All stories by Frank Scheck on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Golden Age: Theater Review by Frank Scheck

Terrence McNally's new play conveys the chaotic backstage goings-on during the 1835 premiere of Vincenzo Bellini's final opera. read more

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 3, 2012

No place like Oz by Frank Scheck

Best not to walk the kiddies past an open construction site after taking them to "Circus Oz: From the Ground Up." The Australian troupe's new show makes dangling high up on a construction be…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:23PM[SHARE]

Review: The Anarchist by Frank Scheck

A situation rife with dramatic possibilities is given a frustratingly airless treatment in David Mamet’s new drama about a prisoner arguing for her parole before an impassive prison of…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:42AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 30, 2012

Review: Dead Accounts by Frank Scheck

The ever-reliable Norbert Leo Butz should earn a Broadway MVP award for his dynamic comic turn in Dead Accounts, the latest effort by the prolific scribe Theresa Rebeck (Seminar, The Underst…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:56AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 25, 2012

'Outgoing Tide' pulls you into humor, pathos by Frank Scheck

Like a mordantly funny variation on "On Golden Pond," Bruce Graham's new play "The Outgoing Tide" wrests a surprising amount of humor from its dark tale of a family patriarch with dementia. …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:51PM[SHARE]

'Julie' a real jewel by Frank Scheck

No, that's not a typo: It's "Mies Julie," not "Miss Julie," that's playing St. Ann's Warehouse. This blistering adaptation of August Strindberg's 1888 classic is set in present-day South Afr…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:51PM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 22, 2012

In Tune & walking tall by Frank Scheck

You can hardly blame Tommy Tune for being a little self-congratulatory in "Taps, Tunes & Tall Tales," his new show at Feinstein's at Loews Regency. After all, the 6-foot-6 performer, directo…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:56PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Scandalous: Theater Review by Frank Scheck

Kathie Lee Gifford's musical depicts the rise and fall of famed '20s-era evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.read more

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter at 11:06AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 20, 2012

'Radiance' is light on ideas by Frank Scheck

'if it wasn't for you, we might all be eating with chopsticks." Those comforting words are offered to a haunted-looking man in "Radiance," Cusi Cram's new play that marks the latest misstep…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:28PM[SHARE]
Monday, November 19, 2012

Preachin' a Dusty, lusty tale by Frank Scheck

In search of the perfect echo, Dusty Springfield recorded her vocals for her classic album "Dusty in Memphis" in a bathroom. That scene is dramatized in "Forever Dusty," the new bio-musical …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:36PM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 18, 2012

An expertly tuned & complex history 'Lesson' by Frank Scheck

The past literally comes back to haunt the characters in "The Piano Lesson," August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Now, 22 years after its Broadway debut, this deeply moving work abo…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:55PM[SHARE]
Friday, November 16, 2012

Good Mol, bad play by Frank Scheck

There's a lot of failed communication among the troubled characters in "The Good Mother," about a single mother with a disabled daughter. But the biggest failure is playwright Francine Volpe…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:12AM[SHARE]

Up close & passionate by Frank Scheck

There's a lot of heat if not much substance in "Murder Ballad," the new rock opera now steaming up the intimate confines of the Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage II. Starring Karen Olivo, Will …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:12AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The 'Emotional' & blotchy Clearasil monologues by Frank Scheck

Eve Ensler, who told us everything we ever wanted to know about vaginas ("The Vagina Monologues"), shifts her attention to the female teenage psyche in "Emotional Creature," a theatrical col…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:46PM[SHARE]

Family goes modern by Frank Scheck

East meets West with a bang in "Golden Child," David Henry Hwang's 1996 play at the Signature Theatre, which has dedicated a season to the "M. Butterfly" playwright. Set in early 20th-centur…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 10:17PM[SHARE]

