Tag Archives: Alan Jacobson

WaistWatchers The Musical Returns To Broward Stage Door

By Bill Hirschman Like Hamlet, Madama Butterfly and the Terminator franchise, the indestructible entertainment phenomenon that is WaistWatchers: The Musical has returned to South Florida in a new production at Broward Stage Door that word-of-mouth likely once again will make …

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Breaking News: Plaza Theatre Shutters, Rings Down Curtain

The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan declared bankruptcy and closed its doors Friday on the day that it was poised to begin its third season due to a precipitous drop in ticket sales and an inability to attract wealthy underwriters.

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The Musical Rags at The Plaza Theatre Is In Need Of Alteration

It is wonderful to see creativity in approaching a work that isn’t usually staged; the bad news is, when it doesn’t come together, all of the inventiveness is lost. Such is the case with The Plaza Theatre’s mounting of Rags.

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Rewritten And Rewritten, Schwartz/Strouse Musical Rags Gets One More At Plaza Theatre

Few Broadway shows can equal the track record of 1986’s Rags: closed after four performances, rewritten, remounted, rewritten again. There are at least 10 scripts. But something about the drama about immigrants on the Lower East Side keeps artists and audiences coming back. And now, Rags has been overhauled for a run at The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan.

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On The Boards Podcast: Alan Jacobson On Starting Plaza Theatre In A Tough Economy

The latest podcast entry is Bill Hirschman’s interview with Alan Jacobson, founder and artistic director of the Plaza Theatre in Manalapan, about opening, and maintaining, a successful arts organization in difficult economic times.

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Plaza’s WaistWatchers Ready Made For Ladies Who Lunch

There’s certainly an appetite for WaistWatchers: The Musical — a show for the ladies who lunch as a girl’s day (or night) out, which would account for one-quarter of Sunday’s audience being made up of women’s groups at the Plaza Theatre in Manalapan. (The Grove Women’s Club and Lexington Ladies were in the house at this particular Sunday matinee.)

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Neil Simon’s Chapter Two Masters The Meld Of Wit And Pathos At The Plaza

Director Michael Leeds and a solid cast at the Plaza Theatre in Manalapan have mastered Neil Simon’s challenging meld of witty comedy and throat-choking heartache, and make both perfectly plausible facets of life in Chapter Two.

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Plaza’s Driving Miss Daisy Driven By Veteran Hands

The most affecting moments in the Plaza Theatre’s solid, entertaining production of the venerable Driving Miss Daisy are the fleeting grace notes that have no dialogue, moments that result from being in the capable hands of old pros.

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Plaza Theatre’s Irving Berlin Songbook Will Please The Greatest Generation

In Irving Berlin Salutes America at The Plaza Theatre, four capable performers plus the pianist/ arranger delivered the musical equivalent of a familiar old down comforter and a hot toddy for a nightcap. There was nothing electrifying, no fresh insights for those born after World War II, just an unabashedly pleasant, entertaining evening and that’s what the audience wanted.

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Manilow Songbook “I Am Music” Croons Crowds at Plaza Theatre

The “S.S. Barry Manilow” songbook I Am Music! has tied up at the new Plaza Theatre in Manalapan. Your reaction to this entry depends precisely on your enjoyment of the cruise ship level of manufactured entertainment. A lot of people in the Plaza opening night left downright enraptured. More demanding audiences are going to be, well, more demanding.

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