GYPSY Book by Arthur Laurents Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Directed by George C, Wolfe Starring Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein Majestic Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer (For this review, I’m going to assume most of you readers know the show. For those who don’t, there are plenty of YouTube …
LINDA LAVIN: She’s Singing! She’s Singing! Come Listen! Interview by Frank Evans [Editor’s note: Back in the early years of Aisle Say, when I still had the industry and stamina to feature a few other writers, my late friend, new talent advocate and fellow musical dramatist, FrankEvans (1946–2017), would write the odd review under a …
MAYBE HAPPY ENDING Music by Will Aronson Lyrics by Hue Park Book by Aronson and Park Directed by Michael Arden Starring Darren Criss, Helen J. Chen and Marcus Choi Belasco Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I don’t know anyone (including myself) who hasn’t been charmed by Maybe Happy Ending and it deserves all …
A WONDERFUL WORLD: The Louis Armstrong Musical Book by Aurin Squire Conceived by Andrew Delaplaine and Christopher Renshaw Directed by Christopher Renshaw Featuring James Monroe Igleheart Directed by Christopher Renshaw Studio 54 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Well, how wonderful a world is it really? With regard to the fecund and profitable subgenre of …
DEATH BECOMES HER Book by Marco Pennette Music & Lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey Based on the screenplay by Martin Donovan and David Koepp Directed and Choreographed by Christopher Gattelli Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve procrastinated about reviewing Death Becomes Her (the musical) because I’m not entirely sure what …
ELF The Musical (2024) Book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin Music by Matthew Sklar Lyrics by Chad Beguelin Based on the film, screenplay by David Berenbaum Directed by Philip W. McKinley Starring Grey Henson, Kayla Davion, Michael Hayden, Ashley Brown and Sean Astin as Santa Marquis Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It …
WE ARE YOUR ROBOTS Book and Lyrics by Ethan Lipton Music Composed and Performed by Ethan Lipton, Vito Dieterle, Eben Levy and Ian Riggs Directed by Leigh Silverman A Production of Theatre for a New Audience and Rattlestick Theatre Polonsky Shakespeare Center Reviewed by David Spencer We Are Your Robots has been branded a musical, …
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE written by William Shakespeare adapted & directed by Igor Golyak for Arlekin Theatre Company at the Classic Stage Company Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer I suppose it’s not unknown for an experimental company to be hit-and-miss, but after what has to be characterized the triumph of Our Class, which returned a …
LEFT ON TENTH by Delia Ephron Based on Her Memoir Directed by Susan Stroman Starring Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve been at the reviewing game for a long time, a half century, and over the years I’ve clocked a mellowing. Partially it comes from sufficient experience working the …
FRANKLINLAND by Lloyd Suh Directed by Chika Ike Starring Thomas Jay Ryan and Noah Keyishian Ensemble Studio Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a whole helluva lot of dramatized malignant narcissism on display this season, and I begin to wonder if it’s become an easy trope. The latest abusive figure is none other than Benjamin …
HOLD ON TO ME DARLING by Kenneth Lonergan Directed by Neil Pepe Starring Adam Driver Lucille Lortel Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Nearly a decade later, I’m still not sure what to make of Hold On to Me Darling, an almost O’Neill-length comedy—I think comedy— by the redoubtable Kenneth Lonergan, in revival at …
McNEAL by Ayed Akhtar Directed by Bartlet Sher A Production of Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont Starring Robert Downey, Jr. Reviewed by David Spencer For all its being a high-tech-fueled tragi-comic diving into the controversies of Artificial Intelligence, and its impact on culture, art, society and relationships, McNeal, at its core, very familiar: …
FATHERLAND Conceived and Directed by Stephen Sachs New York City Center Stage II Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a lot to be said for docu-drama plays whose primary or entire dialogue is culled from actual recorded evidence (recorded meaning via print and/or electronic media). Tone and treatment are, of course, everything, and there’s …
OUR CLASS by Tadeusz Słobodzianek Adapted by Norman Allen, from a translation by Catherine Grovesnor Directed by Igor Golyak An Arlekin Players Presentation at Classic Stage Company Play and Production Website Reviewed by David Spencer Our Class is an unambiguously inventive evening or afternoon of theatre—but also very much an eye-of the-beholder one. An epic …
