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Michael Kaiser has written a fantastic piece in the Washington Post that I've been meaning to link up since last year (sorry, couldn't resist the lame joke) ... entitled 'No Bailout for the Arts'. 

There are two times of year in the Broadway season that you can always count on traditional dips - at the end of the summer (what we refer to as ‘Back to School') and then the January slump, which follows the Holiday Season, when tourists go home and everyone sits tight and assesses their economics, because taxes are due and Spring break is a long 3 months away. This impacts not only the theatre, but also restaurants, hotels and other areas of the travel industry. New York hotels, restaurants and nightlife however tend to benefit from conventions all year round, so it's Broadway that takes the biggest 'hit.'

Happy Holidays to all! Just wanted to share a quick link to BWW's newest site feature which will bring together the latest in theatre related CD, Book and DVD news and reviews from throughout the site. 

If you're in one of the below places, love theatre, have writing experience and would be interested in covering theatre for BroadwayWorld.com - let us know!

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a new Broadway production of Pal Joey, featuring music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart. This production features a new book by Richard Greenberg, based on the original book by John O'Hara, with music direction by Paul Gemignani, and choreography by Graciela Daniele. Joe Mantello directs.

Set in Chicago in the late 1930s, Pal Joey is the story of Joey Evans, a brash, scheming song and dance man with dreams of owning his own nightclub. Joey abandons his wholesome girlfriend Linda English, to charm a rich, married older woman, Vera Simpson, in the hope that she'll set him up in business.

The score includes such classic songs as "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "I Could Write a Book," "You Mustn't Kick It Around," and "Zip," among others. The new production also features "I'm Talking to My Pal," a song that had been dropped from the score during its out-of-town tryout, and will be heard on Broadway for the first time.

Ben Brantley, New York Times: "But nobody, with the qualified exception of Martha Plimpton as a floozy with a grudge, emerges from this Roundabout Theater Company production covered in stardust. In shining a harsh light on the inner rot of selfish characters who first appeared in short stories by O’Hara for The New Yorker, this revival has succeeded only in turning them into zombies. When Ms. Channing, as the alcoholic society matron Vera Simpson, sings the show’s most famous song, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” it might as well be titled “Benumbed, Bummed Out and Bored Silly.”"

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: " Nearly 70 years after an unrepentant cad named Joey Evans first graced a Broadway stage in "Pal Joey," he's back, with his ambition and charm intact. The musical, featuring a vintage Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart score, has been revived several times on Broadway over the decades, but none of the productions has been as thoroughly a refurbishing as the small yet effective redo that the Roundabout Theatre Company opened Thursday at Studio 54."

David Rooney, Variety: The Rodgers and Hart songs in “Pal Joey” are certainly easy on the ear, but what makes the Roundabout revival of their 1940 show so compelling is Richard Greenberg’s trenchant adaptation of the original book by John O’Hara. Erasing the sanitizing stamp of musical-theater coyness, Greenberg brings a fascinating melancholy grubbiness to this cynical story of sordid emotional transactions and opportunistic behavior in late-1930s Chicago. It’s a dark show for desperate times, with enough dramatic meat on its bones to work even as a nonmusical play. And like “Cabaret” a few years back, it seems right at home in the decadent former playpen of Studio 54.

Frank Scheck, NY Post: "I'M pleased to report that a musical-comedy star is born in the newly revived "Pal Joey." Unfortunately for the Roundabout, it's Martha Plimpton and not Matthew Risch, the chorus boy recently bumped up to the title role. "

Linda Winer, Newsday: "Broadway has been waiting a long time for a major revival of "Pal Joey," the most sophisticated musical to ever get lost in mid-century Americana. But despite a smart creative team and game performances from Stockard Channing and the ever-more-surprising Martha Plimpton, the Roundabout Theatre Company production that opened last night at Studio 54 seems more like grown-ups playing dress-up than gritty and cynically delicious pulp fiction."

