Please note: Performers named in these reviews may have left the show after the reviews appear on this website.

Grease
Grease is back! Did it ever leave? It seems to have been playing forever (since 1971) and has been responsible for spawning several great careers a la John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing and Rosie O’Donnell to name but a few. Here it is again with two new youngsters chosen on a reality TV program who portray Sandy and Danny with all the impetuousness of youth. Max Crumm and Laura Osnes, both 21, do their best to rise above the banality and sappiness of the dialogue with rousing rock and roll song and dance. They are joined by Matthew Saldivar, Jenny Powers, Ryan Patrick Binder and others attending Rydell High School in 1959 who are manuevering between childishness and thwarted adolescense in predictable boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl fashion. The book is infantile but the music, by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey with some input by Barry Gibb, is joyful, infectiously gay and keeps the audience screaming and clapping. By far the best dancer can be seen conducting the orchestra which is stationed on the top level of the stage. Her name is Kimberly Grigsby and she moves with the best of them. The show has been choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with scenic design by Derek McLane and lighting design by Kenneth Posner. It remains a treat for the young-in age and in heart.

Radio Golf
August Wilson’s 10th play was written just before his death in 2005 and is the concluding episode in an African-American saga beginning in 1904. Each play covers the happenings in a specific place (Pittsburg’s Hill District) in a specific decade throughout the 20th century. In this last play set in 1997 Wilson is writing about the educated, middle-class black man who is now dealing with the white majority on the same political and economic level. But wait! Here comes the black past to bedevil and beleaguer the present and the dilemna of adaptation or confrontation is full steam ahead. Harmond Wilks (Harry Lennix), an educated lawyer and real estate man, and his partner Roosevelt Hicks (James A. Williams) are planning a housing complex with fine shops and amenities to replace the poverty stricken abandoned areas of Hill District. They believe they have acquired all rights to the land and the remaining house situated on it in a legitimate manner.

  When Elder Joseph Barlow (Anthony Chisholm) arrives insisting he owns the house they check the records and discover he may still have a legitimate claim. He is not about to give it up or be bought out. He receives support from an itinerant construction man Sterling Johnson (John Earl Jelks) who declares he is his own union, his own shop, his own painter and not a subservient to the local mores. Hammond who is planning to run for Mayor on an “integrity” ticket now has to make a decision. His wife (Tonya Pinkins), who is also his political manager, and his business partner insist on an accomodation but Hammond becomes obsessively involved in his relationship with Barlow who appears to be some sort of cousin and begins to lose his hold on his personna. David Gallo has designed a magnificent set consisting of a beat-up office surrounded by broken down housing and exposed beams. Kenny Leon has directed with a swift sure hand but August Wilson seems to have concluded his magnificent series with an absurd polemic. See for yourself.

110 In The Shade
Audra McDonald is portraying a plain girl on the verge of spinsterhood, a homely girl who is too shy to captivate a man and receive the love she so clearly needs and wants. However this conceit vanishes the minute she opens her mouth and that glorious voice pores forth. No one who sounds like this can be called lacking in anything regardless of the fright wig and the unflattering costume. No matter. It is 1936 in a drought ridden town in Texas. The cattle and crops are dying, the people are melting away. Into this maelstrom comes an itinerant con-man, a rainmaker, who for $100 will bring rain—any kind—a drizzle or a downpour. Lizzie’s (Audra McDonald) father (John Cullum) pays the money as he senses the rainmaker (Steve Kazee) will awaken Lizzie to the realization she is beautiful and perhaps motivate her most reluctant possible suitor, the sheriff (Christopher Invar), to state his interest. And so he does.

  Written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, the proud co-authors of The Fantasticks—the longest running show in America—the show is delightful. Bobby Steggert and Chris Butler play Lizzie's brothers with gusto and charm and Carla Duren as Steggert’s girl friend is adorable. The scenery by Santo Loquasto consists of a revolving stage with different backdrops, an interesting minimalist conception. But it is Audra McDonald who walks away with the evening—from convincing you she is starving for love to expressing her overwhelming joy when she realizes it is possible.