CELLINO v BARNES Written by Mike B. Breen and David Rafailides Directed by Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse Starring Eric William Morris and Noah Weisberg Asylum NYC Official Show Website Reviewed by David Spencer I got to this one late, but having been hipped to it by a friend on social media, noting that it …
YELLOW FACE by David Henry Hwang Directed by Leigh Silverman Starring Daniel Dae Kim A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company Todd Haimes Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Many are the storytellers, in prose and drama, who have—at times or in toto—successfully used their art as a bully pulpit for causes near and dear to …
ONCE UPON A MATTRESS Book by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, Dean Fuller Music by Mary Rodgers Lyrics by Marshall Barer Starring Sutton Foster, Michael Urie and Ana Gasteyer Directed by Lear deBessonet Hudson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Let’s define “core meddling” first. My applied term, and the topic is musicals. It …
N/A by Mario Correa Starring Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe Directed by Diane Paulus Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer If your theatrical desire can be satisfied by seeing see two profoundly talented actresses uncannily channel the essential physicality and personae of two current important and controversial beltway players, …
THE SABBATH GIRL Book by Cary Gitter Based upon his play Lyrics by Cary Gitter and Neil Berg Music by Neil Berg Directed by Joe Brancato 59E59 Reviewed by David Spencer On the one hand, The Sabbath Girl is a fairly smart musical for its team to have created. It’s small, its production needs are …
KING LEAR Adapted and Directed by Karin Coonroad A Production of Compagnia de’ Colombari Company Website Show Webpage Recently at LaMama Further Venues TBA Reviewed by David Spencer There are, to broadly oversimplify, only two ways for a director to newly interpret a classic piece—assuming a certain essential faithfulness to text; within those two …
LEMPICKA (Triggering vs Earning—Part 1) Book, Lyrics and Original Concept by Carson Kreitzer Book and Music by Matt Gold Directed by Rachel Chavkin Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer In my recent review of Teeth, I opened with a rumination on how, when functioning as a critic, I now have to take in and assess …
THE GREAT GATSBY (Triggering vs Earning—Part 2) Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald Book by Kait Kerrigan Music by Jason Howland Music by Nathan Tyson Directed by Marc Bruni Broadway Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer The Great Gatsby is best described as factory fresh Fitzgerald. It looks Art Deco great, it …
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SUFFS (Triggering vs Earning—Part 3) Book, Music and Lyrics by Shaina Taub Directed by Leigh Silverman Music Box Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Suffs is about the fight for women to vote in America, book-music-lyrics by Shaina Taub—who, shades of Lin-Manuel Miranda, has also written herself the leading role of suffragette Alice Paul. …
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (Triggering vs Earning—Part 4) Book by Rick Elice Music and Lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co. Based on the novel by Sarah Gruen Directed by Jessica Stone Imperial Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Water for Elephants is a musical adaptation of the novel by Sara Gruen, a memory story as …
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TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE By Jeffrey Hatcher & Mitch Albom Based on the book by Mitch Albom Directed by Erwin Maas Starring Len Cariou and Christopher J. Domig A Production of Sea Dog Theater at St George’s Episcopal Church Reviewed by David Spencer I was surprised, looking into the old review archive, to find that my …
THE NOTEBOOK Book by Bekah Brunstetter Music and Lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks Directed by Michael Greif and Schelle Williams Schoenfeld Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks (perhaps most famous for The Horse Whisperer), The Notebook dramatizes a lifelong romance by …
TEETH Book and Music by Anna K. Jacobs Book and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson Based on the screenplay by Mitchell Lichtenstein Directed by Sarah Benson Playwrights Horizons Reviewed by David Spencer With experience and—at nearly 70, I guess I have to say it at last, age—variously comes wisdom (one hopes)—and over decades I have …
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by James Lapine Directed and Choreographed by Eamon Foley Axelrod Performing Arts Center Reviewed by David Spencer I write this on Wednesday, March 20, 2024—and I write quickly and in brief because as of tonight, there are only seven more performances (through …
THE WHITE CHIP by Sean Daniels Directed by Sheryl Kaller MCC Theater Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer [I wrote most of what follows in 2019, when The White Chip made its off-Broadway debut at 59E59 with a 2/3 different cast. It’s one of those Zeitgeist coincidences that this show should cme around again, exactly as …
