New York

Perfecting the ‘Burn’: Props Master Jay Duckworth on Styling the Iconic ‘Hamilton’ Song

As a Props Master, you try and read through a script and see where the big “what ifs” are, but there is always a human factor that you just can’t predict. In Hamilton, one big “what if” was the song...

Previewing The 2018 Jimmy® Awards at the Minskoff Theatre

Broadway celebrates the next generation of musical theater artists with the 2018 Jimmy® Awards on Monday, June 25, at the Minskoff Theatre. Recognizing talented high-school students and teachers from...

Review: ‘Laura Bush Killed a Guy’ at The Flea Theater

Yes, she really did, and Washington DC-based theater collective The Klunch brings its acclaimed original production of Laura Bush Killed a Guy, keenly written by company Artistic Director Ian Allen,...

Review: ‘Vitaly: An Evening of Wonders’ at The Westside Theatre

Russian-born, Israeli-raised, and now-Canadian resident Vitaly Beckman, known to US audiences from his successful appearance on the hit TV show “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (he did!), is making his New...

Tony-Nominee Eva Noblezada in Her Own Words

On Sunday, June 24, Tony Award nominee Eva Noblezada, best known for her portrayal of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon in London’s West End, then in the 2016 Broadway Revival, will present her final...

Review: ‘Lonesome Blues’ at The York Theatre Company

The latest incarnation of Alan Govenar and Akin Babatundé’s evolving musical tribute to Blind Lemon Jefferson, following their award-winning productions of Blind Lemon: Prince of Country Blues (2001)...

Review: ‘The Maid’s Tragedy’ at Access Theater

With its all-too familiar themes of ambition and power, sexual misconduct and attempted cover-up, disclosure, remorse, and ultimate retribution, the plot of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’s...

Review: ‘Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

Pure enchantment is the watchword as Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre presents Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. With music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and book by Linda...

Review: ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s production of Bullets Over Broadway is a funny romp of a musical. Written by Woody Allen, and based on his 1994 movie co-written by Douglas McGrath, it features...

Exclusive: ‘Hamilton’ Through the Eyes of Original Broadway Cast Member Betsy Struxness

In part one of our “Summer of Hamilton” series, original cast member Betsy Struxness recalls the show’s earliest days. Hamilton. What’s to be said that hasn’t been said? Phenomenon. Game Changer....

Review: ‘Romeo & Juliet’ at New York Classical Theatre

For nineteen seasons, New York Classical Theatre has delivered free performances of more than 40 revered masterworks to sites throughout the city, enjoyed to date by nearly a quarter-million people....

Reflections on the 2018 Tony Awards

From the opening number by hosts Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles to the big winners of the 2017-18 Broadway season, the 72nd Annual Tony Awards presentation, held at Radio City Music Hall and televised...

2018 Tony Awards Roundup

The atmospheric and ethereal The Band’s Visit led the 2018 Tony Awards with 10 wins, including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Leading Actor and Actress in a Musical and Best Score for Composer...

Review: ‘The Promised Land’ by Dunvegan Productions

The Promised Land is entertaining, thought-provoking, unsettling, and at times disturbing. Director and Playwright Lane McLeod Jackson has written and directed a dystopian tale in which the fanatical...

Review: ‘On Your Feet!’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

Politics may have played a key role in driving the future Gloria Estefan from her home in Cuba and positioning her for eventual world acclaim in Miami. But politics hardly merit an “air guitar” solo...

Review: ‘TransAmerica’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

At a historical moment when appalling new waves of gender fundamentalism sweep our nation, leaving bigotry and violence in their wake, it was beyond refreshing to hear the Gay Men’s Chorus of...

Review: ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe’ at ArtsCentric

Let me begin by saying ArtsCentric’s production of Smokey Joe’s Cafe is one of the best things I’ve seen on a Baltimore stage, ever, anywhere. I had high expectations for this self-proclaimed...

Review: ‘Hairspray’ by Tantallon Community Players

Tantallon Community Players’ current production of Hairspray is one of those shows where this reviewer wouldn’t mind seeing every performance. It’s just that damn good. I’m saying that despite driving...