Posted on: Friday, December 19, 2008 @ 09:32 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Dana Rossi for the New York Press has written a great piece on some of Broadway's unsung heroes - the understudies. From the "boos" when they're announced that they're going on for the star, to winning over the crowds in the end, it's a great read and a reminder to be kind the next time you get the opportunity to see one go on.

Posted on: Thursday, December 18, 2008 @ 09:31 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

The most beloved swamp-dwelling ogre of all time makes his Broadway debut in Shrek the Musical. This all-new production is based on Shrek's adventures in the classic William Steig book and Oscar-winning film. Joining Shrek on his journey from the swamp to the stage will be his wisecracking sidekick Donkey, Princess Fiona, Lord Farquaad and a chorus of everybody's favorite fractured fairytale creatures. With more layers than ever and a completely original new score, Shrek The Musical proves that there's more to the story than meets the ears.

David Rooney, Variety: "Countless films of recent decades have set out to spin a gently subversive fairy tale with a contemporary edge, but few have succeeded as wildly as "Shrek." Conjuring genuine enchantment without quaintness or treacly sentimentality, the 2001 movie enlivened its storybook traditions with rude humor, gleefully anachronistic pop-culture references and knockabout characters brimming with heart. That recipe remains largely intact in "Shrek the Musical," along with much of the irreverent charm that's been successively diluted in two overworked screen sequels. If the storytelling is bumpy in patches and the songs don't quite soar, the show never stints on spectacle or laughs, making it a viable contender for a slice of the Disney market on Broadway."

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: The folks at DreamWorks have done their darndest to make sure we are entertained at "Shrek the Musical," the company's lavish stage adaptation of its hit animated movie. For much of the time, they succeed, thanks to the talent and ingratiating appeal of the show's four principal performers, starting with Brian d'Arcy James as that disagreeable, smelly green ogre who lives in a swamp.

Ben Brantley, New York Times: "“Shrek,” for the record, is not bad. The maiden Broadway venture of DreamWorks Theatricals (a stage-oriented arm of the company that made the movie), in association with Neal Street Productions, it is definitely a cut above the most recent offerings from its creators’ direct competitor in cartoon-inspired musicals, Walt Disney. Unlike that company’s “Tarzan” and “Little Mermaid,” “Shrek” has the virtues of a comprehensible plot and identifiable characters. And as designed by Tim Hatley, whose set captures some of the feral majesty of Steig’s original drawings, the show isn’t the eyesore that Disney’s fish story is."

Elysa Garner, USA Today: "Leading man Brian d'Arcy James may have to conceal his boyish good looks, but his Shrek is an adorable hero and, despite his blubbery prosthetics, an expressive one. James' delightfully playful, at times plaintive performance leaves no doubt this guy's just a chartreuse cherub. Sutton Foster is predictably plucky as Princess Fiona, who teaches Shrek that beauty is in the eye of the beholder — and that pretty girls can make loud, disgusting noises, too. And as anyone who caught Daniel Breaker's enchanting star turn in last season's Passing Strange would suspect, the young actor is perfectly hilarious as Shrek's goofy sidekick, Donkey (represented on screen by the voice of Eddie Murphy). All these assets do not add up to a great musical: That, by definition, would require great music. But Shrek is pretty grand entertainment, and to these eyes, it looks like a big, fat hit."

John Simon, Bloomberg News: "As “Shrek the Musical” opens at the Broadway Theatre, starring Brian d’Arcy James, Sutton Foster and Daniel Breaker, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that it is done very well; the bad news is that it is done at all."

Barbara Hoffman, The New York Post: "MORE green, less yellow. If the mak ers of "Shrek: The Musical" had been brave enough to give their imaginations - and their big green guy - free rein, the show that opened on Broadway last night could have been one of the standouts of the season. As it happens, it takes nearly all of Act 1 before "Shrek: The Musical" starts to sing. And when it does, it truly comes alive."