Review: The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Frank Scheck

A true fondness for the British music hall is probably a prerequisite to fully enjoy the charms of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Rupert Holmes’ 1985 musical based on an unfinished novel …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 03:55AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Review: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Frank Scheck

Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike manages the neat trick of being both a sometimes uproarious send-up of Chekhov and an affectionately heartwarming modern-day va…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:23AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 9, 2012

Review: Annie by Frank Scheck

Yes, the sun will come up tomorrow, but it sure doesn’t shine as brightly in the new Broadway revival of Annie. James Lapine’s staging of this clockwork-perfect musical somehow m…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 07:21AM[SHARE]

Yiddish 'Golden' delicious by Frank Scheck

Even if your Yiddish is limited to the occasional oy gevalt, this won't stop you from enjoying "The Golden Land." This spirited musical revue about the Jewish immigration experience is sprin…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 01:01AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 8, 2012

Get wind of 'Water' by Frank Scheck

'a Twist of Water" offers two dramas for the price of one. The first is a tale of a single father's struggle to raise a rebellious, adopted teenager. The second is a virtual history lesson a…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:44AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 6, 2012

'Figaro' is a cut above the rest by Frank Scheck

If the plot of the Pearl Theatre Company's "Figaro" seems familiar, that's because you've seen it before, only set to Mozart's gorgeous music. For this world premiere production, playwright …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:55AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 28, 2012

There's nothing magical in this witches' brew by Frank Scheck

'Let me say right off I'm a witch," the title character declares at the start of "Sowa's Red Gravy," and thank goodness she does, because it's the only clear moment of Diane Richards' play. …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:37PM[SHARE]

Puppets get 'Mojo' workin' by Frank Scheck

It's such a pleasure watching the central character of "Mojo" blossom from precocious tyke to rebellious teen that you'll barely notice she's a puppet. But a puppet she is, and she comes to …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 11:37PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 25, 2012

A 'House' ready for foreclosure by Frank Scheck

Here's the bad thing about experimental theater: It's experimental, which means there's a big possibility it will fail. Case in point: The Transport Group's production of "House for Sale" th…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:19AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 22, 2012

A Page from her mother's life by Frank Scheck

Angelica Page waited a long time to do "Turning Page," her solo show about her actress mother. Twenty-five years, in fact. "There's not been one book written about her, no documentary," she …

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:11AM[SHARE]

Diamond-infused tale sparks laughs by Frank Scheck

As the title suggests, there's more than one Josh Cohen in "The Other Josh Cohen." The good news is that both are very funny. Longtime collaborators and friends David Rossmer and Steve Rose…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:11AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Poetic justice for Harold Pinter by Frank Scheck

'A Celebration of Harold Pinter" is richly deserved, and not for the reasons you might expect. This one-man show by British actor Julian Sands, in his New York stage debut, deals only with t…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:29AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 16, 2012

'Falling' rises to the occasion by Frank Scheck

Never mind that tinkly piano score you'll hear at the start of "Falling." Far from receiving a mawkish, "Hallmark Hall of Fame" treatment, Deanna Jent's play is harrowing stuff. Inspired by…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:33AM[SHARE]

'Spring,' once awoken, now goes back to sleep by Frank Scheck

For a play about sexually confused, 19th-century German teens " one involving masturbation, homosexuality, masochism, rape, abortion and suicide " Frank Wedekind's "Spring's Awakening" is aw…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:33AM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 13, 2012

Street kids take flight by Frank Scheck

The young audiences gasping at "Urban" probably have no idea they're watching a depiction of life on the mean streets of Cali, Colombia. No matter: As Circolombia's show at the New Victory p…

SOURCE: The New York Post Subscription at 12:03AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 12, 2012

Review: Cyrano de Bergerac by Frank Scheck

Did Broadway really need another revival of Edmond Rostand’s 1987 romantic classic Cyrano de Bergerac a mere five years after the highly successful production starring Kevin Kline and …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 08:04AM[SHARE]

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