Curse of the Starving Class
Cygnet Theater

Sam Shepard's 1977 Curse of the Starving Class is easily as strange as its setting. The set suggests quiet desperation; a sorta kitchen with a strange but near-empty fridge, a stove that barely works, a dining table that is used for many things, rarely dining, and a broken front door. One wall is red painted wood, another galvanized metal sheets reminiscent of roofs on dirt farms of yore, and more.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical
Fifty Foot Penguin Theater

What do you get when you take a porn classic, take out the nudity, and add music? Good campy fun.

David Steinhardt
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
Devil of Delancey Street, The
78th Street Theater Lab

Richard Nixon famously remarked, "I am not a crook!" Let me paraphrase that and say, "I am not a crank!" I don't go to the theatre looking for trouble, but like all critics, I do occasionally find it. Such was the case on a recent lovely autumn evening in Manhattan.

David Dow Bentley
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
Five Course Love
Minetta Lane Theater

In Gregg Coffin's Five Course Love, now at the Minetta Lane Theater, three vastly talented singer/comedians, Heather Ayers, John Bolton and Jeff Gurner, broadly directed by Emma Griffin, sing their way through five ethnic restaurants.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
Lips Together, Teeth Apart
Poway Performing Arts Company

What happens when four blatant heterosexuals spend the Fourth of July on Fire Island? They also bring their own problems to the festivities. Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart is a challenging work. On PowPAC's stage, under the direction of Jay Mower, the challenges are met.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
In My Life
Music Box Theater

Let's hear it for Tourettes Syndrome and for sweet sentimentality. Joe Brooks's new musical, In My Life (he wrote the book, the music, the lyrics and directed it) is about the romance of a guitarist/singer who suffers from the malady. It's like a circus of non sequiturs, but its cast of marvelous singers make it very entertaining nonsense. Lovely song after lovely song, mostly ballads, almost held together by an almost plot.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
Naked Girl on the Appian Way, A
American Airlines Theater

A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, Richard Greenberg's play about a middle-aged couple's interaction with their three grown adopted children, is a low-level sitcom that tries hard to be funny but spends a long time bogged down in banal drivel. There are a few good jokes, but there are few ideas, little action, and mostly reminiscing for the first forty-five minutes. Richard Thomas is very busy acting, and the charming, talented Jill Clayburgh, who is capable of real humor and real drama, does her misdirected (by Doug Hughes) best to give some reality to her character.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
October 2005
Blue Rose: The Rosemary Clooney Story
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Stackner Cabaret

The perfectly titled Blue Rose: The Rosemary Clooney Story is a valentine to one of the greatest vocal interpreters of the past 60 years. Clooney was indeed as lovely and fragile as a rose, with a silken, sophisticated voice that captured audiences worldwide. Her sunny smile, bobbed blond hair and trim figure were only part of her charm. Once she'd begin to sing, the audience would almost forget about the singer and get lost in the music.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
September 2005
Crucible, The
OnStage Playhouse

Originally written in 1953 as a satire on the witch hunts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), The Crucible stands out as one of Arthur Miller's greatest plays. He was convicted by HUAC of contempt, which was later overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The play, well researched, fictionalizes the terrible time of 1692 in Salem.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
September 2005
Elephant Man, The
American Heritage Center for the Arts

Richard Jay Simon seems to have a talent for mounting plays at his Mosaic Theater that demand a lot of actors and then of casting and directing actors and actresses that can do the job. He's done that again with The Elephant Man. Antonio Amadeo is exquisite as the title character, a man whose gross deformities, somehow affecting all of his body save his left arm and his mental and artistic acuity, made him a freak-show attraction and a medical curiosity - a higher class of freak show, some might conclude - in Victorian England.

