Around Broadway

Shakespeare in the Park Kicks Off with Kid-Friendly Comedy

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

You know summertime in New York has arrived when the Delacorte Theater unwraps itself for Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater presents two free Shakespeare works this season: The Comedy of Errors and later in the season, Love’s Labors Lost.

The Comedy of Errors has been updated to the 1940s, with some musical touches, too (though not as extensive as those expected for Labors, which is billed as "a new musical"). Starring in the Comedy are actors Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, which Shakespeare fans will recognize from previous outings at the Delacorte (fans of the ABC sitcom "Modern Family" will also know Ferguson). And Shakespeare in the Park regulars may also recognize the handiwork of director Daniel Sullivan, who has become a reliable mainstay of the program in recent years with his productions of Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice and last summer’s As You Like It.

The play turns on the confusion that results when Antipholus and his servant Dromio, visitors from Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, where unbeknownst to them their identical twins also live. In this production each set of twins is played by a single actor.

The production runs through June 30. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood sizes up the comedy and the errors.

A Broadway Story: Tony Loves Kinky

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The American Theatre Wing gave out its Tony Awards this past Sunday night at Radio City Music Hall and the big winner of the night was Best Musical Kinky Boots, which also brought home statuettes for Billy Porter as Best Performer by a Leading Actor in a Musical and Cyndi Lauper for Best Original Score.

Forty New York City theaters are considered Broadway houses and productions featured there are eligible to win Tonys. The 868-member electorate gave at least one award to 10 plays and musicals out of 38 that were nominated. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood tells us what the Tonys got right this year, both onstage and onscreen, and why there were a few surprises among the awards, too.

'War and Peace' – with Music and Tableside Service, Too

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Imagine turning Tolstoy’s famously epic novel "War and Peace" into a musical. Actually, hold it. Imagine turning 100 or so pages of "War and Peace" into a musical. That's a more manageable chunk of the novel, for sure, and there are still plenty of relationships and nearly inscrutable Russian names to sort out.

Next, imagine a new venue in which to see the story unfold. And now you’re ready for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, the musical that first appeared in New York last year in an off-off-Broadway theater. Now it’s returned in an upgraded production at a pop-up cabaret space in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan called Kazino.

What is this play written by Dave Malloy, who also stars as Pierre, and directed by Rachel Chavkin? And amid a cabaret setting in New York City, does Tolstoy stand a chance? New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood finds out.

And the Tony Awards are this coming Sunday. Tell us the musical and play you think will take home a Tony.

Bette Midler Returns to Broadway as Legendary '70s Talent Agent

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 29 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

She’s famous as a movie star, a recording artist and a concert performer, but you may not be familiar with Bette Midler as Broadway actress. Well, it has been a while.

Midler made her Broadway debut in the original production of Fiddler on the Roof as a replacement for one of the daughters of Tevye the Milkman back in the 1960s. More than four decades later, she’s back in the solo show I'll Eat You Last as the legendary real-life Hollywood talent agent Sue Mengers.

Directed by Joe Mantello at the Booth Theater, I'll Eat You Last was written by John Logan, who brought artist Mark Rothko to theatrical life in the play Red. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood takes the measure of the creative forces joined in this project and what they add up to in I’ll Eat You Last.

Kinky Boots Steps Toward the Tonys

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The show with the most Tony Award nominations this year is, unsurprisingly, a musical. But Kinky Boots does seem to have surprised at least a few Tony-watchers by besting the more-anticipated Matilda for nominations, if by only one: 13 for Kinky Boots and 12 Matilda.

With a book by Broadway veteran Harvey Fierstein, songs by pop star Cyndi Lauper and direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, the show tells the tale of a British shoe factory rescued from closure with the help of a drag queen. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood offers his impressions of Kinky Boots and whether it or Matilda will come out on top when the Tony Awards are given away on June 9.

Tony Awards Forecast: Kinky and Matty (and Masha and Spike)

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The scene is now set for Broadway’s big night, the 67th annual Tony Awards. The nominations were announced Tuesday and among the musicals up for the most awards are Kinky Boots, Matilda, Pippin, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

The most-nominated plays include Golden Boy, Lucky Guy, Vanya and Sonja and Masha and Spike, The Nance and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood does a bit of Tony handicapping for you and names a few of the performers who were properly recognized and some who were, perhaps, unfairly overlooked by the nominating committee.