Journey’s End
The sad fact about this brilliant play is that its urgent message has gone unheeded. The misery and murder of war is still with us, the destruction of the body and soul remains rampant in the world and all the horrendous sound effects of this drama do not serve to still the evil fury always ready to erupt.
   We are in the British trenches in France in 19l8. The Germans are 100 yards away. The big battle of WWI is about to begin. The young Captain (Hugh Dancy) in charge of this unit is becoming an alcoholic after 3 years of constant battle. His tension and nervous outbursts are not helped by the arrival of young 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh (Stark Sands) who is the brother of the girl he wants to marry and who has expectations that the Captain is still the heroic figure he remembers from school. Rounding out the bunker are Lieutenant Osborne (Boyd Gaines), 2nd Lieutenant Trotter (John Ahlin) and 2nd Lieutenant Hibbert (Justin Blanchard) all of whom are being served barely edible food by Private Mason (Jefferson Mays) whose duty it is to cheer up his officers. The attack is about to begin. A furtive raid is being ordered to gather information. Our bunker is to conduct it.
   R.C. Sherriff has written a magnificent play, directed by David Grindley with fantastic scenic, lighting and sound design by Jonathan Fensom, Jason Taylor and Gregory Clarke. All the actors are superb and make the ending even more chillingly heartbreaking than the fact of it.

Frost Nixon
The tragedy of this complicated, compartmentalized man who became the President of the United States is that he will forever be remembered for the Watergate scandal rather than for his real accomplishments. The Richard Nixon who opened up relations with China after a long period of silent hostility is the same man who considered himself above the law, who participated in an absurd coverup of an equally absurd burglary and constantly lied to Congress. Although he resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment and was subsequently pardoned by President Ford, he maintained his innocence of any wrongdoing until the fateful encounter with David Frost. Frost, a British TV host, appeared to Nixon to be a lightweight who could easily be manipulated into possibly offering him a path to return to political life. The duel between these two men comprise the meat of the play and even though the outcome is known the play is totally absorbing. Frank Langella captures the posture, mannerisms and nasal tone of Richard Nixon and gives a stupendous performance. Michael Sheen dances around as Frost until the sobering end when he delivers the coup de grâce and finally get the confession the world has been waiting for.
   The clever set design primarily consists of 36 TV sets that show the background scenery and the fateful interviews. Michael Grandage has directed with a sure hand and all the performers are exemplary.

Curtains
Curtains has certainly had more than its share of bad luck. It lost its famous lyricist with the death of Fred Ebb, partner of John Kander, as well as losing its original writer, Peter Stone. Although Rupert Holmes was brought in to replace them, a certain choppiness and looseness has occured. It is still a good show but it might have been an even better one.
   David Hyde Pierce is impeccable, droll and amusing as the police lieutenant brought in to solve the mystery of the murder of the leading lady in a musical called Robbin’ Hood. He is more interested in making this second rate play into a first rate production with himself as the star than catching the killer. He is also more interested in marrying the ingenue (Jill Paice) than remaining in the Boston Police Force. Debra Monk and Ernie Sabella are producing this play, Karen Ziemba and Jason Danieley, a previously married couple, are writing the lyrics and music while Edward Hibbert is directing in his most acerbic manner. To top things off we have a few more murders, a few big production numbers and some lovely ballads particularly “I Miss the Music” as sung by Jason Danieley reflecting on his breakup with Karen Ziemba. Debra Monk is busy with off color innuendos and risque remarks as well as her explanation of her role as a producer, “It’s a business” being her credo. Meanwhile everyone suspects everyone else, mayhem and more mayhem until the final curtain. In between there are jabs at critics, Broadway, the entire theater community and the whole business of Show Business—all in good fun of course. It is an entertaining evening.