Julie Calsi
Date Reviewed:
September 2005
Day After Yesterday, The
North Park Vaudeville

In physics we learn that the fourth dimension is time and that it is a constant linear function. In the works of Einstein we learn that it is relative. In quantum physics we learn it may not even be linear, what with the possibility of parallel universes. From playwright Kristina Meek, in her The Day After Yesterday, we learn the potential effect of non-linear, non-constant, parallel universe time on the life of one very perceptive young lady.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Dedication, or the Stuff of Dreams
59E59 Theater

In Dedication, or The Stuff of Dreams, Terence McNally's thoughts about theater and the human condition, now at Primary Stages , are played out and soliloquized on the stage of a crumbled old theater. The incomparable Nathan Lane speaks for McNally, and his monologues work because it's Lane.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Elements of Style
13th Street Theater

A play about Proofreading? Sure. Why not? I was once married to the entertainment editor of a daily newspaper, and her bible was a book called "Elements of Style," and that's the name of the terrific play Wendy Weiner wrote and performs. She plays a number of characters including the prim Chief, her hip-hop daughter, the vulgar fact-checker, an English features editor, a rural guy who works at magazines because he likes girls. This is a show about people involved with language, punctuation, etc., and all of Weiner's characterizations are clever, insightful, and fun.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Lennon
Broadhurst Theater

Lennon, book, misconception and misdirection by Don Scardino (at least he's boldly willing to take all the blame) tries hard but misses badly. Sure, there are some great voices on the stage (Will Chase, Chuck Cooper, Julie Danao-Salkin, Marcy Harriell - the whole cast can really sing), but basically what is missing is John Lennon - his gentleness, his essence, his soul, except for one moment at the end when the real item appears on a screen. "Imagine" gets me. This show doesn't.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Golf
Sofia's

Golf: The Musical by Michael Roberts, now playing Wednesday matinees and evenings at Sofia's on West 46th Street, is not only for golfers. Yes, it's full of golf jokes and inside references, but give performers as talented as the five in this show anything, and it would be entertaining. Add material like "The Lord is my caddy; I shall not slice," a Tiger Woods gospel song, Iraq - "Let's Bring Golf to the Gulf," Florida in summer, and, high point: Bob Hope (Joel Blum) and Bing Crosby (Christopher Sutton) on the road to heaven, and you've got fun for anyone.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Amy's View
North Coast Repertory Theater

David Hare's Amy's View contains much more than her statement, "You have to give love without any conditions at all. Just give it. And one day you will be rewarded. One day you will get it back." The play is about conflict. Resolutions are rare, as are harmonies.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Beads, Bangles and Baggy Pants: A Tribute to the Golden Age of Burlesque
Adams Avenue of the Arts

Burlesque: a humorous and provocative stage show feature slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus. Center Stage Players delivers just that in their new production, Beads, Bangles and Baggy Pants. What they don't deliver is a show ready for an audience. If this type of production interests you, wait a few weeks, closer to the end of the run, which is August 21, 2005.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Confessions of a Mormon Boy
Diversionary Theater

He's white, good-looking, dressed in a suit and tie. He carries The Book of Mormon. Most of us have seen his counterparts at our door or have heard of the ministry they are required to do. They travel the world wide preaching the Mormon brand of religion. Steven Fales, who wrote and performs Confessions of a Mormon Boy, lived the Mormon ideal. He went to Brigham Young University and married a beautiful young Mormon woman. They settled down to raise a good Mormon family and soon had a boy and a girl.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief
Main Street Playhouse

Here, through the imagination of playwright Paula Vogel, is what Shakespeare didn't show us in Othello: Desdemona, the doomed wife of the Moor general; Emilia, the equally doomed wife of the lethally conniving Iago; and Bianca, the courtesan with a thing for the pawn Cassio, dishing and dissing the men in their lives. In this telling, they've had way more men than Shakespeare ever let on. Here, though, the deceit and treachery the women visit on each other are center stage.

