Rosemary Harris to replace Diana Rigg in "My Fair Lady"; Hugh Dancy and Megalyn Echikunwoke join "Apologia"; "School Girls” cast reuniting for encore run; MTC expands "30 Under 30” program to age 35; TKTS pilots price listing; “Mean Girls” to offer free fan performance; “Sweat” to tour the Midwest; “Be More Chill” sells out; “Moulin Rouge” aiming for summer 2019 Broadway bow; Tommy Tune hints at “Grand Hotel” revival; Ruthie Ann Miles returns to the stage; Charlotte Rae dead at 92
REVIEW: “This Ain’t No Disco” Ain’t Kidding
“This Ain’t No Disco”, an original rock opera about the art, music, and dance club scenes of 1979 New York, ain’t kidding. This new musical is bland and soulless, overstuffed, overdone, and under-dramatized, with a cacophony of characters, ideas, and issues offering only a sprawling, shallow story that is neither unique, distinctly tethered to the history of the setting, or frankly, engaging. This isn’t just a flop, but a belly flop—the likes of which you rarely see on stage in New York anymore.
REVIEW: Shakespeare in the Park’s Festive and Musical “Twelfth Night”
The Public Theater presents a free, Public Works musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” in Central Park. Featuring songs by Shaina Taub and a cast in excess of 75 professional and amateur performers of all ages, races, sizes, and abilities, this “radically inclusive” production is magical, festive, and highly accessible. Infectiously energetic and buoyantly spirited, do not miss this jubilant new musical.
Lin-Manuel Miranda announces several projects; Nicolette Robinson becomes first actor of color to play Jenna in "Waitress"; Daniel Alexander Jones' "Black Light" returns Off-Broadway this fall; Matt Doyle will star in new musical featuring music by Huey Lewis and the News; NBC's "Hair Live!" sets date; profiles of Joel Grey and Young Jean Lee are must reads
REVIEW: “Fire in Dreamland” Simmers
The convergence of history and art, and the way stories can capture us, are explored impressionistically in “Fire in Dreamland”, a funny, heartfelt, but ultimately emotionally-thin and mysteriously-drawn new play at the Public Theater. Rebecca Naomi Jones is a standout, but the play contains too many furtive motivations and not enough stakes.
REVIEW: A refreshingly queer “Head Over Heels” brings the beat
“Head Over Heels”, a new musical featuring songs by The Go-Go’s, is an upbeat, gender fluid, Renaissance retro romp that is decidedly, and refreshingly, queer. Clever enough and funny enough, though the songs are mostly lackluster, the heart of “Head Over Heels” never stops beating, and the show features a palette of diverse representation that matters.
REVIEW: Encores! Off-Center’s “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope”
New York City Center completes this summer’s Encores! Off-Center series of five performance concert revivals of rarely seen Off-Broadway musicals with a presentation of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope”, composer/lyricist Micki Grant’s incisive 1971 musical revue about black life in America.
REVIEW: Young Jean Lee’s quietly enveloping “Straight White Men”
Young Jean Lee makes history as the first female Asian-American playwright with her quietly enveloping play “Straight White Men”; far from the raging jeremiad that many liberal theatregoers no doubt anticipate, this tightly directed and finely acted play is a smart, funny, and surprising look at questions of privilege and identity through the lens of America’s oldest and newest, and soon to be minority, group: straight white men.
“School of Rock" to close January 20, 2019; Bruce Springsteen records his one-man show for Netflix; "Cats" film will feature Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, and James Corden; Hailey Kilgore out of "Once on This Island"; Lisa Brescia joins "Dear Evan Hansen"; "Hello, Dolly!" national tour schedule released; "Dreamgirls" is casting for Broadway; who sang “Rose’s Turn” best?; Gary Beach dead at 70
REVIEW: Ivo van Hove’s “The Damned"
Belgian visionary director Ivo van Hove presents a breathtaking and terrifying stage version of Luchino Visconti’s “The Damned” at the Park Avenue Armory. Documenting the rise of the Third Reich through the lens of one German family, it is one of the most profoundly unsettling, memorable, and perversely satisfying experiences I have had in the theatre.
REVIEW: Irish Rep’s “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”
Irish Rep revives Lane and Lerner’s “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”, a middling oddball of a musical from 1965. Gorgeously sung, and charming throughout, the romance at the heart of the plot is unconvincing and largely absent from the stage. This new adaptation gets the scale right, but doesn’t solve the flaws baked in to this simple and strange musical.
REVIEW: “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” rocks your soul!
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe”, a musical revue featuring 39 songs from the pop cannon of legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, is a hyperkinetic 90 minutes of pure, joyful, electric entertainment; anyone looking for a jolt of high energy, head-shaking, toe-tapping fun should check out this rocking and soulful new revival at Stage 42 Off-Broadway.