THE CONNECTOR Book by Jonathan Marc Sherman Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown Direction and Concept by Daisy Prince MCC Theater Reviewed by David Spencer I was a little surprised, after I saw the new musical The Connector, to note that it had received a fair amount of mixed-negative notices (I usually don’t look; I’m …
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I COULD DIE Written and Performed by Mona Pirnot Directed by Lucas Hnath New York Theatre Workshop Reviewed by David Spencer Theatrical experimentation is a good thing, especially when it leads to breakthroughs in nuts-and-bolts technique or augments theatrical vocabulary or shifts the paradigms of perception via staging new material or …
THE LIFE AND SLIMES OF MARC SUMMERS Written by Alex Brightman Music by Drew Gasparini Directed by Chad Rabinowitz Starring Marc Summers New World Stages Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I texted a good friend and sometime collaborator that I was en route to seeing The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, and ID’d the …
THE CHRISTINE JORGENSEN SHOW By Donald Steven Olson Directed by Michael Barkavia and Zoë Adams Featuribng Jesse James Keitel and Mark Nadler 59E59 Reviewed by David Spencer The Christine Jorgenson Show took me completely by surprise, and in a way it would be good if it took you by surprise too—the power of a genuine, sneak-up-on-you …
DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES The Musical Book by Craig Lucas Music and Lyrics by Adam Guettel Based on the teleplay and screenplay by JP Miller Directed by Michael Grief Starring Brian D’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara Studio 54 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Days of Wine and Roses falls into an interesting category: It’s …
SPAMALOT Book and Lyrics by Eric Idle Music by John Du Prez & Eric Idle A new musical (lovingly) ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python And The Holy Grail Directed and Choreographed by Josh Rhodes St. James Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Since its debut in 2005, there have been three …
HARMONY (Broadway Transfer) Book and Lyrics by Bruce Sussman Music by Barry Manilow Directed and Choreographed by Wayne Carlyle Ethel Barrymore Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer [Some of the following material is drawn from my original 2022 notice.] The Comedian Harmonists were a German, all-male singing group of six. They performed between 1928 and …
THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA by Tennessee Williams Directed by Emily Mann Pershing Square Signature Center Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It is high summer, 1940, in the Coste Verde Hotel in Puerto Barrio on the west coast of Mexico. Jungle territory, really, with a no-frills motel dropped in the center, for naïve tourists …
I NEED THAT By Theresa Rebeck Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel Starring Danny DeVito A Production of the Roundabout American Airlines Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Theresa Rebeck is not only one of the most prolific American dramatists ever, and among the best; she’s also one of the most versatile. A veteran TV seies dramatis …
MIND MANGLER by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Fields Directed by Hannah Sharkey New World Stages Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer English actor-writer-raconteur Stephen Fry, during an interview some 11 years ago, made a fascinating comparison between American and British comedic heroes, in particular as featured in sitcoms. American sitcom heroes, he said, always …
THE GARDENS OF ANUNCIA Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael John La Chiusa Directed and Choreographed by Graciela Daniele A Production of Lincoln Center Theater Mitzi Newhouse at Lincoln Center Reviewed by David Spencer The Gardens of Anuncia is a sweet and intimate little musical whose appeal is that of a tone poem. That it’s …
SCENE PARTNERS (Vineyard) WAITING FOR GODOT (Polonsky) ARCADIA (Bedlam) Reviewed by David Spencer Here’s a quick overview of some shows that are nearing their run—in some cases extended run—completions Scene Partners, at the Vineyard—live-streaming its final four performances this week, worldwide—is a kind of mash-up play by John J. Caswell, Jr. Ostensibly it’s about the saga …
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MONSIEUR CHOPIN A Play With Music Written by and Starring Hershey Felder Directed by Joel Zwick 59E59 Theatres Reviewed by David Spencer Every one of Hershey Felder’s one actor composer-bio plays is something of an event for me, Being both a composer and a dramatist, I experience it with a certain “speaks my language” b. …
LONE STAR by James McClure Directed by Joe Rosario Theatre Row Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A friend of mine says of productions featuring conspicuous messaging that “there’s a lot of ‘Get-It’ Guy in there”; shorthand for his contention that the creative team might just as well have hired an actor to sit on …
