New York Theater News

Fringe Encore Series Review: ‘Rent Control’ at The Huron Club at SoHo Playhouse in NYC

This autobiographical one-man show Rent Control, which won the 2016 FringeNYC Award for Overall Excellence in Solo Performance, Evan Zes turns his comic eye and adult humor on two of the greatest...

Review: ‘1776’ at The John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, NY

This year marks the 240th anniversary of the formation of our country, and what better way to experience a taste of this magnificent history than with the musical 1776 now playing at The John W....

Review: ‘Saturday Night Fever’ at Westchester Broadway Theatre

Saturday Night Fever: The Musical, directed by Richard Stafford, is currently playing at Westchester Broadway Theatre. The musical is based on the well-known 1977 Paramount/RSO film starring John...

Review: ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, NY

Legally Blonde: The Musical opened Saturday night, September 17, 2016, at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson. Based on the book written by Amanda Brown, and also the popular 2001 movie, Legally Blonde:...

Magic Time! ‘Come From Away’ at Ford’s Theatre: ‘A show on its way to Broadway that’s so moving and inspiring I would see it again in a heartbeat’

When I saw this new musical on the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, there were no more than ten minutes during it when my eyes were dry. They welled up from the first scene. Sure, I know I tear up...

Review: ‘EDWIN, The Story of Edwin Booth’ at The Theatre at St. Clement’s in NYC

Renowned as the greatest American Shakespearean actor of his day, Edwin Booth (1833-93), the brother of Abraham Lincoln’s killer John Wilkes Booth, could have easily become the collateral damage of...

A Preview with the Cast and Team of ‘The Vanity’ at Theatre Row in NYC

What do you get when you mix The Picture of Dorian Gray with Sunset Boulevard and Valley of the Dolls? A high-camp melodramatic parody on the consequences of aging in a profession where youth and...

Review: ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ at The Goodspeed

I have been viscerally connected to this charming musical about teenage life during the mid-1950s, when pop music was surrendering to the hot wave of rock ‘n roll started more or less by icon of the...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Cyrano: A Love Letter To A Friendship’

Edmond Rostand’s classic French play of 1897, Cyrano de Bergerac, is re-envisioned through a post-modern gay lens in Grind Arts Company’s Cyrano: a love letter to a friendship. The triangular story of...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Take One”

Sometimes even the most inspired geniuses need to do some rethinking, reworking, and rewrites of their greatest creations to forge an unforgettable masterpiece. Such is the case with God,...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Einstein!’

15,000 documents ÷ 3 years of intensive research + 1 actor x 9 characters = the formula for success with Einstein! Written and performed by Jack Fry, the one-man tour-de-force brings the titular...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘This Gonna Be on the Test, Miss?’

From the time she was a kid, Ronna J Levy knew that she wanted to be an actress. How she ended up being a teacher is the theme of her original one-woman show of 2012, This Gonna Be on the Test, Miss?...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Tribulation: The Musical’

A post-modern take-off on the Book of Revelation, Tribulation: The Musical, with book and lyrics by Molly Miller and music by Brad Kemp, reimagines the Apocalypse through the eyes of a recent college...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Cabtivist’

After listening to John McDonagh’s hilarious reminiscences about his life as a New York cabbie, you’ll be convinced that few jobs are as rife with comic material. Born and raised in Queens, the son of...

In the Moment: Theatre Communications Group Reaches Out to Veterans

Reaching out to new or underserved audience for audience development is likely a major, on-going activity for any local theater troupe. Given the large number of military families and veterans in the...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Joey Variations: A Play with Dance’

A poignant and uplifting three-hander, Joey Variations: A Play with Dance, written and directed by Jon Spano, is a seemingly simple story about the psychological and emotional complexities of...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘The Legend of Oni’

Fulfilling a ten-year dream, the all-female Musical Company OZmate, from Takarazuka, Japan, has brought its epic tale, The Legend of Oni, to FringeNYC, and NYC couldn’t be more fortunate! Based on...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Humorously Horrendous Haunted Hideaway’

