roundabout Theater's new Broadway home, the unfortunately- titled American Airlines Theater (formerly the Selwyn Theater), is The Man Who Came To Dinner, a revival of the 1939 Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman comedy about a pompous, enraging critic who wreaks havoc on a decent, upstanding family when he takes a tumble on their property. The great news is that the critic is played by Nathan Lane, a treasure of the Broadway stage.

Jason Clark
Date Reviewed:
August 2000
Man Who Had All The Luck, The
American Airlines Theater

In his very first play, Arthur Miller gave himself a problem he couldn't quite write his way out of: can you make heavy drama out of something that doesn't happen, near tragedy out of the mere fear of tragedy? He gave it a game try, though, creating a character who, blessed with constant good luck, develops a neurotic dread of the misfortune that has to be just around the corner. It's a workable conceit, but David Beeves' reactions are so extreme, the piece stops being a universal drama and turns into a less convincing, less interesting look at aberrant pathology.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Man Who Had All The Luck, The
American Airlines Theater

 Arthur Miller's first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, written when he was twenty-five, truly shows the promise of the great writer he became. We see the seeds of his marvelous Death of a Salesman in a failing father who has false ambitions for one of his two sons. The conflicts are more blatant, but the power was there in this play, full of drama, anguish, even some humor and melodrama. And what an interesting problem: what goes on inside a man who is lucky in all of his endeavors? How does that affect him and those around him?

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Mary Poppins
New Amsterdam Theater

 An old-fashioned musical with some memorable songs by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, especially "Supercali..." -- you know. Echo-ey, muddy sound and awful, shrieking, often incomprehensible kids, but there's good magic and a great three-level set and fantastic visual images by best-in-the-world designer Bob Crowley. Little dramatic tension here, but Ashley Brown charms as Mary; she's as close to Julie Andrews as you can get. Agile Gavin Lee is fine as Bert.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
December 2006
Master Harold...And The Boys
Royale Theater

 It has been 21 years since Master Harold...and the Boys, by masterly South-African playwright Athold Fugard, premiered on Broadway. Since then apartheid, for all intensive purposes, has officially been ended. However, the tragedy of South Africa's embrace of that insidious system, and its effect on the people, remains a key theme of Fugard, despite his more recent preference for less incendiary plots.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
June 2003
Match
Plymouth Theater

 Frank Langella is a theatrical treasure. In Match, by Stephen Belber, zippily directed by Nicholas Martin, with a fine set by James Noone, now on Broadway, he has a great time (and so do we) as he plays a former dancer/choreographer in a camp caricature with a tres gay sensibility. There's much amusing banter as he interacts with an interviewing couple, the grim Ray Liotta and the delicate, sensitive Jane Adams who prompt him to talk about his life and times.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2004
Medea
Brooks Atkinson Theater

 Well, it sure isn't boring, though in the first ten minutes, with the female chorus yapping away incoherently, this Deborah Warner-directed Medea is damned annoying. And then Fiona Shaw arrives, a truly fascinating actress who manages to be simultaneously mannered yet mercurial. It's as if Warner told her to find specific gestures for every line of dialogue--and then kept every one of them in the show.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Medea
Brooks Atkinson Theater

 Fiona Shaw's performance in the title role is the talk of Broadway, the surest Tony Award up there. With a new translation of the venerable Euripides text by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael and a radically fresh vision of the tragedy by director Deborah Warner, this is not the majestic termagant Medea of old. The murderous mom has been transplanted to the modern world and deposited in a curiously imposing villa with a plexiglass facade.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Metamorphoses
Circle in the Square

It's been apparent since her highly-stylized and acrobatic work in Chicago that director Mary Zimmerman has a unique and captivating theatrical sense. What she's now refined, judging from her current Metamorphoses, is a sense of cohesion and purpose to her storytelling. Not only do we get pretty and witty stage pictures to look at, but this retelling of Ovid's myths has a children's-theater simplicity, and the evening, using interconnected themes and stories, builds to not one but two touching finales.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Metamorphoses
Circle in the Square

 Circle in the Square Theater is the perfect home for this enchanting, imaginative concoction. Where else could the audience get as wet? Metamorphoses is an Arabian Nights out of Ovid - ancient tales retold with marvelous theatricality in "Story Theater" style, with brilliant conception by writer- director Mary Zimmerman, set by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Mara Blumenfeld, and great lighting by T.J. Gerckens. Vivid images and many funny moments fill this juxtaposition of ancient doings with contemporary language.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
March 2002
Metamorphoses
Circle in the Square

This Chicago import from Lookingglass Theater Company made a big splash last March when it opened at Circle in the Square, my favorite Broadway venue. About a dozen of the fabulous myths narrated by the great Roman poet Ovid are retold around and inside a spacious pool of water. The medium is perfect for simulating the mutability of mortals who become playthings of the gods. Trouble is, the Lookingglass gloss on Metamorphoses strips away the sensuality and the wit of Ovid, overlaying a mocking comedy of its own.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
January 2003
Miss Saigon
Broadway Theater

Nearly nine years have passed since hype and controversy overshadowed the actual content of Boublil/Schonberg's "Madame Butterfly" riff, Miss Saigon. On first viewing, I was stunned by John Napier's set design -- not so much for its furniture and spectacle but its incredible sense of space; the upstage area seemed to extend past infinity. I had quibbles with the sometimes iffy lyrics and the unmoving love story, but every time Jonathan Pryce slithered across the stage, all was forgiven.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
1994
Miss Saigon
Broadway Theater

 Of Broadway's musical mega-blockbusters, two of the longest running -- Les Miserables and Miss Saigon -- share several things in common: poignant, heart-wrenching stories, gorgeous melodies, multi-million dollar budgets, awe-inspiring spectacle, numerous awards, Tony nominations and awards galore, and an executive producer who believes every performance should be a repeat of opening night. Miss Saigon, in its fourth year at the Broadway Theater, is the new "kid" on the block.

Ellis Nassour
Date Reviewed:
1997
Monty Python's Spamalot

 see Criticopia review(s) under "Spamalot"

Spamalot
Minskoff Theater

Monty Python's Spamalot is the most entertaining excuse for entertainment since Hairspray. Director Mike Nichols has taken Eric Idle and John Du Prez's medieval spoof about Arthur and his boys, and, with the aid of the funniest, most ridiculous choreography in town by Casey Nicholaw, a brilliant set, absurd (and glamorous) costumes by Tim Hatley, and has put together a musical extravaganza as foolish and funny as The Producers.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2005
Morning's at Seven
Belasco Theater

 Tired of the relentlessly pointless plays littering the season and yearning for the deep contentment one gets from a gentle and satisfying human comedy? Look no further than Paul Osborne's 1939 charmer, Morning's at Seven, which was rediscovered two decades ago and, thankfully, re-rediscovered again, courtesy of director Daniel Sullivan and a nifty cast of old pros, most notably William Biff McGuire, Elizabeth Franz, Estelle Parsons and Buck Henry.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Morning's At Seven
Belasco Theater

 Paul Osborn's lovely play, Morning's at Seven, has just been extended for another month on Broadway. Run -- do not walk! The play is a peek into a rural past, in 1938, with ordinary Americans and their family interactions. It's almost like an anthropological study of customs, beliefs, taboos of a time long gone as four elderly sisters deal with the consequences of their marriages, lives, and affairs. The entire acting ensemble is super, though Piper Laurie, Julie Hagerty and Elizabeth Franz really knocked me out with the breadth of their performances.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
June 2002

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