Consider this your warm-up for the Tony Awards, which will be broadcast on June 9.

Telekinetic Matilda Moves Broadway

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Wait a minute. A girl who can make objects move just with her mind. Hasn’t this been on Broadway already — and failed? Yes, but that was Carrie, an altogether different girl. This girl is Matilda and her new Broadway musical is based on a children’s book by Roald Dahl.

Book-loving Matilda is beset by rotten, book-disdaining parents and a diabolical schoolteacher named Miss Trunchbull and her struggle to overcome these obstacles makes Matilda someone worth rooting for. But is Matilda The Musical worth rooting for as well? New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood offers his thought (which don’t move objects at all) on Matilda.

The Sounds of the Motor City Roll onto Broadway

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Broadway musicals have always sought to entertain with custom-made songs designed to move the story along, songs that are full of catchy melody and clever lyrics that hook you into wanting to hear them again and again.

Lately, however, musicals have come with the musical appeal built in, through the use of popular hit songs the audience already knows. Those songs are then refitted into a plot, sometimes comfortably, sometimes not. But the formula has had huge successes: Mama Mia using songs of '80s pop group ABBA and Jersey Boys, which tells the story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons using their music.

More than 50 hit songs, made famous on the legendary Detroit record label Motown, are heard in Motown: the Musical at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway. Motown label founder Berry Gordy appears in the show, too, along with some of Motown’s most famous musical acts such as Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder — each one of them played by Broadway actors and singers. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood gives us his spin on the newest jukebox musical to reach the big time in New York.

Tom Hanks is Broadway’s Lucky Guy

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Tom Hanks, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, is making his Broadway debut in Lucky Guy, a new play by the late Nora Ephron.

Directed by George C. Woolfe and now playing at the Broadhurst Theatre, Lucky Guy is a true New York story about Mike McAlary, a New York storyteller himself — a tabloid reporter for, variously, The Daily News and the New York Post. McAlary’s career waxed and waned, but waxed again just before his death in 1998 at age 41.

Hanks stars as McAlary, with Maura Tierney as his wife and a strong cast of character actors from the worlds of film, TV and the stage. The production is also getting a lot of attention because it is the last work by writer and moviemaker Ephron, who died last year.

But Hanks is the draw and he shoulders a big burden as a big-name actor and Broadway first-timer in the title role of a new play. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood lets us know how Hanks carries that load in Lucky Guy.

Singing and Dancing on Broadway (But Don’t Let Go of the Truck)

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Hands on a Hardbody is the decidedly catchy title of a musical with a particular catch in its plot: A group of people are in a contest to win a new truck. The competition is simple enough. The contestants stand around truck with one hand on it and the last person to let go of the truck is the winner.

This new musical is based on a 1997 documentary film about a contest that took place at a Nissan dealership in Longview, Texas. The show features a score by Trey Anastasio of the jam band Phish, and Amanda Green, and a book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright.

And while the premise of the contest — and the show — is simple enough, the catch isn’t as much in the competition as it is in the conventions of the Broadway musical: namely, how much dancing can you do while standing with one hand on a truck?

New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood explains how that challenge is handled and some other ways in which the show is unconventional. “Hands on a Hardbody” is now playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theater.

From the Political Stage to the Broadway Stage: Ann Richards is Resurrected in 'Ann'

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Ann Richards was silver-haired, sharp-tongued, brassy, bold and mostly beloved. She came to national prominence with a speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention and served a term as governor of Texas starting in 1991, making a very distinctive mark both politically and personally.

Now, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, she tells her own story in "Ann," the one-woman show written and performed by Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood lets us know if Taylor's evocation is on the mark.

Familiar Territory for Two Observers of the Disaffected

ezagroba@wqxr.org (WQXR Radio) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The Flick is the newest play by Annie Baker, whose frequent collaborator, Sam Gold, directs the production now running at Playwrights Horizons.

Baker and Gold have worked together on her previous plays The Aliens and Circle Mirror Transformation, as well as Baker’s translation of Uncle Vanya. As she did in The Aliens, Baker again looks at what might at first appear to be small moments in small-town lives of young, underpaid, and perhaps unmotivated workers in New England. New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood has liked Baker’s previous work. He tells us if her track record continues.