If you’re a fan of the fright genre and nostalgic for classic Saturday morning TV shows for kids, Playlab NYC’s Humorously Horrendous Haunted Hideaway will have you screaming with laughter! Written...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘The Intriguing Engagements of Frances and Meg Cheatham, Ladies of Society’

As two upper-crust English sisters of marriageable age in the Victorian era, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw and Natalia Dyer bring new meaning to sibling rivalry in the titular roles of Adaire Kamen’s The...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘The Theatre Made in Paradise’

What better reason to leave Elizabethan England than to stage a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in the New World and to found an indie theater there? That’s the witty premise of playwright...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Algorithmism’

Traditionally, one of the defining factors of human civilization is a society that creates art. But are the hand, mind, and emotions of the artist integral parts of the creative process, or can the...

2016 FringeNYC Review: ‘Till Birnam Wood’

Philadelphia’s John Schultz brings an immersive sensory experience to FringeNYC with Till Birnam Wood, an original adaptation of Macbeth. Already a hit in the 2014 and 2015 Philly Fringe Festivals,...

Review: ‘A Class Act’ at New World Stages in NYC

As a practicing trial and class-action lawyer for 46 years, playwright Norman Shabel has seen the American legal system from the inside, and it isn’t pretty. He draws on that first-hand experience for...

Review: ‘Tink!’ at the New York Musical Festival in NYC

From Peter and The Starcatcher to Finding Neverland, the ever popular tale of Peter Pan continues to inspire original interpretations for the theater. A different take on J.M. Barrie’s beloved...

‘Something Rotten’ Revisited at The St. James Theatre in NYC

I first reviewed this unselfconsciously entertaining musical comedy at the beginning of its run in April 2015. I wanted to see it again to determine how it was holding up now that five of its...

‘How to Quit Your Day Job’ to Debut at NYC’s Feinstein’s 54 Below on Saturday, July 30th at 11:30 PM by Star Johnson

How to Quit Your Day Job to Debut in New York City on July 3oth Jonathan Larson wrote a song a day. This may be a musical theatre urban myth, but it’s constantly on loop in my mind. In any other...

Review: ‘Rob McClure: Smile’ at Feinstein’s/54 Below in NYC

Talent, showmanship, and charm—Rob McClure has it all, and he brings it all to Feinstein’s/54 Below with Rob McClure: Smile, his premiere solo concert in New York City. The pride of New Jersey (where...

Review: ‘Shining City’ at The Irish Rep Theatre in NYC

It’s been only 10 years since Conor McPherson’s word fest of a play ran at the Biltmore Theatre for 101 performance including 21 previews. It was well received not only for the eloquence of the...

Review: ‘Hadestown’ at The New York Theatre Workshop

You have until July 31st to treat yourself to a trip to the East Village where you will find Hadestown, a rich plum cake of a folk opera, happily ensconced at the New York Theatre Workshop. I came to...

Review: ‘Shuffle Along’ at the Music Box in NYC

There is so much talent on stage at the Music Box that it’s difficult to know where to begin giving credit where its due. The first elements that deserve “Original! Exciting! Broadway at its best!”...

Review: ‘The Judas Kiss’ at The Harvey Theatre in the Brooklyn Academy of Music in NYC

David Hare’s play about a very specific time in the life of Oscar Wilde first appeared in New York in 1998, with Liam Neeson playing the brilliant Irish playwright Wilde, thus establishing himself as...

Here are the 2016 Tony Award Winners and Link to Last Night’s Musical Performances

Here are the 2016 Tony Award Winners: Best Play Eclipsed The Father WINNER: The Humans King Charles III Best Musical Bright Star WINNER: Hamilton School of Rock—The Musical Shuffle Along, Or the...

Review: ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown’ at The York Theatre Company

This charming piece of work has a long history. Its original run was off Broadway at Theater 80 in the East Village, where it settled in for a smashing run of 1697 performances. Arthur Whitelaw was...

Review: ‘Cirque du Soleil Paramour’ at The Lyric Theatre in NYC

It will be interesting to keep an eye on this new spectacular show – Paramour – calling itself a New Broadway Musical, for it’s a combination of circus, swanky cabaret floorshow and old world musical...

