Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Richard II by Wendy Caster

While Richard III has been done 21 times on Broadway, Richard II has been done only seven, most recently in 1957. (Source: ibdb.com) It is certainly less interesting. Richard III is a gra…

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Saturday, November 1, 2025

Crooked Cross by Wendy Caster

In the early 1930s, Sally Carson, an English writer and dancing teacher, spent time in Germany. She then wrote Crooked Cross, which focuses on the insidious growth of Nazism, first as a nove…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:12PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Punch by Wendy Caster

Punch completely blew me away, as it did the people I saw it with. A wild, disaffected young man, Jacob, punches another young man, James, for no particular reason. That one punch kills J…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:36PM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 5, 2025

Torera by Wendy Caster

Torera vividly depicts the life of Elena, the daughter of the housekeeper in the house of a great torero, who desperately wants to be a bullfighter. The son of the torero is Elena's best …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:36PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 1, 2025

This Is Government by Wendy Caster

At the start of This Is Government, written by Nina Kissinger and directed by Sarah Norris, three young adults sit in a drab congressional office (nicely realized by Daniel Allen). Against t…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:06PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 23, 2025

The Essentialisn't by Wendy Caster

Roughly a third of the way through The Essentialisn't (great title), writer-director-performer Elisa Davis quotes Wikipedia: "Essentialism is the view that every entity has a set of attribu…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:06AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 4, 2025

The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir (book review) by Wendy Caster

Kelly Bishop writing a memoir--doesn't that sound exciting? The stories she must have! The gossip! The attitude! Nah. The Third Gilmore Girl is a short, polite, mildly interesting  boo…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:42PM[SHARE]

Twelfth Night, or What You Will by Wendy Caster

It's easier to enjoy Twelfth Night, or What You Will, the inaugural production at the newly redone Delacorte, if you accept that it's not exactly Twelfth Night. The show is lively, funny, a …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:42PM[SHARE]
Monday, August 4, 2025

MISS MAY DOES NOT EXIST: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius (book review) by Wendy Caster

While the subtitle of this book calls Elaine May "Hollywood's Hidden Genius," it also gives full attention to May's theatrical career, which has included writing, acting, and directing. May …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:36AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 9, 2025

Tony Predictions: How'd We Do? by Wendy Caster

It could have been worse. It could have been better. Sandra got a very respectable 18 correct. Liz and I tied with 13. It was a fun Tonys ceremony. Happy New Season! (BTW, the √s are…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:32PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 2, 2025

The Harlem Doll Palace by Wendy Caster

Lenon Hoyte (Aunt Len) was the founder and proprietor of Aunt Len's Doll and Toy Museum in Harlem. She died in 1999. In the amazing Harlem Doll Palace, which just finished a run at the HERE …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:18PM[SHARE]

The Imaginary Invalid by Wendy Caster

In the late 1970s, The Public Theater presented the Yale Rep production of Sganarelle: An Evening of Molière Farces. It was a wonderful evening. One performer was particularly good: Mark…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:18PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Maddie by Wendy Caster

Jan and Nick, a young married couple, have just moved into an apartment in the East Village. It's 1977, they're in their mid-20s, and they've been together 7 years. Their marriage is happy b…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:24AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 13, 2025

The Fat Cat Killers by Wendy Caster

Adam Szymkowicz's entertaining The Fat Cat Killers combines an incompetent-criminals comedy with a take-down of capitalism. Rather than building on or complementing each other, the two co…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:36PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 10, 2025

2025 Tony Predictions by Wendy Caster

Although we have not previously shown great acuity in Tony prediction, here we are again. Hope springs eternal! This year's list of Tony nominees reveals a healthy, exciting season. Looking …

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:36PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 7, 2025

We Do The Same Thing Every Week by Wendy Caster

From the press release for We Do The Same Thing Every Week: Dick and Jane are bored on a rainy Sunday afternoon. A six-foot tall cat shows up, and hijinks ensue. Later, elsewhere, Dick and J…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:36PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 26, 2025

Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. by Wendy Caster

Caryl Churchill is not in love with the sound of her own voice. (Many playwrights are, along with many people in every walk of life.) While Churchill has a tremendous amount to say, her writ…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:32PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 6, 2025

Blind Injustice by Wendy Caster

That the American justice system is worse than broken--dangerous, dishonest, racist--is not news. Some innocent people have been coerced into confessing, others have accepted plea bargains r…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:32AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 4, 2025

The Price by Wendy Caster

I am not a fan of Arthur Miller's. But I like to revisit works to see if I've missed something. Having recently reread Death of a Salesman and seen the The Village Theater Group pro…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 07:12PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Garside's Career by Wendy Caster

In Garside's Career, written by Harold Brighouse before the first World War, Peter Garside is a skilled mechanic and avid Union member in 1914 Midlanton, England. He has just completed a uni…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:18PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 18, 2025

After Endgame by Sandra Mardenfeld

Photo by Josh Goleman. Design: Armistead Booker When playing chess never move your pawn to F4 since it makes your king vulnerable and, as Kevin James Doyle advises, "If you're playing anyo…

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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Cymbeline by Wendy Caster

The delightful NAATCO-Play on Shakespeare all-femme, all-Asian-American production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline only runs through Feb. 15. If you are a fan of first-class theatre that is…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:42AM[SHARE]
Saturday, February 8, 2025

Mrs. Loman by Wendy Caster

Mrs. Loman, Barbara Cassady's sequel to Death of a Salesman, starts right after Willy's funeral. Linda Loman, her sons Biff and Happy, and next door neighbor Charley and his son Bernard gath…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 05:32PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Gypsy by Wendy Caster

When the curtain came down on Act 1 of Gypsy, my friend Susan said, "She's so wrong and she's so good." Excellent summation! I was one of those who greeted Audra's casting with, she's miscas…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 08:36PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Show/Boat: A River by Wendy Caster

Based on both the reviews and word of mouth, I went into Target Margin's "re-envisioning" of Show Boat (here called Show/Boat: A River) with low expectations. Sadly, it lived down to them.Â…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 11:54PM[SHARE]
Monday, January 13, 2025

Eureka Day by Wendy Caster

A built-in weakness in some comedies of ideas is that one side of an argument may simply be right. As someone who believes strongly in vaccines, I thought Eureka Day might have to wrestle…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:18PM[SHARE]

Women Writing Musicals (book review) by Wendy Caster

 I reviewed Women Writing Musicals on Talkin' Broadway. One of the stranger parts of aging is watching time go from "now" to "then" to "retro" to "no one on Jeopardy knows the answer."…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 03:06PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Passion: Pass It On (TRU Benefit) by Wendy Caster

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the TRU (Theater Resources Unlimited) benefit. The TRU mission: TRU was formed to promote a spirit of cooperation and support within the general t…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 12:12AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 3, 2024

Strike Up the Band by Wendy Caster

Last week, the wonderful MasterVoices presented the Gershwins' Strike Up the Band. In 1927, its book, about a war over cheese tariffs, was written by George F. Kaufman with a pretty sa…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 09:42PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 11, 2024

Sump'n Like Wings by Wendy Caster

Lynn Riggs (1899-1954) wrote 30 plays, a few of which were produced on Broadway, along with screenplays and poetry. Nowadays he is known--when he is known at all--for having written Green Gr…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 06:32AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 4, 2024

Honor by Wendy Caster

What is honor? That's a particularly relevant question as we head into the election. Is honor reputation? Or is it something between a person and herself? What value does honor have? Do most…

SOURCE: Show Showdown at 10:12PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off