PURLIE VICTORIOUS A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis Directed by Kenny Leon Starring Leslie Odom, Jr Music Box Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It’s not a totally unknown phenomenon, but it’s one that never fails to fascinate me: the way in which an especially hip and insightfully written play …
ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE Created and Performed by Patrick Page Directed by Simon Godwin DR2 Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Patrick Page’s All the Devils are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain is, say I, one of the last half-century or so’s great one actor shows. There aren’t many. And at least …
Written by Scott Brown and Anthony King Directed by Alex Timbers Starring Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells James Earl Jones Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It has sometimes happened in my reviewing career that a revival comes along and I really don’t need to write an entirely fresh review, because what I’ve written …
DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen Directed by Gordon Greenberg New World Stages Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Theatrical parody of genre tropes is tough to get right. Too often, the target is misunderstood, or not sufficiently understood (under-understood?) and the proceedings descend into camp—or worse, are used as …
PARTNERSHIP by Elizabeth Baker Directed by Jackson Gay A Production of the Mint Theatre Theatre Row Reviewed by David Spencer Partnership by British dramatist Elizabeth Baker (1876-1962) is the latest in what the Mint Theatre’s three-production “project” celebrating her work. As some of you know, the Mint is dedicated to the rediscovery of unjustly neglected …
JOB by Max Wolf Freidlich Directed by Michael Herwitz Closed but of note Webpage at Soho Playhouse Site Reviewed by David Spencer I don’t really want to say that much about Job, because to say too much is to enter the Land of Spoilers. Because Job is a fooler. And though its initial Soho Playhouse …
BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL Book by Bob Gale Music & Lyrics by Alan Silvestri & Glen Ballard Based on the film, screenplay by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale Starring Roger Bart and Casey Likes Directed by John Rando Wintergarden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Lest I bury the lead, this will …
THE COTTAGE by Sandy Rustin Directed by Jason Alexander Featuring Eric McCormick and Laura Bell Bundy Hayes Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer The Cottage, strictly as a script, by Sandy Rustin, is the proverbial hat upon a hat. Though a contemporary script, it’s a riff on British drawing room comedy and British sex …
HERE LIES LOVE Concept, Music and Lyrics by David Byrne Music by Fatboy Slim Additional Music by Tom Gandey & José Luis Pardo Developed and Directed by Alex Timbers Broadway Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Here Lies Love, which I have come to think of as Imeldavita, is a glossy overview of the …
THE SHARK IS BROKEN by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon Directed by Guy Masterson Starring Ian Shaw, Alex Brightman and Colin Donnell John Golden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer The Shark is Broken isn’t much of a play, not if you’re looking for story or deep meaning. And it isn’t particularly revelatory if …
PART ONE: End-of-22/23-Season Tie-Up Reviewed by David Spencer This season has been such a personally busy time for me—family stuff (mostly positive, but complex); writing, completing, designing, revising a dream project book (publication imminent); and on the heels of that starting another dream project book—that I haven’t had time to review as much as I …
PART TWO 23/24 Season Jump Start Reviewed by David Spencer Same principle here: I’ll sum up each of the following relatively new offerings by telling you exactly what you need to know, as I see it, to determine if you’d care to see it. Eisenhower: This Piece of Land at the Theatre at St. Clements, …
THE LIFE OF PI Based on the novel by Yann Martel Adaptation by Lolita Chakrabarti Direction by Max Webster Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer High seas adventure. Eastern culture. Puppet animals. Extravagant theatricality. Philosophy. Alternate realities. Hit British import. Based on an international bestseller that also spawned an internationally successful hit movie. …
SHUCKED Book by Robert Horn Music and Lyrics by Brandy Clark & Shane McAnally Directed by Jack O’Brien Nederlander Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer You’ll already have heard a lot of enthusiasm about Shucked, the countrified musical comedy at the Nederlander, and none of it is misleading. Despite the kind of cornpone ambience that …