Julie Calsi
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Eat Your Heart Out
Lamplighters Community Theater

There is a New York cliche that all the waitpersons are aspiring actors, which is probably 60 percent true. Nick Hall's Eat Your Hear Out follows Charlie (Christopher Buess) works in five different restaurants from Fall `78 through Spring '79. Charlie also narrates this simple story of desperation as he traipses from agent to agent and audition to audition. Also, though, it is the story of some of the folks he serves.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy
East 13th Street Theater

One supposes we are now in the era where dramatic films from twenty years ago are fair game for broad spoofing, and I guess with its overheated tale of an adulterous affair gone mental, Adrian Lyne's 1987 hit, "Fatal Attraction," is as good a choice as any. In their re-examination of the movie as a sexist manifesto, writers Alana McNair and Kate Wilkinson (who also star in the two lead female roles) employ a Greek chorus as a means to explore the potboiler.

Jason Clark
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
After the Night and the Music
Biltmore

Elaine May's three one acts under the heading After the Night and the Music provides an evening of light entertainment with a strong, sparkling cast, headed by the incomparable Jeannie Berlin whose behavior nuances, quirks and comic timing are fascinating, funny and unique. The rest of the cast includes some of the best in town, including J.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Actors Alliance Festival 2005 - Program 5
Lyceum Space

American Cheese is produced, written and directed by Sandra Ruiz with Monique Fleming and Jay Jones in the cast. The questions posed are: "Can a high-school quarterback be an actor?" Can a freaky costumer actually have a non-violent relationship with such a person?

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Actors Alliance Festival 2005 - Program 2
Lyceum Space

Oh Dear! is written and produced by George Soete, directed by Terry Scheidt and stars Peg Humphrey and George Soete. Soete plays a bitter, angry old man who has alienated everyone, even his wife at times, with his antagonistic attitude. She puts up with him, almost. Thus, they are never invited out and nobody ever calls or stops by. At least that is what we are led to believe. Humphrey and Soete bring us a convincing performance.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Actors Alliance Festival 2005 - Program 4
Lyceum Space

Kids Fest - what a fun time! Is your child interested in theater? This is a fine opportunity to see kids in action for on five bucks.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Actors Alliance Festival 2005 - Program 7
Lyceum Space

Seven days, seven wonderful days of plays -- and now it is almost over. There will be the best of the best on Sunday, so try not to miss it. Program Seven went international, an interesting mix and take on happiness and tragedy in our times.

Nigerian Bookends is written and produced by Cuauhtemoc Q. Kish. It is directed by Antonio "TJ" Johnson with, Monique Gaffney and Jason Mallory starring. With the varied beat of Rhys Green's drum upstage, Hijara (Gaffney) and Hijaro (Mallory) stand before a Nigerian court pleading their case. The charges: sexual misconduct.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Beauty And The Beast
Fireside, The

As the show begins, young audience members squeal in recognition as their favorite cartoon film characters come to life. Leah Berry as "Belle" gives us an attractive character with spunk and spice. Her beastly suitor looks sufficiently hideous (but not too hideous to scare the youngsters). As the Beast, Stephen Mitchell Brown displays a wide range of emotions from beneath that furry exterior. Brown has a fine singing voice, too. He soars in the first act finale, "If I Can't Love Her." The supporting cast delivers uniformly polished performances as well.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
Cygnet Theater

Is the term "perfect" presumptuous? Not for Cygnet's production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Every element is exactly right. Sean Murray's casting and direction absolutely nailed Tennessee Williams' bitter, rarely sweet, tale. The designers complement every aspect of the production. Finally, the actors define each of their roles exactingly.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Imperial Theater

The musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, book by Jeffrey Lane, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, is not the movie of the same name, so don't expect to root for the older, more suave con man, played by John Lithgow, as we did for Michael Caine. This show tilts the other way - we root for the intruder Freddy, performed brilliantly by Norbert Leo Butz. Lithgow's Jameson is a smarmy wise-ass of a roue; Butz is the comic everyman, and his absurd portrayal of Lithgow's demented brother is so hilarious, it will probably win him the Tony.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
June 2005
All Shook Up
Palace Theater

All Shook Up, the Broadway show constructed around the songs that Elvis Presley sang, is a feel-good musical from start to finish. It's a first-class entertainment with great singers and dancers, brilliant arrangements by Stephen Oremus, an active, spectacular, imaginative set (that should win awards) by David Rockwell, amazing costumes by David C.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Bungler, The
North Coast Repertory Theater

