Monday, January 12, 2026
John Cunningham (1932"2026) in "Rose" (1981). Photo by Martha Swope.January 12, 2026: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
It took me a few days to talk to some people, look up…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 02:51PM[SHARE]Thursday, January 8, 2026
By Ron Fassler . . . A cabaret show that's the perfect way to start the New Year off with optimism and heart.
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 02:08PM[SHARE]Monday, December 29, 2025
Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards in Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten" (1973).December 29, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
Eugene O'Neill (1888"1953), the o…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 01:41PM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . It's that time of year and Broadway stalwart Norm Lewis is back at 54 Below with "Christmas Lives Here."
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:44AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 21, 2025
Julie Benko as Sarah Brown and Jacob Dickey as Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls."December 21, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
As musicals go, Guys and Dolls is a sho…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:48AM[SHARE]Saturday, December 20, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . As musicals go, Guys and Dolls is a show I've seen productions of in more venues than any other. Over the years, I've sat through versions by elementary, mi…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:01PM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . Here in New York City, the non-profit Urban Stages has been championing the work of playwrights, composers, and lyricists for decades. Its modest home on West 30t…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 12:02PM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 10, 2025
A FIRST-HAND REPORT ON NEW YORK THEATRE . . . FROM A HALF-CENTURY AGO
Alan Bates in the title role of Simon Gray's "Butley," which played the old and venerable Morosco Theatre (1…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, December 6, 2025
Book review by Samuel L. Leiter Casual notes on show-biz books, memoirs and studies, dust gatherers, and hot off the presses. Barbara Wallace Grossman, A Spectacle of Suffering: Clara Morris…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 06:00PM[SHARE]The marquee of the now demolished George Abbott Theatre proudly displaying Cassius Clay in "Buck White" (1969).December 6, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
Fifty-six …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:14AM[SHARE]Monday, December 1, 2025
Matt Kurzyniec outside the Palace Theatre where he recently made his Broadway debut in "Beetlejuice."December 1, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
It doesn't get much bett…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 09:19AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 30, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . Friends who have been performing together in tandem for almost twenty-two years, Christine Ebersole, a two-time Tony Award winning actress and Billy Stritch…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:29PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Raul Esparza as J.J. Hunsecker in MasterVoices' "Sweet Smell of Success."November 25, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
Most people have never heard of the musical Sweet …
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 08:20AM[SHARE]Friday, November 21, 2025
"TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK)": AN UNWIELDY TITLE FOR AN UNUSUALLY WONDERFUL NEWÂ MUSICAL
Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts in "Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)" (…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 11:27AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Book review by Samuel L. Leiter Casual notes on show-biz books, memoirs and studies, dust gatherers, and hot off the presses. David Armstrong. Broadway Nation: How Immigrants, Jewish, Que…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 04:56PM[SHARE]Monday, November 17, 2025
Icke, Strong, and Manville update Sophocles for a modern political tragedy. In 1959, Elmer Rice wrote Cue for Passion, a Broadway play that adapted Shakespeare's Hamlet into contemp…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:45PM[SHARE]Review by Ron Fassler . . . Sometimes a play begins and within minutes you can tell that you're in the hands of a playwright, director and cast that are not only on the same page but have do…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 11:24PM[SHARE]Thursday, November 13, 2025
Laurie Metcalf as Sarah and Micah Stock as Ethan in "Little Bear Ridge Road" (photo by Julia Cervantes).November 13, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
In 1984, I attended…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 03:02PM[SHARE]Monday, November 10, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . Now in its 55th year, the 92NY Lyrics & Lyricists Series is as essential to New York City as such other venerable institutions as Shakespeare in the Park and …
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:34PM[SHARE]Friday, November 7, 2025
Mike Nichols and Neil Simon in an empty theatre in the 1960s, eyes forward towards the stage.November 7, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.
Mike Nichols, born ninety-fo…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 10:43AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . While sitting through Kyoto, which opened this week at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, I couldn't help being reminded of several other recent plays best described …
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:14PM[SHARE]Sunday, November 2, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . When George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion first premiered in London in 1914, it boasted two of the greatest stars of the British Theatre as its leads: Herbert Be…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 09:49PM[SHARE]Friday, October 31, 2025
By Ron Fassler . . . I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Linda Purl, an actress and singer with decades in the business. Her resume includes starring in over 45 made-for-TV movie…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 01:54PM[SHARE]Thursday, October 30, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . "This is a play about my mother. For my mother. Who recently . . . who's not here anymore. And so, it's about her, and her friends, her beautiful friends"and a th…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 06:36PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . Oscar Hammerstein II's words to Jerome Kern's melody "The Song is You," could have been written to perfectly describe the songstress Marilyn Maye: Beautiful rhaps…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 03:53PM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Review by Samuel L. Leiter . . . Art of Leaving is the unpropitious title of an amateurish new domestic comedy by Anne Marilyn Lucas, whose cardboard dialogue and plywood acting had me po…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 08:56PM[SHARE]Sunday, October 19, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . The 34-year-old Ari'el Stachel is blessed with charm for days. Anyone who saw his Tony Award-winning performance in The Band's Visit were enchanted by his i…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 10:07PM[SHARE]Thursday, October 16, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . Eleven months ago, the City Center Annual Gala Presentation of Ragtime, minimally staged by director Lear DeBessonet, received excellent reviews (mine am…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 10:59PM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 14, 2025
By Alex Eichholz . . . ​For a show that opens with the line "Prepare to be GOOPED!", I was neither gooped nor gagged by Gwyneth Goes Skiing, which opened tonight at SoH…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 07:10PM[SHARE]Monday, October 13, 2025
Sam Robards, Victoria Clarke, Camila Canó-Flaviá, and Will Harrison in "Punch" (photo by Matthew Murphy).October 13, 2025: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler
If you've n…
SOURCE: ronfassler.medium.com at 10:44AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Review by Ron Fassler . . . It is with only a fleeting awareness of her media persona that I attended The Least Problematic Woman in the World, Dylan Mulvaney's solo autobiographical p…
SOURCE: Theater Pizzazz at 07:50AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