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "TURNING cartoons into Broadway shows ranks below root canal on my list of favorite things. Yet "Shrek the Musical" certainly has things to like, even if it's sometimes ungainly. Chief among them, Sutton Foster. She brings an authentic sweetness and spunk to Princess Fiona, whom grumpy green ogre Shrek (Brian d'Arcy James) falls for. "

Posted on: Monday, December 15, 2008 @ 09:11 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

For those of you who missed Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS' GYPSY OF THE YEAR competition, the very talented folks from [title of show] closed it out with a brand-new number 'My First Time'. The number manages to join ANGELS IN AMERICA with ANNIE (bet you'd never thought you'd read those two show names together!) and I DARE you to watch their brilliance without getting emotional by the end!

Click Here to Play

Posted on: Saturday, December 13, 2008 @ 01:14 PM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Variety: "It's amazing how an infusion of cash can transform a show. "Slava's Snowshow," an offbeat, otherworldly clown show created by master Russian clown Slava Polunin, has cleaned up its endearingly scruffy face since its 2004 Off Broadway engagement. Comfortably installed (until Jan. 4) in that most accommodating of intimate Broadway houses, the Helen Hayes, the refurbished show boasts fresher set pieces, sharper lighting, cleaner costumes, better beach balls, more "snow" -- even more clowns. And if one should whisper that some of the magic has evaporated, who would hear that voice above the screams of laughter of a delighted audience?"

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times: "Despite its worldwide success the show has retained the feel of a handmade diversion, modest in its means but powerful in its ability to induce waves of giggles and sighs of pleasure. Mr. Polunin, done up in a baggy yellow suit, with a bulbous red nose and traditional black-and-white clown makeup, alternates with a couple of others in the central role. This yellow fellow is flanked by a cadre of green-coated goofs in similar makeup, with mile-wide floppy black shoes and hats with wingspans to match."

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: 3 out of 5 stars, "This clutch of clowns is adorable, never scary, even when a tot with a loud laugh gets carried off. The kid returns in time for the big climax, a paper blizzard accompanied by blinding lights and blaring strains of the ominous "Carmina Burana." A peaceful scene follows, as huge, inflated balls get batted around the audience — sure to bring out your inner child."

Barbara Hoffman, New York Post: 2 stars out of 4, "Do you like to cheer and laugh on cue? Get spritzed with water or blanketed in synthetic cobwebs? If so, go and enjoy. If not, a stiff drink (and an asthma inhaler, if you have one) may help prepare you for the wordless mayhem to come."

Posted on: Monday, December 08, 2008 @ 09:22 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Press notes describe Irving Berlin's White Christmas as "the story of Second World War veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis who become partners in a song-and-dance act after the war. Looking for love, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters who have a Christmas gig at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by their former army commander, General Waverley. Full of dancing, laughter and some of the greatest songs ever written, Irving Berlin's White Christmas promises to be a merry and bright theatrical experience for the entire family."

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press, "Who diluted the holiday cheer? The festivities are muted and mild in "Irving Berlin's White Christmas," a lavish, yet surprisingly bland stage adaptation of the popular 1954 movie. This version, which opened Sunday at Broadway's Marquis Theatre, raids Berlin's considerable catalog of songs to augment the film score, which was centered around "White Christmas," the most iconic of the composer's melodies."

David Rooney, Variety: "There hasn't been this much tap-dancing on a Broadway stage since "42nd Street." Yet despite its relentless effervescence, "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" is most alive in its gentler, more melancholy moments -- few as there are. Arriving in New York after multiple regional stops in the past four seasons, and aiming to establish itself as an annual holiday engagement, this somewhat mechanical show feels like a road production staffed with mostly second-tier talent. More seasonal confection than full-bodied musical theater, it coasts along on the strength of its melodious numbers and sparkling visuals, which should suffice to keep the tourist trade happy."

