« Previous  |  Next »

'Dreamgirls' returns to its Apollo Theater roots

NEW YORK "Dreamgirls" has come home with its glitter, glitz and gusto mostly intact. A revival of Broadway's iconic interpretation of a girl group's rise to pop-music power is now playing a brief engagement (before beginning a national tour) at Harlem' ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP DRAMA CRITIC, San Diego Union-Tribune,  22 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Apollo Theater,  Michael Bennett,  Robert Longbottom,  Jennifer Holliday,  Jennifer Hudson

Melodies still soar in Gershwins' 'Girl Crazy'

NEW YORK—Let's salute one of the least appreciated conventions of musical theater -- the entr'acte. That's French, folks, for the mini-overture before the beginning of a show's second act. And the one that pops up after intermission at "Girl Crazy," ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP DRAMA CRITIC, Boston Globe,  20 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Robert Russell Bennett,  Ethel Merman,  Ana Gasteyer,  Ginger Rogers,  Becki Newton

'Ragtime' revival puts renewed emphasis on people

The initial swirling syncopation of sound is impossible to resist. Surely there are not many opening numbers better than the intoxicating first moments of "Ragtime," the stage version of E.L. Doctorow's best-selling novel. The show's themes and ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, Taiwan News,  15 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Dodge,  Neil Simon,  Emma Goldman,  Henry Ford,  Harry Houdini

Redgrave recreates the grandmother she barely knew

NEW YORK Family ties are powerful, and when the folks are as famous and as accomplished as the Redgrave clan, these bindings must be industrial strength indeed. No wonder Lynn Redgrave wanted to take a look at the life of Beatrice Kempson, her ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP DRAMA CRITIC, San Diego Union-Tribune,  9 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Lynn Redgrave

Broadway finds its 'Spider-Man' in Reeve Carney

Carney will portray celebrated web-slinger Peter Parker in "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark," producer Michael Cohl announced Friday. The lavish musical is still scheduled to open sometime in 2010 at the Hilton Theatre. Dates will be announced. The show ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, San Diego Union-Tribune,  8 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Bono,  Julie Taymor,  U2 (musician),  Evan Rachel Wood,  Alan Cumming

'The Understudy' revels in actors' insecurities

NEW YORK—"I know a lot of people say we're crazy," says a member of the acting profession in "The Understudy," a backstage comedy about oh-so-insecure thespians. Well, yes. They're actors. Crazy and more than a little desperate, according to playwright ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP DRAMA CRITIC, Boston Globe,  5 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Mikhail Baryshnikov,  Jeremy Piven,  Julie White,  Justin Kirk,  Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Broadway faces a busy, if uneasy fall season

NEW YORK—The abrupt closing Sunday of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" after only nine performances has cast a brief, uneasy shadow over Broadway's fall season, ironically one of the busiest in years. And the revival's collapse has had a ripple ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, Boston Globe,  2 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Neil Simon,  David Mamet,  Daniel Craig,  Hugh Jackman,  Jude Law

Charms of 'Finian's Rainbow' remain undiminished

That delectable bit of musical-theater blarney called "Finian's Rainbow" has found its way back to Broadway for the first time in nearly half a century, its charms undiminished, particularly its buoyant score. This latest revival, which opened ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, Taiwan News,  29 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Jim Norton,  Cheyenne Jackson,  Chuck Cooper

Abigail Breslin set to play Helen Keller on B'way

Abigail Breslin will play Helen Keller in the first Broadway revival of William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker," scheduled to open March 3 at Circle in the Square Theatre. Alison Pill will portray Annie Sullivan, the determined instructor who teaches the ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, Taiwan News,  28 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Helen Keller,  Abigail Breslin,  William Gibson,  Alison Pill (actor)

Relationships strive to survive in 'Ordinary Days'

NEW YORK—Single folks in New York are often the stuff of American musical theater. From "On the Town" to "Wonderful Town" to "Company" to "Rent" to "Avenue Q," young -- and sometimes not so young -- people grappling with life in the big city have been ...

From MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP DRAMA CRITIC, Boston Globe,  27 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Metropolitan Museum of Art,  Hunter Foster (actor)

« Previous  |  Next »

Who is This?

Help us add to our database, by linking this writer their entry in Wikipedia or Source Watch, or by suggesting that we remove it from our index.

Suggest an Entry