Celebrating Broadway’s Biggest Season in History with ‘Stars in the Alley®’

The statistics are in for the 2017-18 Broadway season, and according to The Broadway League (Broadway.org) – the national trade association for the Broadway industry, founded in 1930 – it’s been a...

Review: ‘Bad Jews’ at the Vagabond Players

A battle between assimilation and affiliation, the personal and historical, Jewish versus Jew-ish. This is Bad Jews, Joshua Harmon’s bitingly witty maiden voyage that put him on the playwriting map....

Review: ‘The Beast in the Jungle’ at Vineyard Theatre

An imaginative, lyrical, and bittersweet stage adaptation of Henry James’ heartbreaking novella of 1903, The Beast in the Jungle reunites the celebrated team of John Kander (music), David Thompson...

Review: ‘Woman and Scarecrow’ at Irish Repertory Theatre

Marking its first production of a work by the internationally-lauded Dublin-born playwright Marina Carr, Irish Repertory Theatre’s New York premiere of Woman and Scarecrow, potently directed by Ciaran...

News: The Highwood Theatre Presents All-Student Production of ‘West Side Story’

As the capstone of its first-ever ‘Year-Long Production,’ The Highwood Theatre is honored to bring the landmark musical, West Side Story, to the stage in downtown Silver Spring. The production – the...

Review: ‘Gypsy’ at the Cumberland Theatre

The original full title of the show now playing at the Cumberland Theatre was Gypsy: A Musical Fable. Emphasize that final word. Gypsy Rose Lee was none too particular about the facts of her life in...

Review: ‘The Adams Family’ by Rooftop Productions

Full Disclosure? The Addams Family was a wild romp for the whole family! I made my way down to Oldtown Manassas to see Rooftop Productions’ take on The Addams Family. The story feels like a great...

Review: ‘Unexpected Joy’ at The York Theatre Company

Though gynocentric themes featuring lead roles for women are a welcome new trend in contemporary theater, there’s little new or unexpected in Unexpected Joy, an original musical by Bill Russell (book...

Interview: Actress Gayle Carney Discusses her Off-Broadway show ‘The Promised Land’

Gayle Carney has played a myriad of roles in her many years as an actress. She’s been seen most recently in The Dog Must Die at Highwood Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland. That play is a dystopian...

On Her Own: Judy Kuhn’s Solo Cabaret at Dumbarton Concerts

Maybe you can go home again. Broadway’s original Cosette from Les Miserables, Bethesda native Judy Kuhn, returns for a solo concert, A Broadway Cabaret With Judy Kuhn, 8 PM May 5 at Dumbarton United...

Review: ‘It Came from Beyond’ at St. Luke’s Theatre

Mid-century aficionados and other interested earthlings can take a time-traveling trip back to the ‘50s at St. Luke’s Theatre with the Off-Broadway premiere of It Came from Beyond, a silly musical...

Review: ‘An American in Paris’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

Think of the latest “new” Gershwin touring show up at the Hippodrome Theatre — An American in Paris — as a G.I. “jukebox musical” with legs. About a hundred of them, it seems. And, boy oh boy, have...

Review: ‘THE RESTLESS HEART: A program of Old Russian, Gypsy (Romani) and Folk Songs of Passion, Longing and Love’ at The Embassy of France

“This concert series is dedicated to Russian chamber vocal music, which is rarely heard in America,” states the program; a regrettably true state of affairs. The Russian Chamber Art Society (RCAS),...

Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ at the Lyric Theatre

Amazing bursts of magic that dazzle in the darkness, distinctive characterizations of a host of eccentric, endearing, and evil personalities by an enthralling cast, a complex and compelling tale of...

Review: ‘SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical’ at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

As with all of the shows in its genre, the latest offering in the surge of biographical jukebox musicals on Broadway, SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, holds appeal for a built-in audience of the...

Review: Young Artists of America Presents ‘Ragtime in Concert’

Young Artists of America and the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore joined forces to present a concert version of Ragtime last Sunday, April 15th. The performance, which took place in the...