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "Irving Berlin's White Christmas (* * 1/2 out of four) is as conscientiously G-rated a musical as you'll find on Broadway. Still, it ought to have an audience advisory — for diabetics. In fact, anyone susceptible to sugar shock should think twice before digging into this bowl of holiday treacle, which opened a limited engagement (through Jan. 4) Sunday at the Marquis Theatre."

Charles Isherwood, New York Times: "This efficient but bland theatrical version of the Bing Crosby-Danny Kaye movie from 1954, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Randy Skinner, has been spreading cheer to kitsch-friendly audiences in various cities since its premiere in San Francisco in 2004. It comes trimmed in extra numbers from the Irving Berlin songbook, as has been the custom for newfangled old-fashioned musicals for years, at least since “My One and Only” remixed the Gershwin songbook back in 1983. "

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "After playing in other U.S. cities for the past four years, "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" has finally made its way to New York. As Broadway musicals go, it's a little creaky. But as a holiday entertainment, it's light and bright and boasts some great production numbers. "

Linda Winer, Newsday: "The good cast handles the old-fashioned snappy talk without overselling it. Carrie Robbins' handsome costumes appear to have been made with a budget intended for a long run - or, more accurately, a return engagement as an annual alternative to the Rockettes and "The Nutcracker." In other words, "White Christmas" is a reasonable facsimile of what it's meant to be - a manipulation of the sentimental holiday marketplace that does not disturb the seasonal equilibrium with a bubble of original thought."

Frank Scheck, NY Post: "So it's more than a little disappointing that the Broadway production of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" is so lacking in genuine Yuletide spirit. Looking to this would-be seasonal perennial for holiday cheer is like trying to get warm while watching the "Yule Log" on TV."

Posted on: Monday, November 24, 2008 @ 08:56 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Dividing the Estate opened last night at Broadway's Booth Theater. The show's a human comedy about a family that must confront its past as it prepares for its future. Did the critics find it funny?

For USA Today, Elyse Gardner writes that "But the 92-year-old who gave us the The Trip to Bountiful and The Young Man From Atlanta, not to mention the Oscar-winning screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies, is too gentle a soul to summon anything resembling real venom. The folks we meet in Estate, which opened Thursday at the Booth Theatre, can be immensely irritating, but they're not, well, bad people — or, truth be told, terribly interesting ones."

For the NY Daily News, Joe Dziemianowicz gives the show 3.5 stars out of 5 and writes that "With a lone exception, the cast of the Lincoln Center presentation at the Booth Theatre is the same as the one that made the play's Off-Broadway run at Primary Stages 14 months ago so tasty.".

David Rooney writes in Variety that ""Evidence that history repeats itself is everywhere in "Dividing the Estate." Once-valuable farmland has made way for strip malls, local businesses are being supplanted by foreign-owned factories, the real estate market has sunk, financial institutions are hurting and more and more folks are facing bankruptcy and home foreclosures. This sweetly satirical comedy about a Texas family squaring off over their inheritance could almost be unfolding in 2008, but Horton Foote wrote the play 20 years ago and set it against the economic turmoil of the late '80s."

Michael Kuchwara writes for the Associated Press that "In one respect, "Dividing the Estate" is even more timely today than it was in October 2007. The play, under Michael Wilson's leisurely, low-key direction, is set in recession-plagued 1987. Prices are falling. Real estate is a mess. Jobs are being lost. And the members of a once well-off clan must confront their dwindling financial future. You can't get more up-to-date."