A DOLL’S HOUSE by Henril Ibsen A new version by Amy Herzog Directed by Jamie Lloyd Starring Jessica Chastain Reviewed by David Spencer A famous dramatist or perhaps it was a novelist—it’s been decades since I first read the quote and I can’t remember to whom I should attribute it—said he thought that classic works should …
PARADE Book by Alfred Uhry Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown Co-conceived by Harold Prince Directed by Michael Arden Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve always kind of admired Parade—the construction of its libretto by Alfred Uhry, the inventive brilliance of its apt score by Jason Robert Brown—without being …
SMART by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton Directed by Matt Dickson Ensemble Studio Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Smart is being presented as a play about the part that technology can play as a balance-changing component in contemporary relationships. In the abstract, not a bad premise; in reality: well, who among us has not been profoundly affected …
BAD CINDERELLA Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber Book by Emerald Fennell (Adaptation by Alexis Scheer) Lyrics by David Zippel Imperial Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Bad Cinderella—Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest—is worse than you might imagine, even from the jokes about Bad having been added to its US title as a warning; and the …
PICTURES FROM HOME by Sharr White based on the photo memoir by Larry Sultan Starring Nathan Lane, Danny Burstein and Zoë Wanamaker Directed by Bartlet Sher Studio 54 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Earlier this season, I saw, but was too over-extended to review, a play by Joseph Dougherty called Chester Bailey, at the Irish …
SOME LIKE IT HOT Book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin Music by Marc Shaiman Lyrics by Shaiman & Scott Wittman Based on the screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond Directed by Casey Nicholaw Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Billy Wilder’s film, Some Like It Hot, screenplay by him and longtime collaborator I.A.L. …
A BRIGHT NEW BOISE by Samuel D. Hunter Directed by Oliver Butler Signature Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer A new employee is hired to be a cashier at an Idaho Hobby Lobby. For those who may only know that as the name of a national chain store not unlike Walmart, Hobby Lobby is famously a conservative …
THE WANDERERS by Anna Ziegler Directed by Barry Edelstein A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Gosh, I’m not sure what to make of The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler, the Roundabout’s latest off-Broadway venture at their midtown Laura Pels space. A multi-generational story set in NYC, told …
A BEAUTIFUL NOISE Music and Lyrics by Neil Diamond Book by Anthony McCarten Directed by Michael Mayer Broadhurst Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A Beautiful Noise struck me as a kind of Merrily We Roll Along told forward, without the dramatic point. Well, forward from the vantage of a flashback. We start with Neil, …
COLIN QUINN: SMALL TALK Written and Performed by Colin Quinn Directed by Bobby Moresco Returning March 30 Greenwich House Theater Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I like Colin Quinn, I genuinely do. He’s a gifted performer, a smart, funny comedian, he holds an audience, he gets big laughs and he can sustain a themed set for …
Part I: DEATH OF A SALESMAN By Arthur Miller Directed by Miranda Cromwell Starring Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke Hudson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Where the classics are concerned, there’s legitimate reimagining through the prism of inclusion and diversity…and then there’s layer-adding and remonstration—most neutrally described as Theme-splaining. What …
Part II: A RAISIN IN THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry Directed by Robert O’Hara Public Theater Reviewed by David Spencer When I attended the revival of A Raisin in the Sun at the Public, fairly late in its extended run, having avoided most of the publicity and press briefing info—I have no hard-and-fast rule about that, …
Part III: 1776 Book by Peter Stone Music, Lyrics and Conception by Sherman Edwards Directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company American Airlines Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Presenting 1776 with an all-female cast is not a new idea. It’s not even, you should pardon the pun, a …
Part A ONLY GOLD Book by Andy Blankenbuehler & Ted Malawer Music and Lyrics by Kate Nash Directed and Choreographed by Andy Blanklenbuehler MCC Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer In a way, it was like seeing the same musical three times. Well, two-and-a half. The third has a story actually rooted in something aside from messaging. …
Part B: & JULIET Book by David West Read Music and Lyrics by Max Martin Directed by Dominic Fallacaro Stephen Sondheim Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer More of the same to be found in & Juliet, in which, Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway (Betsy Wolfe), expressing dissatisfaction with the end of Romeo & Juliet, noodges …
