All stories by Frank Scheck on BroadwayStars

Monday, April 23, 2012

Review: A Streetcar Named Desire by Frank Scheck

The new Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire presents a particular dilemma. Its multiracial cast could well attract new audiences for this seminal 20th century dra…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 02:54AM[SHARE]
Friday, April 20, 2012

Review: Clybourne Park by Frank Scheck

Its Pulitzer Prize not withstanding, Clybourne Park still seems to me a better idea for a play than it actually is. Bruce Norris’ dark comedy, which has now arrived on Broadway after h…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:32AM[SHARE]

Gives new meaning to 'Roll' play by Frank Scheck

So many plays seem arbitrary, as if the writer were rolling dice to decide what happens next. But "Die: Roll To Proceed" cuts out the middle-man. In Joe Kurtz's endlessly variable, interacti…

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Thursday, April 19, 2012

'Ninth' outing Philly awful by Frank Scheck

The opening line of "Ninth and Joanie" is "It's dead out . . . there's nobody nowhere" " and boy, is that the truth. The characters in Brett C. Leonard's suffocating drama are helplessly tra…

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Review: One Man, Two Guvnors by Frank Scheck

  With the notable exception of Noises Off, theatrical farce is far more often labored than amusing. But One Man, Two Guvnors, newly arrived on Broadway from London’s West End, is…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 11:37PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Review: In Masks Outrageous and Austere by Frank Scheck

Tennessee Williams certainly doesn’t make it easy to be generous.   The common perception about the legendary playwright’s later works is that they were sad reflections of …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:37AM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 15, 2012

Poignant memories make worthy 'Divorce' by Frank Scheck

The Civilians, the downtown documentary theater troupe, have tackled such socially and politically charged topics as the evangelical movement and Brooklyn's controversial Atlantic Yards proj…

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Friday, April 13, 2012

Review: Evita by Frank Scheck

“Tasteful” is not a word that springs to mind when thinking about Eva Peron, and it shouldn’t when it comes to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Evita either…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:14AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 12, 2012

Review: Magic/Bird by Frank Scheck

If you’re going to write a play about two legendary sports figures it would help if more than one of them was interesting. Such is the dilemma of Eric Simonson’s second attempt t…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:54AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Review: Clint Holmes: This Thing Called Love by Frank Scheck

The singer brilliantly juxtaposes and combines the work of Cole Porter and Paul Simon in his wonderful new show at the Cafe Carlyle.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, April 6, 2012

All's Will, ends well by Frank Scheck

If this whole showbiz thing doesn't work out, Simon Callow would make a great professor. The British performer, best known here for such films as "Four Weddings and a Funeral," just brought …

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Finely tuned 'Strad' by Frank Scheck

One of the two characters in "The Morini Strad" is a violin restorer who loves what he does. Watching him painstakingly repair a damaged Stradivarius is to see a true craftsman at work. The…

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Icelandic love story frozen by whimsy by Frank Scheck

At one point during "Out of Iceland," Lea DeLaria, playing a male troll named Thor, steps onstage in a swan outfit and belts out "Bali Hai" in Icelandic. And that's one of the evening's more…

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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Review: End of the Rainbow by Frank Scheck

It may be time to let Judy Garland rest in peace. The beloved entertainer has been a never-ending subject of fascination since her untimely death. Since then, she’s been portrayed on s…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:14AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 2, 2012

Review: Gore Vidal's The Best Man by Frank Scheck

You may be wondering why Gore Vidal’s politically-themed drama The Best Man needed another revival a mere twelve years after its last Broadway outing. The better question is why hasn&#…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 04:37AM[SHARE]

Even in death, Michael Jackson's a thriller by Frank Scheck

There's a surreal quality to Cirque du Soleil's "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour," which played this weekend at Newark's Prudential Center, and it's not just because its inspiration…

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Friday, March 30, 2012

Review: Newsies by Frank Scheck

It’s a hard knock life for the newsboys in Newsies, the stage adaptation of the flop 1992 Disney musical film that has become a cult favorite. When the ragtag group of orphans and runa…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:47AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Review: Now.Hear.This by Frank Scheck

Those impish wags from [title of show] are back to their meta-theatrical tricks in their new, similarly whimsically titled new musical. Starring Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenst…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:54AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Review: Regrets by Frank Scheck

Rising British playwright Matt Charman reveals a fascination with the darker aspects of ‘50s era American society in Regrets, now receiving its world premiere from the Manhattan Theatr…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 05:52AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Soft-soaping a real horror story by Frank Scheck

Holocaust deniers are a reprehensible lot. But they can be transfixing. That's the uncomfortable message one takes away from "The Soap Myth," presented by the National Jewish Theater. In it…

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Monday, March 26, 2012

Review: 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by Frank Scheck

The last time I checked, incest between a brother and sister was still considered relatively abhorrent.   So it naturally comes as a surprise that the Cheek by Jowl production of John …

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:11AM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 25, 2012

Simon's 'Lost' proves quite a find by Frank Scheck

When Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers" opened back in 1991, all three of its leads " Mercedes Ruehl, Irene Worth and Kevin Spacey " won Tony Awards. Now it's the children's hour. In this new r…

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Friday, March 23, 2012

Review: Jesus Christ Superstar by Frank Scheck

Jesus Christ Superstar, which began its life as a concept album, has always been more fun to listen to than actually watch. But the new Broadway revival--imported from the Stratford Shakespe…

SOURCE: Scheck on the Arts at 06:41AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A fine job singing of unemployment by Frank Scheck

The spirit of Woody Guthrie is alive and well in the East Village, thanks to Ethan Lipton's "No Place To Go," a "musical ode to the unemployed." Stylistically, the 41-year-old hews more clo…

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Review: Nellie McKay: Silent Spring - It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature by Frank Scheck

This tribute to environmentalist Rachel Carson at Feinstein's at Loews Regency doesn't do justice to its subject matter.

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 20, 2012

You'll swoon over 'Moon' by Frank Scheck

It took no small amount of guts for the Pearl Theatre Company to mount "A Moon for the Misbegotten." This final masterpiece by Eugene O'Neill hasn't exactly been underexposed here. Broadway'…

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Saturday, March 17, 2012

'Lucky' is just ducky by Frank Scheck

HEY , kids " remember that fairy tale by Hans Christian somebody, "Ugly Duckling," about a duck that turns into a beautiful swan? Now you can see it live! It has music and dancing and everyt…

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Friday, March 16, 2012

Review: Death of a Salesman by Frank Scheck

Whenever there’s a new revival of Death of a Salesman people marvel at the fact that it seems so newly relevant. But it’s not that society is changing but rather that Arthur Mill…

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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Pardon me, waiter, there's soup in this play by Frank Scheck

'Teresa's Ecstasy," by the wonderfully named Spanish American playwright and actress Begonya Plaza, tries to combine the spiritual with the earthly in its story of a woman's quest for self-d…

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

When puppets go bad, hilariously & wickedly by Frank Scheck

There's a scene in "Hand to God" in which two teenagers tenderly and quietly discuss their feelings for one another . . . all the while desperately trying to ignore the hand puppets they're …

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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

'Flight' never quite takes off by Frank Scheck

There's nothing more annoying than to be stuck at the theater while someone chatters away incessantly on his cellphone. It's even worse when he's onstage. That's the case with "Flight," in…

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