Ben Brantley writes in the New York Times that "This production — which arrives with most of its original cast, directed with hair-trigger timing by Michael Wilson — has ripened into an ideally balanced ensemble piece, with acting that matches and magnifies Mr. Foote’s slyly and acutely observant writing. A year ago “Dividing the Estate” was good, but a tad shaky in tone. This latest incarnation reveals it to be one of the masterworks of the 92-year-old Mr. Foote, the author of “The Trip to Bountiful,” “The Young Man From Atlanta” and the Oscar-winning screenplays for “Tender Mercies” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”"

Frank Scheck of the NY Post gives the show 3.5 out of 4 stars, and he says that "Opening last night after an earlier run at Primary Stages, this deeply humanistic and funny play is old-fashioned in the best sense. Director Michael Wilson's assured production features a wonderful ensemble cast whose seamless work feels even more lived-in than it did earlier. It's easy to believe that this loving but endlessly bickering clan would drive themselves crazy if they failed to live up to the task of the play's title."

Posted on: Friday, November 21, 2008 @ 08:46 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer star in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo, which opened on Broadway last night. Here's the critics takes!

Ben Brantley writes in the NY Times that "Ssssssssst. That whooshing noise coming from the Belasco Theater is the sound of the air being let out of David Mamet’s dialogue. Robert Falls’s deflated revival of Mr. Mamet’s “American Buffalo” — which opened on Monday night with the mixed-nut ensemble of John Leguizamo, Cedric the Entertainer and Haley Joel Osment — evokes the woeful image of a souped-up sports car’s flat tire, built for speed but going nowhere."

Joe Dziemianowicz for the NY Daily News gives the show 2 stars out of 5, and writes that "Despite a starry cast of John Leguizamo, Haley Joel Osment and Cedric the Entertainer, who's miscast, the tepid two-hour two-act, directed by Robert Falls, makes the story seem very slight, with all the danger and combustibility of a book of soggy matches."

Elysa Gardner in USA Today gives the show 3 stars out of 4 and writes that ". Approaching Mamet's celebrated account of three losers bound by complementary failings, Falls and his cast ease the pace and intensity of the distinctly jazzy dialogue rhythms and emphasize the underlying pathos that truly — more than the four-letter words or the sudden bursts of violence — makes this play disturbing. This isn't the most titillating American Buffalo you'll ever see, but I doubt that many productions have made the thwarted humanity of these men more accessible or moving."

In Newsday, Linda Winer writes that "So there is less hot news here. On the other hand, this one has an exhilarating performance by John Leguizamo, who careens off Mamet's essence with a joy I missed in the oddly constricted "Plow.""

David Rooney writes for Variety that "When "American Buffalo" is done right, the profane poetry of David Mamet's dialogue can be bracing and the sad desperation of its three minor-league crooks -- playing at being players -- has a poignant sting. But in the three decades since the play was first seen, the influence of its speech patterns has become increasingly pervasive in films, cable TV and imitative theater, while humanized hoodlums have turned up everywhere. Maybe that's why this starry revival sits so flatly on its impressive set. Or maybe it's the lack of a connective thread among its performers. Either way, something isn't working."

Lastly for this roundup, Michael Kuchwara writes for the AP that "The four-letter words are intact but just about everything else is amiss in the slack, unsatisfying Broadway revival of David Mamet's "American Buffalo.""

Posted on: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 08:51 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Based on the film about a working-class British boy with dreams that run contrary to family expectations, the London smash-hit musical arrived on Broadway last night. So, what did the critics think?

David Rooney in Variety writes that "Three-and-a-half years may seem a long time for an instantaneous London smash like "Billy Elliot: The Musical" to cross the Atlantic, but the delay looks to have played serendipitously into the producers' hands. With unemployment figures soaring and the economy in the dumps, the zeitgeist could hardly be more attuned to the stirring story of a Northern England miner's son liberated from bleak reality by his passion for ballet. But even without that happy accident of timing, American audiences would have no trouble connecting with the universal sentiment of this bittersweet dual celebration of community and individuality."