Richard Seff and the 2016 Winners of The Richard Seff Award: Lois Smith and Bill Camp

DCMetroTheaterArts’ beloved NYC critic and columnist Richard Seff has an award named after him: The Richard Seff (Seffie) Award, and yesterday the 2016 recipients were honored: Lois Smith and Bill...

Review: ‘Cagney’ at The Westside Theatre in NYC

Renowned as one of the greatest actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, James Cagney (1899-1986) was a proverbial triple threat who could do it all. And so can Robert Creighton, the star and force...

Review: ‘Tuck Everlasting’ at The Broadhurst Theatre in NYC

This pretty-as-a picture new musical is by newcomers to the musical theatre, book writers Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, Composer Chris Miller, and lyricist Nathan Tysen. The story, based on a novel...

Review: ‘Do I Hear a Waltz?’ at Encores! at City Center in NYC

This vintage musical, now over 50 years old, was written by a team of masters of musical theatre. It is the perfect piece with which the Encores! series continues to fulfill its mandate, which is to...

Review: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at Second Stage Theatre in NYC

In the rush of incoming Broadway and off/Broadway productions mid-season, I somehow missed the 2nd Stage mounting of this original and quite remarkable new musical by a new trio of writers. Dear Evan...

The 2016 Tony Award Nominations Announced: ‘Hamilton’ Sets Record with 16 Noms

Here are the 2016 Tony Award Nominations: Best Play Eclipsed Author: Danai Gurira The Father Author: Florian Zeller The Humans Author: Stephen Karam King Charles III Author: Mike Bartlett ____ Best...

Review: ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ at American Airlines Theatre in NYC

Eugene O’Neill’s masterwork shows up in London or on Broadway every other season or two, and with good cause. It remains a bravely probing look into a particular family, one which produced an American...

Review: ‘Waitress’ at The Brooks Atkinson Theatre in NYC

I’m sorry to have to report that Jessie Mueller, the appealing young lead in last season’s Beautiful, the Carole King Musical, has moved on to the role of Jenna in the musical adaptation of the film...

Review: ‘Fully Committed’ at The Lyceum Theatre in NYC

As I gleefully watched Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s brilliant tour de force performance in this one man telephone marathon called Fully Committed, I pictured him playing so many leading characters from...

Review: ‘American Psycho’ at The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in NYC

From what would seem to be the most unlikely source material, Duncan Sheik and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have fashioned a dazzling and original musical theatre piece. The source is Bret Easton Ellis’...

Review: ‘In the Secret Sea’ at The Beckett Theatre in NYC

A company called Wellington Road, LLC has produced this 80-minute play by Cate Ryan at the Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row on 42nd Street, with a company of five featured players, under the direction...

Review: ‘The School for Scandal’ at The Lucille Lortel Theatre in NYC

I doubt if in 1777 Richard Brinsley Sheridan was giving much thought to whether or not his comedy of manners would have any relevance to New York audiences in 239 years. But here he is again, at the...

Review: ‘The Father’ at Manhattan Theatre Club in NYC

Floria Zeller, the French playwright might have called his play The Father In Winter, for The Lion in Winter was already taken. In this one act and 90-minute tragedy, adapted from the French by...

Review: ‘The Color Purple’ at The Bernard Jacobs Theatre in NYC

This revival of The Color Purple opened at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre on Broadway in December of 2015 but I wasn’t able to get to it until tonight, in the fourth month of its successful run. It had...

Review: ‘Daddy Long Legs’ at The Davenport Theatre in NYC

Jean Webster’s novel, on which Daddy Long Legs is based, was written in 1911 in a farmhouse in Massachusetts. and much of its New England common sense, dry humor, and old fashioned virtues have been...

Review: ‘The Crucible’ at The Walter Kerr Theatre in NYC

Arthur Miller’s 1953 play has been resurrected by Producer Scott Rudin and 20 cohorts in a production staged by Ivo Van Hove, who performed similar service to Miller’s A View From The Bridge earlier...