All stories by Wendy Caster on BroadwayStars

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Triassic Parq by Wendy Caster

I  thoroughly enjoyed Triassic Parq: The Musical in an earlier incarnation, when it was known as Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical. This time around I enjoyed it less. Part of the pro…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:15PM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 1, 2012

Tribes by Wendy Caster

It's always dangerous to see a show after hearing weeks of hype. Expectations are tricky things. But Tribes is every bit as good as everyone says it is. Billy is the only deaf person in his …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:03PM[SHARE]

The Columnist by Wendy Caster

The Columnist, by David Auburn, is a smart, straightforward bio-play, with the juicy, juicy starring role of Joseph Alsop, the nationally syndicated columnist who both reported and made hist…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:29PM[SHARE]

Dropped Names by Frank Langella (book review) by Wendy Caster

I love gossip. I love knowing who's sleeping with who and why X isn't talking to Z. But there is a limit. And, in his new memoir, Dropped Names, Frank Langella goes well past it.The book is …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:55PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 29, 2012

3C by Wendy Caster

What were they thinking?There are two ways to interpret this question. In the first, it's preceded by a silent "Are they nuts?" And that interpretation is certainly apt in relation to David …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:15PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 25, 2012

The Bad and the Better by Wendy Caster

Jordan Tisdale, William Apps Photo: Monica Simoes The Amoralists love to yell, and they do it well. In their shows, usually written by the smart and wry Derek Ahonen, people live operaticall…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:26PM[SHARE]

Sovereign by Wendy Caster

Stephen Heskett, Hanna CheekPhoto: Deborah AlexanderWith Sovereign, playwright Mac Rogers and director Jordana Williams bring home the wonderful Honeycomb Trilogy with verve, humor, and a b…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:26PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 23, 2012

This Is Fiction by Wendy Caster

The InViolet Rep is presenting a little gem of a play down at the Cherry Lane. It's called This Is Fiction, and it's written by Megan Hart and directed by Shelley Butler. It's not a perfect …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Kaye Ballard at Feinstein's by Wendy Caster

If you are a Kaye Ballard fan and didn't get to see her Sunday, now is the time to bug her and Feinstein's about her coming back for a week or two. Because, really, you have to see her.From …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:32PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 18, 2012

Love Goes to Press by Wendy Caster

Imagine that someone told you that you were about to see a play about female war correspondents in World War II, written by Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles, who had actually been female …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:30PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 11, 2012

NYTW Rocks the Tony Awards by Wendy Caster

If anyone had any lingering doubts that the real theatrical action is Off-Broadway, the New York Theatre Workshop's well-deserved 13 wins last night (eight for Once and five for Peter and th…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:54PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 9, 2012

Show Showdown Reviewer Sandra Mardenfeld Wins PCLI Award by Wendy Caster

We're proud and excited to announce that our own Sandra Mardenfeld won first place in the "Online, Arts" category of the Press Club of Long Island Media Awards for her wonderful review of Sn…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:02PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 7, 2012

Next to Normal (Stages Rep, Houston) by Wendy Caster

Sometimes it's possible to confuse an event and a show, and it is only when the event disappears that the show's full merits can be judged. Take The Lion King. Would it have run for more tha…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:36PM[SHARE]

2011-2012 Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Award Winners by Wendy Caster

Patrick Lee, a Founderof ITBA and This Blog--AndMuch MissedThe Independent Theater Bloggers Association (the "ITBA") is proud to announce the 2012 recipients of the Fourth Annual Patrick Lee…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:30PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

When Half the Sphere Is Visible by Wendy Caster

The Drafts, the acting company of the Horse Trade Theater Group, recently presented When Half the Sphere Is Visible, an unusual collaboration among four playwrights, five directors, and nine…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:39PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 18, 2012