Michael Kuchwara writes for the Associated Press and says "It's not often that a musical comes along that is as ambitious as it is emotional — and then succeeds on both counts. But "Billy Elliot," which opened Thursday at Broadway's Imperial Theatre, is an exceptional work that exemplifies what the best musicals are all about: collaboration. Everything comes together in this impressive, warmhearted adaptation of the 2000 British film about a North Country coal miner's young son who yearns to dance and join the Royal Ballet School in London."

Ben Brantley RAVES in the New York Times that "Your inner dancer is calling. Its voice, sweet but tough and insistent, pulses in every molecule of the new Broadway musical “Billy Elliot,” demanding that you wake up sleeping fantasies of slipping on tap or ballet shoes and soaring across a stage. Few people may have the gift of this show’s title character, a coal miner’s son in northern England who discovers he was born to pirouette. But the seductive, smashingly realized premise of “Billy Elliot,” which opened Thursday night at the Imperial Theater, is that everybody has the urge. "

Barbara Hoffman in the NY Post gives the show 4 out of 4 stars and writes that "AFTER some rocky previews, marred by a sluggish hydraulic set and overly thick accents, "Billy Elliot" opened last night, proving itself the best gift from Britain since Harry Potter. This tale of a motherless coal miner's son who was born to dance (ballet, no less) was written, directed and choreographed by the same team behind the 2000 film. But unlike so many shows that plod from screen to stage, "Billy Elliot: The Musical" makes the leap from reheated adaptation to reimagined creation."

Elyse Gardner gives the show 3 out of 4 stars in USA Today and she says that "But the show arrives on Broadway at a time when Americans are just as primed for its feel-good populism. In a period of economic turmoil, after a presidential campaign marked on both sides by a defiant hopefulness, Billy Elliot feels very much in sync with the mood in the nation today."

Posted on: Friday, November 14, 2008 @ 08:54 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

On my 129038th check of CNN already this morning, I came across a nice interview with WICKED book author Gregory Maguire. He's returning to the land of Oz (and why shouldn't he, WICKED sold more than 2.5 million copies) with a new book "A Lion Among Men."

This latest tale covers the story of the Cowardly Lion.

Off to vote!

Posted on: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 @ 08:35 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

For USA Today, Elysa Gardner gives the show 3.5 out of 4 stars and writes that "Twenty years after Plow's Broadway debut, the wickedly fine revival (* * *?out of four) that opened Thursday at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre seems less like a satire than a darkly comic documentary. Strip away the trenchant wit of Mamet's dialogue and it's not hard to imagine his narcissistic, desperate characters inhabiting a reality TV show."

In Variety, David Rooney writes that "The play may be 20 years old but David Mamet's astringent observations on the supremacy of commerce over art in Hollywood are still as fresh as last night's rushes. With the dismantling of studio specialty divisions and the increasing struggle of non-mainstream fare to find a foothold in the marketplace, "Speed-the-Plow" remains on-target in its sardonic skewering of an industry run by self-confessed whores and driven by the public's appetite for mindless escapism. Despite a weak midsection, Neil Pepe's taut Broadway revival keeps the verbal sniper fire swift and scathing, while the three accomplished actors make the air between them crackle with tension."

For Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, Frank Sheck writes that "Although the play never quite convinces in terms of its situations and characterizations, Mamet's razor-sharp comic dialogue makes its 90 minutes breeze by."

Michael Kuchwara writes for the Associated Press that "The bilious business of moviemaking remains as hilariously nasty as ever in David Mamet's "Speed-The-Plow," now two decades old but still packing heat in a sizzling revival which opened Thursday at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre. If anything, the play seems more pertinent than ever as the stakes have risen financially — not to mention psychologically — in the battle of art vs. commerce. And in Mamet's deliciously jaded world view, there is no doubt what will win out."