We're sitting in a public square in Messina, Sicily in 1655. To our left is the home of Trufaldin (Dimiter D. Marinov) and his charge, Gypsy beauty Celie (Janel DeGuzman). To the right is an empty residence owned by Pandolfe (Wayne Jordan) and under the care of valet Mascarille (David Ari). Between the two are three arches and beyond, the sea. In the center of the square bubbles a fountain.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Hilton Theater

Marc Kudisch and Jan Maxwell are the real stars of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but you won't know it until Act Two, when they are featured and bring the show to vivid life. The whole thing is like two different shows: Ian Fleming started it for his grandchildren, Roald Dahl adapted and finished it (they don't get any credit), and Jeremy Sams adapted it for the stage using songs by Richard M and Robert B. Sherman. Act One is a cute, simplistic children's show, amusing on an outer lever but with no real intimacy or enchantment for children or adults.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Chosen
Producers Club

What happens when good intentions, self-righteousness, egotism and cluelessness collide? This workshop production offers ample demonstration.

David Steinhardt
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Chicago
Tennessee Performing Arts Center

Why did Chicago become a cultural phenomenon? It's highly entertaining and so timeless it's timely.  Don't believe me? Go to TPAC this week and see for yourself.

In this age of instant celebrity through TV shows like "The Apprentice" and "Survivor," nothing could be timelier than a song-and-dance satire of fame come and gone quickly, even if it's set in 1920s Chicago and first hit the Broadway stage in 1975.

Evans Donnell
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Fiddler On The Roof
Minskoff Theater

In the current production of Fiddler on the Roof (book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, choreography by Jerome Robbins), well directed by David Leveaux, the great, classic musical is brought to wonderful fruition. Harvey Fierstein is the most entertaining Tevye since Zero Mostel. His powerful presence fills the theater -- his comic timing and nuance go beyond the vehicle itself. He's moving, with great heart, and so funny that it lifts the show beyond the writing.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Hairspray
Marcus Center For The Performing Arts

More than two-and-a-half years after it took Broadway by storm, Hairspray finally makes its Milwaukee debut. Reality-takes-a-holiday in this goofy musical, which by now should be familiar to theater fans everywhere. As a longtime fan of the John Waters' low-budget 1988 film (by the same name), this reviewer was somewhat skeptical whether this campy charmer could be translated successfully to the stage. However, one should never underestimate the limitless talents of director Jack O'Brien.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
La Cage aux Folles
Marquis Theater

I caught the current edition of La Cage aux Folles, and it's easy to see why the revival won awards for the sparkling costumes (William Ivey Long) and choreography (Jerry Mitchell) - - it's spectacular: marvelous gymnastic flipping, flying, twirling, legs flying, bodies twirling, with a magnificent set by Scott Pask and brilliant direction by Jerry Zaks.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Streetcar Named Desire, A
Studio 54

Only a few American plays can compare to A Streetcar Named Desire. And of our best plays, Streetcar is arguably the most distinctly American. When Blanche arrives in her sister's apartment, Stella tells her, "New Orleans isn't like other cities." This particular New Orleans certainly isn't. This is Tennessee Williams' city, where people do whatever they want with a distinctly American freedom from tradition.

Steve Capra
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Sweet Charity
Al Hirschfeld Theater

Director Walter Bobbie has transformed Sweet Charity into a charming contemporary tale, and since old versions are not playing across the street, why compare? Christina Applegate is an adorable, absolutely delightful gamine, with both a grace and gracelessness that are totally captivating. The production (dazzling set by Scott Pask, fine lighting by Brian MacDevitt) around her is a slick contrast to her ingenuousness, with eccentric, stylized choreography by Wayne Cilento, who in some parts creates his own exciting new vocabulary.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Altar Boyz
Dodger Stages

Altar Boyz is a hot show, fun from start to finish. It's a five-man singing/dancing/jumpin' troupe with a twist: mock Christian religious content, but the irreverence is actually reverent, and the boyz are the cutest, the jokes are funny (and that's good in a comedy), and they are all fine singers.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2005

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