Part C: ALMOST FAMOUS Book by Cameron Crowe based upon his screenplay Music and Lyrics by Tom Kitt Directed by Jeremy Herrin Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Almost Famous incurs my half-the-same show reaction in part because at least it’s not a tract. It’s about William Miller (Casey Likes), an …
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Suzan Lori-Parks Directed by Kenny Leon John Golden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a lot of symbolism carried by Topdog/Underdog, an acclaimed play in an acclaimed revival at the John Golden theatre. Suzan Lori-Parks’ simple tale of two African-American brothers, in a one-room utility flat in an unidentified city. The …
A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE Book by Terrence McNally Music by Stephen Flaherty Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens Based on the screenplay by Barry Develin Directed by John Doyle Classic Stage Company Reviewed by David Spencer I’m going to be cribbing from my original review of A Man of no Importance at Lincoln Center, 20 years …
REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI by Clark Young and Derek Goldman Directed by Derek Goldman Starring David Strathairn Polonsky Shakespeare Center A Production of Theatre for a New City Reviewed by David Spencer To summarize the odyssey of Jan Karski is even more than his Wikipedia page can do, let alone this review, …
TWO JEWS TALKING by Ed. Weinberger Directed by Dan Wackerman Starring Hal Linden, Bernie Kopell and Tim Jerome Theatre at St. Clement’s Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I am, at this point, perhaps not an old Jew, but a senior citizen Jew by a few years, and old enough to remember the kinds of …
OUR MAN IN SANTIAGO by Mark Wilding Directed by Charlie Mount The AMT Theater Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer You kind of sense trouble from the title: Our Man in Santiago. The title is a riff on—no, that gives it too much credit—rather a way of capitalizing on (I bet you thought I was going …
KINKY BOOTS Book by Harvey Fierstein Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper Based on a screenplay by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth Starring Callum Francis and Christian Douglas Directed and Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell Stage 42 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer For all that Kinky Boots has returned as triumphantly as it left, seeming …
THE KITE RUNNER Adapted by Matthew Spangler Based on the novel by Khalid Hosseini Directed by Giles Croft Starring Amir Arison Hayes Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Received wisdom along The Street in the wake of some negative reviews (none of which I have read, as I start writing this review) is that The …
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF by Tennessee Williams Directed by Joe Rosario Theatre at St Clements Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Briefly taking a survey of my theatergoing past, I was surprised to realize how many times I’ve seen Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof…which, as I think about that further, means …
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS Book and lyrics by Luc Plamondon Music by Richard Cocciante Based on the novel by Victor Hugo Directed by Giles Maheu On Tour, See Official Website Original French Cast and Original Italian Cast on YouTube Reviewed by David Spencer Despite its just-completed two-week run at Lincoln Center, the reason to internet review …
INTO THE WOODS Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by James Lapine Directed by Lear deBessonet St. James Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer As I never tire of saying, every revival of a musical is a conversation with the original production. Sensibilities change over time and there’s always a negotiation—and often a war—between …
HANGMEN by Martin McDonaugh Directed by Matthew Dunster John Golden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A little known fact in the US is that, until capital punishment was banned in the UK, the veteran hangmen who executed the doomed were celebrities of a sort, almost like sports figures. And why wouldn’t they be? Men …
MJ Book by Lynn Nottage Directed by Christopher Wheeldon Neil Simon Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’m as entertained—well, almost as entertained—as anyone by the by-now standard genre of pop-star biopic musical, but only a few times (Jersey Boys and Beautiful come to mind) have I been so to the point of feeling as …
MACBETH By William Shakespeare Directed by Sam Gold Starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga Longacre Theatre Official Site Reviewed by David Spencer Director Sam Gold’s staging of Macbeth is probably best reviewed in brief. There’s nothing wrong with the notion of doing a stripped-down, rehearsal clothes production of a Shakespeare play—in popular commercial theatre, that notion …