Ben Brantley in the New York Times writes that "The Barrymore Theater should provide seat belts for as long as Neil Pepe’s revival of David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow” is in residence. The production that opened Thursday night — starring the ace team of Jeremy Piven, Raúl Esparza and Elisabeth Moss — pursues its corkscrew course at such velocity that your instinct is to check yourself for whiplash. When the curtain falls on this short and unsparing study of sharks in the shallows of the movie industry, it’s as if you had stepped off a world-class roller coaster. The ride was over before you knew it, but you’re too dizzy and exhilarated to think you didn’t get your money’s worth."

Linda Winer in Newsday writes that "It would be delightful to say that the much-anticipated revival, which opened last night starring Jeremy Piven, Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss, lived up to the scabrous exuberance of the original. Despite a cast that looks wonderful on paper, director Neil Pepe's production is small, tight and more angry than fabulously, shamelessly, joyously rude. Piven, perhaps trying not to duplicate his sleaze-triumphant agent, Ari Gold, from "Entourage," plays Bobby Gould - new production head of a studio - with a soft underbelly that works against the surprise of his potential conversion to art movies."

And lastly for this roundup, Clive Barnes gives the show 4 (out of 4) stars in the NY Post and says that "WHEN Hollywood meets Broadway, sparks fly and Tinseltown's incinerated - especially if the flamethrower is David Mamet. So it is with "Speed-the-Plow." Now, 20 years after its premiere - in which Madonna took much of the initial limelight - the beautifully played revival that opened last night establishes the play as a modern classic."

Posted on: Friday, October 24, 2008 @ 10:03 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

All My Sons opened last night and we've got All The Reviews.

For Variety, writes that "Pairing Arthur Miller's probing social realism with Brit director Simon McBurney's multidisciplinary experimental approach was a gamble, but the payoff in "All My Sons" is considerable. The first Broadway revival of the playwright's work since his death in 2005, the production balances theatrical artifice with heightened emotion, seeding anxiety deep in the collective pit of the audience's stomach and then amplifying it steadily until the shattering final scene. Liberally mixing Brechtian presentation with cinematic flourishes, this is a commanding illustration of the power of theater and a searing drama of morality and conscience that has as much to say to America now as it did in 1947."

Michael Kuchwara for the Associated Press writes that "Miller's play, despite its potent message, is weighed down with enough symbols, not to mention its own awkward melodramatics. McBurney and company have, unfortunately, added even more of their own."

For USA Today, Elysa Gardner gives the show 2.5 stars out of 4, and says "The accomplished actors with whom Holmes shares top billing are better at tempering dramatic gestures with nuance, and McBurney nurtures their sensitive rapport. John Lithgow is painfully convincing as Joe Keller, a businessman haunted by the disappearance of his son in World War II and a possibly related professional transgression. The marvelous Dianne Wiest offers a witty, heartbreaking portrait of Joe's tortured wife, Kate, who has her own talent for denial. Patrick Wilson movingly traces the disillusionment of their surviving son, Chris, who shares his missing brother's affection for the daughter of Joe's former colleague.

Clive Barnes for the NY Post writes that "THERE'S an awful lot of shouting these days at the Schoenfeld Theatre, where Arthur Miller's early melodrama "All My Sons" opened last night in a powerfully acted revival. A starry cast has been assembled to yell their lungs out, including the distinguished John Lithgow and, in her Broadway debut, Katie Holmes, known in her (less than) private life as Mrs. Tom Cruise."

In the New York Times, Ben Brantley says that "I have seen such portraiture in revivals of “All My Sons” from the Roundabout Theater Company (in 1997) and in particular at the National Theater in London (in 2000), productions that had much of the audience in tears. The preview performance I saw of this one left me stone cold, despite some electric moments from a very fine Mr. Lithgow and Mr. Wilson. The very different leading actresses — the stage veteran Ms. Wiest and the neophyte Ms. Holmes, in her Broadway debut — are sad casualties of Mr. McBurney’s high-concept approach. (My companion at the theater, finding herself dry-eyed at the final curtain, asked, “Is there something wrong with my emotional acuity?”)"

