All stories by David Finkle on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

First Nighter: Terrence McNally's Must-See "Mothers and Sons" With Tyne Daly by David Finkle

Throughout the 1980s and starting with William M. Hoffman's As Is and Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, plays addressing the...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 24, 2014

Are Theater Critics Becoming Extinct? by David Finkle

Newspapers drop arts criticism in a troubled culture.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 10:48AM[SHARE]

First Nighter: 'Les Miserables' Returns in Sizzling 21st-Century Upgrade by David Finkle

This isn't your grandfather's Les Miz. It's the new and enhanced-in-some-ways-diminished-in-others Les Miz, and it very much takes into account the movie and the possible expectations that i…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 07:59AM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 23, 2014

First Nighter: Christopher Durang's "Beyond Therapy" Back After Its Time by David Finkle

To be blunt about it, I've never thought much of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy as a play, but I'm always willing to change...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:26PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 18, 2014

First Nighter: David Grimm's "Tales From Red Vienna" by David Finkle

Nowhere in the program for Tales From Red Vienna, at Manhattan Theater Club's City Center Stage I, is there any...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:24PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 11, 2014

First Nighter: The Fiascos Do Measure for Measure, The Pearl Does No Exit by David Finkle

Companies here and abroad, far and wide, high and low devote themselves to William Shakespeare. There's nothing new about the dedication. The Shakespeare devotees just keep coming.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 07:36PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 10, 2014

First Nighter: Steven Boyer Amazes in Robert Askins's Awe-Inspiring "Hand to God" by David Finkle

Since it's impossible to stay on top of absolutely everything on view from one year to the next in burgeoning New...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:16PM[SHARE]

Lloyd Webber and Rice: Two Musicals Closing Fast by David Finkle

Two musical turkeys, roasted and underdone.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 08:47PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 7, 2014

First Nighter: The Met's New 'Wozzeck' with Matthias Goerne Confidently Stepping In by David Finkle

The first performance of the new Wozzeck production at the Metropolitan Opera House turned into one of...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 06:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 6, 2014

First Nighter: LBJ Bio "All the Way" With Bryan Cranston Goes All the Way by David Finkle

Missing for deliberate reasons or reasons of chronology from All the Way, Robert Schenkkan's sure-fire hit at the Neil Simon, are...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:53PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 4, 2014

First Nighter: Consumer Guide to London Theatre Now by David Finkle

London--If you're heading this way with theatergoing in mind, here's a short list of what's on offer in the next couple...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 04:56AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 24, 2014

To Philip Seymour Hoffman, With Gratitude and Anger by David Finkle

Was he really "the greatest actor of his generation"?

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 06:46PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 19, 2014

First Nighter: Andrew Lloyd Webber's So Low 'Stephen Ward' and Solo 'Tell Me on a Sunday' by David Finkle

Andrew Lloyd Webber rules Brittania's West End and, as will come as a surprise to few, has for just about 40 years. Right now, three of his musicals are at hand. The Phantom of the Opera is …

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 07:45PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 18, 2014

First Nighter: Bikeman, Thomas F. Flynn's Captivating 9/11 Memoir by David Finkle

Because of the hell into which he was thrown with thousands, Flynn conjures moments reminiscent of Dante's Inferno. There are even echoes in his lines of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. And w…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 08:28PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 13, 2014

First Nighter: Margulies's 'Dinner With Friends' Served Piping Hot; 'Vera,' An Oscar Wilde Oddity by David Finkle

I admire Margulies's nuanced understanding the dynamics of friendships. He's put "Dinner" is his title, and he plays with it by devoting two scenes to Karen and Gabe preparing food…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:09PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 10, 2014

First Nighter: Britten's Billy Budd an Absolute Brooklyn Academy of Music Must-Hear by David Finkle

Standing ovations are so prevalent they are meaningless. The consensus is that ticket buyers paying so much for a seat rise at curtain calls in order to convince themselves they've just gott…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 04:02PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Many Great Gals of Charles Busch by David Finkle

"The Tribute Artist" continues a comic canon.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 10:44AM[SHARE]
Friday, February 7, 2014

First Nighter: Little Me Big and Christian Borle Even Bigger by David Finkle

When Little Me opened in November 1962, its major pluses were Sid Caesar, the Carolyn Leigh-Cy Coleman score and the rarely-miss Neil Simon gags. Revived at City Center this weekend, it can…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 04:32PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 6, 2014

First Nighter: "Bronx Bombers" Fields Yogi Berra Well Enough by David Finkle

Eric Simonson, who gets his kicks writing plays about sports figures, is jumping the gun on Valentine's Day by sending a...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 30, 2014

First Nighter: CSC's 'A Man's a Man' Somewhat Mouse-y by David Finkle

Brian Kulick certainly attempts to get around the inherent problems with all manner of theatrical notions in a new translation by Gerhard Nellhaus, with Duncan Sheik's music carrying Brecht'…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:28PM[SHARE]
Monday, January 27, 2014

First Nighter: Rude Mechs Live Down to Their Name With Stop Hitting Yourself by David Finkle

Before I get to an outright pan of the immoderately irritating Stop Hitting Yourself -- created by Austin's Rude Mechs and now squatting in the Lincoln Center Theater at the Claire Tow -- I'…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:46PM[SHARE]

Bob Fosse Dances Through a New Biography by David Finkle

Sam Wasson looks at a enormously gifted man's chronic lack if assurance.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 12:07PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 21, 2014

First Nighter: Loneliness of Long Distance Runner a Bracing Race by David Finkle

Depending on how the individual observer assesses Colin's choice, he can be considered either as declaring his independence or as self-destructively tossing it aside. Either way, Sillitoe's…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 10:33PM[SHARE]
Monday, January 20, 2014

First Nighter: The Public Theater's Under the Radar Plusses and Minuses by David Finkle

The annual event -- this is the 10th year -- is supposed to focus on the new and experimental. Maybe yes, maybe no, but certainly there are helpful hints about whom and what to look for in …

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 02:37PM[SHARE]
Friday, January 17, 2014

First Nighter: Frank Langella Fights the King Lear Storm and Conquers by David Finkle

Frank Langella is doing a completely respectable King Lear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey in William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. But wait. Better be more specific, s…

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:41AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 16, 2014

First Nighter: Three Overly Similar Entries From Manhattan's January Festivals by David Finkle

If it's true that great minds think alike, it may be equally true that minds a notch or two below great also think alike.

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 12:51PM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 12, 2014

First Nighter: "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" Is Beautiful Where It Counts by David Finkle

Before we get to what's wrong with Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Stephen Sondheim, let's establish what's...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 11:06PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 2, 2014

First Nighter: The Gotham Chamber Opera's Top-Notch "La descente d'Orphée aux enfers" by David Finkle

Much of the intense charm of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's La descente d'Orphée aux enfers (Opheus's Descent...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 06:29PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 1, 2014

First Nighter: The Met's New "Die Fledermaus" Far Too Batty by David Finkle

Die Fledermaus back again as the Metropolitan Opera's New Year's Eve gala confection? Directed by Jeremy Sams,...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 02:48PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 23, 2013

Jim Simpson and The Flea Theater Champion OOB by David Finkle

The Flea builds a new theater...and community.

SOURCE: Clyde Fitch Report at 12:11PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

First Nighter: Five-Actor "Christmas Carol," One-Actor-Singer "Love, Linda," Four-Actor "Handle With Care" by David Finkle

Okay, I admit it, I entered A Christmas Carol at St. Clement's thinking, Oh no, not another one! Which just goes to show...

SOURCE: Huffington Post at 05:57PM[SHARE]

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