The Year Of Magical Thinking
Vanessa Redgrave is a consumate actress, Joan Didion a gifted writer who has given her a memoir, a beautifully crafted elegy, about her grief at the sudden loss of her husband John Gregory Dunne in December 2003 followed all too quickly by the loss of her daughter Quintana in August 2005. As Redgrave sits on a wooden chair in the center of the stage she details all the rituals and obsessions Didion used to change the inevitable, to undo the futility of loss, to bring back her loved ones. If she keeps his shoes in the closet, then he will return. If she counts the exact moments between her calling 911, the EMS arrival, the trip to the hospital, he will return to life. She will undo the damage, will triumph over fate. She reassures her daughter that she will care for her and return her to health. She studies all she can about her condition questioning everyone as she seeks control over the unknowable. She warns us all that this will happen to us—and she is heartbreakingly magnificent. Scenic design by Bob Crowley consists of a series of curtain drops all suggesting water and sky at different hours of the day. It adds to the luminous quality of Redgrave’s performance.

The Pirate Queen
The Pirate Queen is a spectacular show, almost overwhelming in its huge production numbers, fires, duels, Irish jigs, batttle scenes, death scenes and so forth. It appears to have been put together by large numbers of creative artists, not all of whom agree with one another.
   Nevertheless it is a rousng production and an enjoyable, if exhausting, evening. The story purports to be historical truth. Grace O’Malley (Stephanie J. Block) was born in 1530, died in 1603. She was the daughter of an Irish clan chieftain who, by virtue of her swordmanship and seamanship, rose to take his place as the pirate ruler of several clans. To cement the relationships betweeen the various clans she marries the son of a rival clan (Marcus Chait) thereby causing heartbreak to her true lover (Hadley Fraser) as well as herself. Queen Elizabeth (Linda Balgord) sends Sir Richard Bingham (William Youmans) to defeat the Irish which he does due partly to the cowardice of Grace’s husband. Grace is arrested, sent to prison for several years and finally released when her lover exchanges himself for her. A secret meeting between Grace and Queen Elizabeth serves to resolve the many issues between the two and allows for a very belated happy ending, if only on the romantic level rather that the territorial one. All the actors are excellent. The costume design of Martin Pakledinaz for Queen Elizabeth is as sumptious as anyone can imagine while the lighting, scenic design, sound effects etc are superb. Carol Leavy Joyce has added original Irish dance movements to the overall staging of Graciela Daniele while Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg share the book and music credits along with others too numerous to mention.
This is a blockbuster of a musical.

Talk Radio
This 1987 play by Eric Bogosian is apparently apropos of today as notice the latest Don Imus fracas. Talk Radio concerns a late night radio host, Barry Champlain, (Liev Schreiber) whose main focus appears to be belittling his pathetic callers, sardonically and cruelly making light of their infirmities and behaving like a minor Hitler throughout. He has just been told by his manager (Peter Hermann) that he is being considered for national syndication and tonite's broadcast is being monitered by the powers that be. This causes him to accelerate his chain smoking, his whiskey gulping alternating with PeptoBismol and finally his snorting a line of cocaine—all to maintain his control over the somewhat bizarre events that occur. Stephanie March as his sometime girlfriend assistant and Michael Laurence as his sound man do their best to temper his performance but Barry is going for the gold, whipping himself into a frenzy before the inevitable meltdown. Liev Schreiber is superb as the bombastic Champlain while the others in the cast as well as the faceless phone callers—all 6 of them—are remarkable.
   Unfortunately this warning call of 1987 has gone unheeded and the “shock” jockeys of today are still with us.

Legally Blonde
This show is for the young—young in age and young in heart. It is a bouncy, perky, frenetic compilation of music and dance that never lets up and if only the music were as glorious as the rest of it all would be well. But the lack of melody or any depth causes everyone to work much harder for less results. That having been said, there is much to commend in Legally Blonde. First there is Laura Bell Bundy as the adorable Elle Woods who is dumped by her boyfriend (Richard H. Blake) as he explaines he wants a Jacqueline Kennedy, not a Marilyn Monroe, to accompany him to a great legal and political career. Then there is the legal wizard and school geek (Christian Borle) who helps Elle transform herself from ditzy to scholarly after she finagles her way into Harvard Law School to reclaim her boyfriend and Kate Shindle as the Kennedy-type fiancé who eventually recognizes Elle’s good insticts and legal astuteness. For kicks we have Orfeh as the hairdresser who helps Elle keep up her spirits as the law professor she admires (Michael Rupert) turns out to be a cad. And so it goes.
   Scenic design by David Rockwell is snappy, adroitly managed and clever. Direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell are bubbly and enjoyabvle. And Laura Bell Bundy is indeed legally blonde.