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT Book by Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandell Music by Jason Robert Brown Lyrics by Amanda Green Directed by John Rando Starring Billy Crystal and David Paymer Nederlander Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Mr. Saturday Night is the new musical based on the 1992 movie about a comic in …
AMERICAN BUFFALO by David Mamet Directed by Neil Pepe Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss Circle in the Square Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It is a wonder why some things endure, yet American Buffalo, David Mamet‘s odd-duck early play (circa early 70s) about three small-time criminals still possesses all its darkly …
A STRANGE LOOP Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson Directed by Stephen Brackett Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A Strange Loop is an odd bird. It’s actually not remotely the first self-referential musical in which the writer—in this case, composer-lyricist-librettist Michael R. Jackson—determines to tell his own autobiographical tale about being a musical …
POTUS by Selina Fillinger Directed by Susan Stroman Sam S. Shubert Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve long since come to the conclusion that there are times when being a critic means being a chronicler of the experience rather than a deconstructive analyst. It’s all well and good to expound upon why a …
FUNNY GIRL Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Bob Merrill Book by Isobel Lennart Revised Book by Harvey Weinstein August Wilson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I don’t think it serves the matter spending too much time on Funny Girl. What you’ve heard as a consensus (if you’ve been listening) is largely true: Beanie …
HARMONY Book and Lyrics by Bruce Sussman Music by Barry Manilow Directed and Choreographed by Wayne Carlyle National Yiddish Folksbeine at Edmond J. Safra Hall in Museum of Jewish Heritage Reviewed by David Spencer The Comedian Harmonists were a German, all-male singing group of six. They performed between 1928 and 1934. Their stock-in-trade was, the name …
THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts Directed by Anna D. Shapiro Studio 54 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Because I’ve spent so much of my career adapting, writing and writing about genre stories, I’m over-sensitive about spoilers, and to my way of thinking, it is literally impossible to review Tracy Letts’ new play, The Minutes, …
THE PATSY by Barry Connors Directed by Jack Cummings III Performed by David Greenspan A Production of The Transport Group Abrons Arts Center Reviewed by David Spencer The Patsy is, in a way, a double revival. It is both a revival of author Barry Connors’ 1925 drawing room comedy—a hit on Broadway at 245 performances, …
PLAZA SUITE by Neil Simon Directed by John Benjamin Hickey Starring Sara Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick Hudson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I was worried about Neil Simon’s 1968 trilogy of one-acts, Plaza Suite, being revived for 2022 Broadway. Simon was undoubtedly a comedy master, his success remains unparalleled, and I’m old …
BIRTHDAY CANDLES by Noah Haidle Directed by Vivienne Benesch Starring Debra Messing A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company American Airlines Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer In Birthday Candles, playwright Noah Haidle gives us a life that progresses in birthdays. The setting is a kitchen in a very nice house, which could be anywhere (literally; in …
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE by Paula Vogel Directed by Mark Brokaw Starring Mary Louise Parker, David Morse and Johanna Day A Production of Manhattan Theatre Club Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Quite remarkably, How I Learned to Drive is even more effective and unsettling in 2022 than it was upon its …
TO MY GIRLS by J.C. Lee Directed by Stephen Brackett A Production of 2nd Stage Tony Kiser Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer In 1968, there was The Boys in the Band. In the great tradition of American plays that conflate one from each column gathering with liquor flows, truth revealed plays, it was the primer …
ON SUGARLAND by Aleshea Harris Directed by Whitney White New York Theatre Workshop Reviewed by David Spencer I try to veer from hyperbole, so do understand my sincerity when I say that On Sugarland, by Aleshea Harris, currently at the New York Theatre Workshop, is a great, and I hope soon-to-become major, new American play. It’s …
SPACE DOGS Performed and Written by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire Directed by Ellie Heyman MCC Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve long since understood—and accepted, which is a little harder—that not everyone is going to follow in the footsteps of the greats of musical theatre, in terms of honoring received principles of craft; and more, …