Triumphant Baby: The Songs of Iconis and Maddock by Wendy Caster

Lorinda Lisitza is amazing. And she was born to sing the songs of Joe Iconis and Robert Maddock, who are pretty darn amazing themselves.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:57AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 14, 2012

Miracle on South Division Street by Wendy Caster

Tom Dudzick's lovely and touching comedy, Miracle on South Division Street, focuses on the working-class Nowaks of Buffalo--Clara and her three adult children--a close-knit family who nevert…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:46PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 10, 2012

Fort Blossom Revisited (2000/2012) by Wendy Caster

John Jasperse's one-hour dance piece, Fort Blossom Revisited, begins when an attractive, curly-haired, and completely nude white man walks calmly onstage and lies face down, hands at side. H…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:30PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Runner Stumbles by Wendy Caster

In northern Michigan in 1911, a nun was found murdered. In the early 1970s, playwright Milan Stitt wrote a murder mystery/courtroom drama based on this story and used it to examine love, rel…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:08PM[SHARE]

An Early History of Fire by Wendy Caster

While watching the not-particularly-enthralling New Group production of David Rabe's new play, An Early History of Fire, I had to wonder if we really need yet another coming-of-age story in …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:53PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Another Year, Another Tonys by Wendy Caster

Today's Tony Award nominations underline that, in its own way, the Fabulous Invalid isn't dead yet, despite its attempts to commit suicide via obscenely high ticket prices. It has recreated …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:36AM[SHARE]

DEINDE by Wendy Caster

Rachael Hip-Flores, Isaiah Tanenbaum Photo: Justin HochIn August Schulenburg's wonderful new play, DEINDE, a Flux Theatre Ensemble production, it's 2051, and a virus is decimating the human …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:04AM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 29, 2012

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Wendy Caster

A Midsummer Night's Dream may be William Shakespeare's most indestructible play. The plot is so solidly silly, the characters' desires and dreams so clearly etched, that the show is always f…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:29PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 28, 2012

A Streetcar Named Desire by Wendy Caster

In contrast to, for example, Liv Ullman's version of A Streetcar Named Desire (or David Cromer's or Edward Hall's), Emily Mann's version respects and serves the play. It is clear and straigh…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:34PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 20, 2012

Clybourne Park by Wendy Caster

Really? Clybourne Park? This is the play that won the Pulitzer? That has a good chance at the Tony? That is receiving raves? Really?Let's take the depiction of the deaf character Betsy as a …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:55AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 19, 2012

Barb Jungr: The Man in the Long Black Coat by Wendy Caster

Bob Dylan's songs are so closely meshed with Bob Dylan's voice that the idea of a cabaret chanteuse taking them on is like tomato ice cream, both odd and intriguing. Award-winning British si…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:30PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Alice Ripley at the Metropolitan Room by Wendy Caster

Stars are generally not low-key people. From Bette Davis to Patti LuPone they are often mannered, fascinating, and almost painfully distinct. They are never generic. Love 'em or hate 'em, yo…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:57PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 16, 2012

Peter and the Starcatcher by Wendy Caster

The delightful Peter and the Starcatcher, the Story Theatre-esque prequel to Peter Pan,  is now on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (my review of the Off-Broadway production at t…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:14PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 13, 2012

Barbara Cook: Let's Fall in Love by Wendy Caster

It's almost silly for Barbara Cook to sing "Let's Fall in Love" to the audience at Feinstein's; we all fell in love with her years ago--and, as she proves yet again, with good reason.How do …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:23PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Come Write for Show Showdown! by Wendy Caster

Anyone want to join Show Showdown? None of us get paid, but we do often get free tickets, and it's great fun having a forum where you can write as long or short as you like and review the wh…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:29PM[SHARE]

The Mikado by Wendy Caster

Victoria Clark, Kelli O'HaraPhoto: Jennifer BroskiThere are (rare) times in life when we get to experience perfection. One of mine was last night--listening to Kelli O'Hara's simple, elegant…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:21PM[SHARE]

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