All stories by Wendy Caster on BroadwayStars

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Orpheus & Euridice by Wendy Caster

Ricky Ian Gordon's gorgeous chamber piece, Orpheus & Euridice, is being given an excellent production by The Orpheus Project and Collaborative Stages through June 12th. If luscious song …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:25PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 4, 2011

Panel June 9 at 4:30: The Benefit of Bloggers by Wendy Caster

I'm very pleased to announce that June 9th I will be part of a panel on theatre blogging. I hope you can come! (It's free. More info below.)The panel is part of the Planet Connections Theatr…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:17PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 3, 2011

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Wendy Caster

If you wanted to explain the concept of "range," you could do worse than to compare Lynn Nottage's current comedy, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, to her recent devastating drama, Ruined. Few p…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:02PM[SHARE]

The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures by Wendy Caster

Michael Cristofer and Linda Emond (photo: Joan Marcus)To those who point to previous generations of theatre as being better than this one, I have two words for you: Tony Kushner. (I have two…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:28PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 29, 2011

Follies by Wendy Caster

In 2003, in the Signature (Arlington, VA) production, Eric Schaeffer demonstrated that he is capable of directing a sensitive, textured, multidimensional, heart-breaking Follies. Has he forg…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:22PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It's Maye in May: Marilyn Maye at Feinstein's by Wendy Caster

I love Marilyn Maye.Really, what's not to love? Maye is an American Classic, a jazz-cabaret singer who started singing professionally in the Great Depression, an 83-year-old who swings with …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:12PM[SHARE]

The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman by Wendy Caster

In his director's note for The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman, David Zippel aptly refers to "the dazzling depth and breadth" of Coleman's work. Dazzling depth and breadth indee…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 22, 2011

2010-2011 Patrick Lee Theater Blogger Award Winners by Wendy Caster

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICALBloody Bloody Andrew Jackson OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAYJerusalem OUTSTANDING BROADWAY MUSICAL REVIVALAnything Goes OUTSTANDING BROADWAY PLAY…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:14PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 16, 2011

Cabaret by Wendy Caster

Joy Yandell, Karson St. John (photo: Daren Scott)Spoilers Throughout. San Diego's excellent Cygnet theatre is presenting a problematic production of Kander and Ebb's classic musical Cab…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:18PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 10, 2011

ITBA AWARD NOMINATIONS 2011 by Wendy Caster

The Patrick Lee Internet Theater Bloggers Association award nominations have been announced. Here they are:OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL Bloody Bloody Andrew JacksonCatch Me…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:50PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 8, 2011

Be a Good Little Widow by Wendy Caster

Jill Eikenberry, Wrenn Schmidt (photo: Ben Arons)There are no new stories. This fact challenges every playwright (and novelist and screenwriter). Take, for example, the following three scena…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:35PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Lisa Howard: Songs of Innocence and Experience (CD Review) by Wendy Caster

There are wonderful moments in theatre when you suddenly realize that you are in the presence of someone special. The first time I heard Lisa Howard sing was one of those moments. It was an …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:06PM[SHARE]

Let Me Entertain You: Laura Benanti at Feinstein's at Loews Regency by Wendy Caster

Before I get to her voice, and what she sang, and all those necessary details about someone performing a solo cabaret show, I need to get one thing out of the way: Laura Benanti is a hoot. N…

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

The School for Lies by Wendy Caster

Mamie Gummer and Jenn Gambatese. Photo credit: Joan Marcus.I have to begin this review with a caveat: At the performance of The School for Lies I attended, an electrical outage down the bloc…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:05PM[SHARE]
Sunday, May 1, 2011

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (CD Review) by Wendy Caster

According to the invaluable StageGrade, the Broadway musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown received an average grade of C- from a total of 31 critics. While it's clear that Women…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:56PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 23, 2011

Show Showdown: Seance on a Wet Afternoon by Wendy Caster

In writing Seance on a Wet Afternoon, was Stephen Schwartz hoping to create his Sweeney Todd?

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 02:17PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Show Showdown: Born Bad by Wendy Caster

Playwright debbie tucker green's elegant, pared-down Olivier Award-winning play Born Bad is a formidable achievement.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:16PM[SHARE]

Show Showdown: Marie and Bruce by Wendy Caster

Marie and Bruce is a crass and juvenile--and unsuccessful--attempt at being shockingly funny.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:56PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Show Showdown: Arcadia by Wendy Caster

All I can say to David Leveaux, director of the current Broadway production of Arcadia, is shame on you.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:16AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 11, 2011

Short Takes by Wendy Caster

Victoria Clark Master Class. This is the second master class I've seen given by Victoria Clark. I've also seen Barbara Cook give one. All three were wonderful and occasionally awe-inspiring …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:09PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 7, 2011

Benefactors by Wendy Caster

If Michael Fray had written nothing but the delightfully hysterical Noises Off, he would still rate a place in the heart of all theatre lovers. However, Frayn has written a great deal more t…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:25PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 28, 2011

Show Showdown: The Dream of the Burning Boy by Wendy Caster

Playwright Read presents compelling, fully realized characters, and their secrets are both surprising and believable.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:29PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 21, 2011

Show Showdown: Room by Wendy Caster

Room presents an emotional portrait of a writer in desperate need of "the room to move, the room to breathe, the room to imagine; emotional room, creative room."

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:13PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Show Showdown: An Evening of Story and Song (Shirley Jones at Feinstein's) by Wendy Caster

Shirley Jones's act at Feinstein's last night was a treat for her biggest fans, who laughed, cheered, stood, and even cried. For the rest of us, however, the news was not as good.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:49PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Changing Room by Wendy Caster

Photo: Daniel TernaTheChanging Room, by David Storey, is not big on plot. A bunch of Englishmen enter a locker room, kid around, change, and go out to play rugby--Act One.  The owner of…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:09PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 10, 2011

Cactus Flower by Wendy Caster

Until this production, Abe Burrows' Cactus Flower had not had a major New York revival. That was a good thing. It is hard to understand why anyone would want to revive this flat, unbelievabl…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Peter and the Starcatcher by Wendy Caster

Photo: Joan Marcus.Well-done story theatre uses its combination of telling and showing to invite the audience into the creative process. We help the performers invent entire worlds out of&nb…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:33PM[SHARE]

She Loves Him (Kate Baldwin at Feinstein's) by Wendy Caster

If you look up the word lovely in the dictionary, there she is: Kate Baldwin, with her sweet, pure voice, beautiful smile, and great charm. In her current show at Feinstein's, She Loves Him,…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 04:57PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller by Wendy Caster

Anthropologist Krystal D'Costa was my companion for The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller. For her insightful take on the show, click here.

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:52AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 21, 2011

The Wooster Group's Version of Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carré by Wendy Caster

While watching the Wooster Group's pretentious, pointless, and ham-handed production of Vieux Carré, a question occurred to me: What if it's not that the emperor has no clothes but rather t…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:30PM[SHARE]

Apple Cove by Wendy Caster

Apple Cove is a satire of people who choose conformity and control to feel less frightened by the rest of the world. The show starts when newlyweds Alan and Edie move to the rule-bound Apple…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 01:47PM[SHARE]

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