And lastly for this roundup, Lynda Winer writes for Newsday that "John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest are shattering as Joe and Kate Keller, the prosperous small-town couple whose elder son disappeared in his bomber during the war and whose remaining son (played with all-American likability by Patrick Wilson) wants to marry his brother's sweetheart. Katie Holmes -- whose Broadway debut is the supposed news of the production -- is earnest and pretty, like a talented girl in a school play. But she doesn't seriously hurt anything as that girl who used to live next door. And the star does bring in the business, which Miller, of all social realists, just might understand."

Posted on: Friday, October 17, 2008 @ 09:36 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Tonight, October 7th, 2008 A Man for All Seasons opened at Roundabout Theater Company. In addition to star Frank Langella (Sir Thomas More), the cast includes Hannah Cabell (Margaret More), Michael Esper (William Roper), Zach Grenier (Thomas Cromwell), Dakin Matthews (Cardinal Wolsey), George Morfogen (Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop), Patrick Page (King Henry VIII), Maryann Plunkett (Alice More), Michel Gill (Duke of Norfolk), Jeremy Strong (Richard Rich), Charles Borland (Jailor), Peter Bradbury (Steward), Patricia Hodges (Woman), Triney Sandoval (Thomas Chapuys) and Emily Dorsch.

13, the Musical opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater last night and the reviews are in.

David Rooney of Variety writes "In case anyone missed the lesson learned from "High School Musical" and its endlessly multiplying spawn, kids these days are quite comfortable watching their fictional counterparts burst into song to express their feelings. So the target audience for "13" should have no trouble identifying with the characters onstage as they tunefully reflect on friendship, crushes, popularity, acceptance and tongue action. There's not much in this sweet all-adolescent tuner to engage anyone past puberty, but the other lesson of the Disney franchise is that a narrowly defined demographic is no barrier to success."

Michael Kuchwara for the Associated Press writes that "Like its young hero, "13," suffers from uncertainty and more than a bit of awkwardness as it tries to a tell a tween tale about making mistakes, growing up and taking responsibility."

USA Today gives the show 2 1/2 stars out of 4 and writes that "Thanks largely to these performances, 13 is, if hardly awesome (not even in the lesser sense of the word), an innocuous and sometimes touching diversion."

Ben Brantley in the NY Times writes that "But mostly the characters never emerge as genuine individuals. Maybe that’s deliberate on the part of the show’s creators, to allow young audience members to project themselves onto archetypal personas. But if I’m going to revisit the worst years of my life, I need some fresh insights — or at least a sustained, authentic rush of the painful glory that is youth — to make it worth my while."

Michael Sommers in the NJ Star Ledger wrote that "A lively musical about growing up, "13" is the flip side of "Spring Awakening." While the latter hit explores teen angst in dark, woeful terms, the attraction that premiered yesterday at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is humorous and optimistic as its adolescents bounce along to a happy beat. "

Joe Dziemianowicz in the NY Daily News gives the show 2 out of 5 stars and writes that "Director Jeremy Sams creates some clever moments, including an amusing scene in a movie theater where the kids watch a horror flick. The pubescent crowd may find this new musical fascinating — but Mom and Dad will be left thinking about 13 better ways they could have spent their ticket dollars. "

Barbara Hoffman (Clive Barnes is off) gives the show 3 stars out of 4 in the NY Daily News and she says that "With a raw, rousing score by Jason Robert Brown sung by a cast of 13- to 17-year-olds, it's Sondheim for MySpacers - the perfect show for those too old for Disney, too young for "Spring Awakening," and too impatient to wait for a new block of "Wicked" tickets."

Posted on: Monday, October 06, 2008 @ 09:03 AM Posted by: Robert Diamond

Can't resist passing along...

Click here... Also, a reminder that NY's voter registration deadline is Monday, October 10, 2008.

Posted on: Saturday, October 04, 2008 @ 02:28 PM Posted by: Robert Diamond