Theater Review by Samuel L. Leiter . . . . Once upon a time when romances began, the big question was: what’s the other person’s religion? Then it became a question of race. Now it’s politics. You’re a conservative. How can you love a liberal? And vice versa. Political affiliation is likely to be a game changer even when people who are strongly attracted to one another find out where the other person stands. All of which explains why this is the perfectly right time for Still, Lia Romeo’s engaging, if problematic, senior-citizen rom-com, now at Off Broadway’s DR2 Theatre after a premiere at th ..read more

by Ron Fassler . . . . On Monday evening at the Peter Norton Symphony Space, the 38th Annual MAC Awards were handed out in a ceremony that honored the best in New York cabaret. MAC stands for the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and as an outsider looking in, being a part the audience was a chance to feed off the energy and comradery of men and women devoted to entertaining live in venues small and large all over the city, keeping the Great American Songbook alive and well. Other music too, of course, but last night seemed to be most appreciative of artists who would have been wildly successf ..read more

Theater Review by Carol Rocamora . . . . The immersive Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. this month is more than just another classical revival. Momentous in timing, sweeping in concept, and brilliant in artistry, it’s the most spectacular production of a Shakespeare play in recent years, at least in my theater-going experience in the US and UK. Most importantly, it provides proof of the theater’s transformative powers, its infinite possibilities, and its rightfully earned place at the center of our culture.  Ben Allen, Indira Varma, Rose Riley, Richard Pepper ..read more

Theater Review by Michael Dale . . . . “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man,” sang John Lennon on The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album, released in 1965 during the height of Beatlemania. While Lennon was English, the line he used in his lyrics for “Run For Your Life” originated in American rhythm and blues, written and recorded in 1954 by Arthur Gunter for his single “Baby, Let’s Play House,” which was covered by Elvis Presley the next year. I don’t recall five-year-old me feeling one way or another about the abrasive sentiment expressed in the lyrics (Lennon eventually ..read more

A Gala on the set of Uncle Vanya and Staged Reading at 6:30 pm at Vivian Beaumont Theater | 150 West 65th Street. And Post-Show Dinner or Spike’s Lounge Cocktail Party – – – Dinner and Cocktail Menu Curated by Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi. After a sold-out run in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in 2012, LCT’s production of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE moved to Broadway where it won the 2013 Tony Award® for Best Play. In VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, master of comedy Christopher Durang takes characters and themes from Chekhov, pours them into a blender and ..read more

Theater Review by Walter Murphy . . . . An hour-long monologue about the most vital yet least appreciated instrument of an orchestra, the double bass, could easily have left an audience questioning their life choices and evening plans. Fortunately, with actor Sean Gormley masterfully telling the tale of a lonely double bass player—in the aptly named one-man show, The Double Bass, playing at The Cell through April 25 as part of the Origin 1st Irish Festival—the audience is treated to a talented actor holding court on a variety of topics. Music with metaphysical appeal: “ . . . an orchestra is ..read more

Theater Review by Marcina Zaccaria . . . . With statistics tracked on a large screen overhead, aerobic kicks are measured and calculated when Kevin becomes a beta tester for a new workout system that combines an OmniVision headset and RealFit data. With mind-bending energetics, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, provides a glimpse into the life of a fitness obsessive in Scarlett Dreams, now playing at the Greenwich House Theater. Milo (Borris Anthony York) and his sister, Liza (Brittany Bellizeare), are App Developers ready to capitalize on this new-wave fitness craze. As the protein drinks and vitamin sup ..read more

The J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company (Jim Jimirro, Executive Producer/Co-Founder; Robert W. Schneider, Artistic Director/Co-Founder) has announced the all-star cast of the first of its two cabaret evenings this spring at AMT (354 West 54th Street – between 8th and 9th Avenues).  Our In The Spotlight Cabaret Series returns on April 23rd at 7:30pm with Make Someone Happy: The Songs of Comden, Green, and Styne. This evening will celebrate the incredible Golden Age sound of Broadway’s most beloved trio. Charles Kirsch, host of Backstage Babble, will direct with award-winning music directo ..read more

By Barbara & Scott Siegel . . .  Let’s Hear It For Broadway’s Senior Stars!  Just before the run-up to the bumper car finale of the 2023-24 theater season, we wanted to pause to make an observation. After all, as a season unfolds, one can finally see the things that stand out from the rest. For instance, in what theater season of the past can you recall as many as three major Broadway productions anchored not by TV or movie stars, not even by hot, in-the-moment theater stars, nor even marquee theater names—but rather by somewhat senior character actors who, on the far sides of th ..read more

Casual notes on show-biz books, memoirs and studies, dust gatherers and hot off the presses. Book Review by Samuel L. Leiter . . . Eila Mell. The Tony Awards: A Celebration of Excellence in Theatre (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2024). 310pp. Illustrated and indexed. 5th edition As promised, some books covered in this series, now five editions (columns) old, will be “hot off the presses.” As an example, I today get to provide Eila Mell’s The Tony Awards: A Celebration of Excellence in Theatre. This attractive, coffee-table production bears the imprimatur of the American ..read more