Critic unbound

My feelings about Carousel are complicated. On the one hand, it's hard to argue against this 1945 show as the best of all the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals. It is the one that blends song and story most felicitously, boasts some of team's most beautiful (and narratively ambitious) musical numbers, and has an emotional resonance … Continue reading What’s Wrong With ‘Carousel’? And Does It Matter? →

I saw the original off-Broadway production of Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero in 2001, and though I don't recall many specifics about it, I remember being disappointed — it seemed a comedown from the playwright's smashing off-Broadway debut a few years before, This Is Our Youth. The new Broadway revival, however (a Second Stage production in … Continue reading ‘Lobby Hero’: Second Time’s a Charm →

Frozen, the new Disney musical that has just opened on Broadway, is a beautiful piece of work— sleek, visually splendid and in many ways ingenious. Bringing to the stage the wildly popular animated film, about a princess who can freeze her constituency with the flick of a finger, at first glance seemed a daunting task. … Continue reading Can ‘Frozen’ Warm Up Broadway? →

The strange fate of Jerry Springer—The Opera is one of the mysteries of the recent theater past. The show, an operatic send-up of the tawdry daytime reality show, was a smash hit when it opened in London in 2003, a sellout at the National Theatre and winner of the Olivier Award for best musical of … Continue reading ‘Jerry Springer’: Has the Moment Passed? →

A few thoughts about Hangmen, the new play from Martin McDonagh, which I caught up with belatedly at the Atlantic Theater Company: It's a nice comeback for McDonagh, whose work I have loved (The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Pillowman), but have been disappointed with lately (A Behanding in Spokane, the last play of his … Continue reading ‘Hangmen’: Welcome Back, Martin McDonagh →

After months of sitting through bad plays by acclaimed authors (Ayad Akhtar's Junk, Beau Willimon's The Parisian Woman), what a treat it is to discover Miles for Mary, running at Playwrights Horizons through the end of the month. Maybe it's because there is no author, at least in the usual sense. Miles for Mary is … Continue reading Best Play of the Season →

While waiting out the January lull in Broadway theater ... I've been watching a lot of Netflix. And getting progressively more exasperated.  Five reasons why I've decided to bail out of the service: 1) Too many streaming services. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, cable premium channels up the wazoo— how many additions to your cable bill do … Continue reading Five Reasons to Dump Netflix →

Autobiographical one-man shows are not my favorite genre, but I had hopes for John Lithgow's Stories by Heart. This two-act show — which Lithgow has been touring around the country and just brought to Broadway — is partly autobiographical (engaging reminiscences of growing up with his storytelling father), but mostly a showcase for Lithgow to … Continue reading Stories by Lithgow: Less Acting, Please →

Not an easy year for me to make my selections; few outstanding shows, though several pretty good ones. Enough, at least, for me to participate in the inevitable year-end pastime: 1. Come From Away  The grass-roots success of the Broadway year. A couple of theater unknowns from Canada (Irene Sankoff and David Hein, a husband-wife … Continue reading 10 Best Theater of 2017 →

Stars draw the crowds on Broadway these days, but seldom has shrewd casting created such an instant must-see as Steve Martin's new comedy Meteor Shower. The big attraction is a pair of acclaimed TV comedians making their Broadway debuts: Keegan-Michael Key, co-creator of the superb sketch-comedy series Key and Peele, and Amy Schumer, who has … Continue reading The Stars Don’t Align for “Meteor Shower” →