Review: ‘The Seafarer’ at Irish Repertory Theatre

Mystic realism and metaphor meet the Irish gift of gab and a dire predilection for alcohol in Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, a disturbingly dark and devilish comedy about lost souls, drunken...

Review: ‘Three Tall Women’ at the Golden Theatre

Brilliant. Extraordinary. Ingenious. Superb. The best. Yet all adjectives and superlatives pale in comparison with the truly unsurpassed quality of the script, performances, direction, design, and...

Previewing ‘Stepchild, A New Musical’ in the Rough Draft Festival at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center: An Interview with David James Boyd, Chad Kessler, and Kim Weild

As part of LaGuardia Performing Arts Center’s Rough Draft Festival, IRT Theater and TGF 12 Productions have teamed up for a workshop presentation of Stepchild, A New Musical, inspired by the popular...

Review: ‘Luzia’ at Cirque du Soleil in Tysons

For a Cirque-head such as myself, anticipation of a new Cirque du Soleil show coming to town kicked in months ago. It had been two long years since Cirque last pitched its Big Top here, with Kurios –...

Review: ‘Motown the Musical’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

The fun of seeing Motown the Musical starts a few hours before leaving for the theater. Just the promise of that glorious oldies playlist is like inner ear foreplay. There isn’t much that puts a...

Review: ‘Children of a Lesser God’ at Studio 54

When Mark Medoff‘s award-winning play Children of a Lesser God premiered on Broadway in 1980, followed by the highly-lauded film adaptation in 1986, it provided groundbreaking insights into the need...

Putting It Together – ‘Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,’ by Todd S. Purdum (Book Review)

How do you solve a problem like translating music into words? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? Music is a gossamer thing, difficult to pin down with language. As the critic Winthrop Sargeant...

Review: ‘Mean Girls’ at the August Wilson Theatre

If you’ve ever witnessed (or worse yet, experienced, encouraged, or participated in) the “girl-on-girl crime” of high-school cliques, malicious gossip, fierce competitiveness, and vicious...

Review: ‘Wicked Frozen’ at St. Luke’s Theatre

What do you get when you cross the super-popular hits Wicked and Frozen with a Boston accent? The laugh-out-loud musical parody Wicked Frozen, presented by John Lant and making its Off-Broadway debut...

Review: ‘Lobby Hero’ at Second Stage Theater

In the current American climate of daily accusations of “fake news,” public denials of misdeeds, not-so-secret cover-ups of illegal activities, and arbitrary job terminations of public officials at...

Review: ‘Rocktopia’ at The Broadway Theatre

A mash-up of classical music with classic rock, Rocktopia, co-created by vocalist Rob Evan (of New York stage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra fame) and Maestro Randall Craig Fleischer (a noted Conductor,...

Review: ‘Angels in America’ at the Neil Simon Theatre

London’s blockbuster National Theatre production of Angels in America – Tony Kushner’s sweeping two-part eight-hour epic about AIDS, politics, and gay life in America in the 1980s – has alighted on...

Review: ‘Newsies’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

There’s nothing fake about the news out of Toby’s Dinner Theatre. Its homegrown production of Newsies gathers such a concentration of explosive male talent under one roof that Columbia might consider...

Review: ‘School of Rock’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

Dewey Finn, the schleppy hero of School of Rock, is a modern-day Maria Von Trapp, leading children to find happiness through music. While posing as a substitute teacher, he shares his passion for...

Book Review: The Baron of Broadway, ‘Unmasked: A Memoir’ by Andrew Lloyd Webber

One sunny afternoon in 1984, Andrew Lloyd Webber (not yet “Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber” or “Baron Lloyd-Webber of Sydmonton” as he is known today) paid 50 cents for a used copy of Gaston Leroux’s The...

Review: ‘Dogs of Rwanda’ at Urban Stages

In Dogs of Rwanda, now making its Off-Broadway debut at Urban Stages, playwright Sean Christopher Lewis revisits the horrors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and the scars they left – both physical and...