Coram Boy
Coram Boy is as lurid a melodrama as one would want consisting of every form of brutality from murder, child abuse, sex slavery, mistreatment of the village idiot by his villianous father and horrid comparisons of the wealthy aristocracy with the deserted orphans of Coram and the despised poverty stricken masses who hover about. It takes place in 18th century England and appears to be a true adaptation by Helen Edmundson of a classic book by Jamila Gavin.
   In addition we have heavenly music by George Frederick Handel which permeates the plot and contrasts mightily with the ongoing brutual action. It appears that our hero, Alexander Ashbrook, wants nothing more than to be a musician at the famous cathedral at Coram but is ordered by his father to remain on their estate to help manage it. He runs away leaving explosive consequences at home as a result of his impregnating his 15 year old girl friend. Their child is rescued by the idiot son of the town villian and winds up at the Coram orphanage. More complications—more spectacle—more gorgeous music—more profound emotion! All the actors, who are too numerous to mention, are superb.
   The staging by Ti Green & Melly Still is stupendous as is the music of Adrin Sutton and direction by Melly Still. And then there is Handel’s Messiah with the “Hallelujah Chorus” topping off the performance. This is a unique and most gratifying theatrical experience.

Inherit The Wind
This revival of a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee concerns the so called Scopes “Monkey Trial” which actually took place in 1925 when a teacher in Tennessee was tried for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. This fictionalization of the event takes place in Bible thumping country where religious beliefs hold sway and the law actually forbids other teachings. Brian Dennehy plays Matthew Harrison Brady (ala William Jennings Bryan), the man who has lost his run for President three times but still portends the Bible is the only truth in existence while Christopher Plummer is Henry Drummond (Clarence Darrow) the lawyer for the defendent who supports liberalism and human rights for everyone. These two walk away with the show although they have good support from Byron Jennings as the overblown preacher, father of the girlfriend (Maggie Lacey) of the accused teacher (Benjamin Walker) as well as from Denis O'Hare as the cynical journalist who supplies the counterpoint of the evening.
   The production is beautifully stylized by Santo Loquasto who makes one grateful for the clothes fashions of today. David Van Tieghem is responsible for original music while the gospel quartet of Carson Church, Katie Klaus, Mary Kate Law and David M. Lutken evoke the atmosphere of religousity with well known hymns of the time. Doug Hughes has directed with zeal and despite knowing the outcome the audience is totally involved in the pas de deux of our two magnificent stars.

Love Musik
Kurt Weill was a short, unprepossessing, non-practicing orthodox Jew who had a remarkable talent for composing music, both classical and popular. Lotte Lenya was a slightly taller, non-practicing Catholic who had been on her own since the age of thirteen, either as a prostitute, a maid or an occassional singer. The two met in 1924 and immediately fell into a love-hate relationship that was to last all of their lives. The play traces their beginning in Europe, continues throughout the years in America with Weill’s untimely death in 1950 at age 50 and concludes with Lenya’s triumphant appearance in the 1954 revival of Three Penny Opera. Throughout the show, Weill’s music is sung by Michael Cerveris as Weill, Donna Murphy as Lenya and David Pittu as probably his most recognized collaborator, Bertol Brecht, although there were others such as Ira Gershwin, Elmer Price, Langston Hughes and Maxwell Anderson. It is remarkable how much magnificient music (Three Penny Opera, Mahagonny, Happy End, Lady in the Dark, One Touch of Venus, Street Scene, Lost in the Stars, etc.) came pouring forth from what appears to be a largely unhappy personal life. As for Lenya, she did not really come into her own until after Weill’s death when she became the foremost exponent of his music and flourished in other mediums as well. As for Brecht, portrayed here as a coarse, womanizing blowhard, he went on to write many fine plays and returned to Germany after being questioned by HUAC in 1947.
   Harold Prince has directed, Patricia Birch has done the musical staging, Cerveris and Murphy have lent their beautiful voices to Weill’s unique talent as well as their competent interpretation of the largely sado-masochistic relationship these two endured. Enjoy the music.