Tag Archives: David Nagy
Compelling Tale of Artistic Anxiety In Jonathan Larson’s Pre-Rent ‘tick, tick… BOOM!’
Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical pre-Rent musical tick, tick…BOOM! compellingly injects us deep into the agonized guts of a young man teetering on the Great Divide of pursuing his artistic dream or compromising for a “normal” life.
Glad To Be Conned By Stage Door’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
It’s a genuine compliment when a critic doesn’t particularly look forward to a show based on past productions and recordings – and then reassesses his antipathy based on seeing a fresh new production. So it’s saying something that Broward Stage Door’s Dity Rotten Scoundrels is a pleasing romp.
Big Bang Still Daft Demented Fun At Actors Playhouse
Worse than Spiderman Turn Off The Dark, the mega-epic The Big Bang may be the most bloated, overwrought, inept, politically incorrect, painfully lame, downright stupidest musical of all time. That Big Bang would be the imaginary extravaganza being hawked at a fictional backer’s audition, not the identically-named romp now at Actors Playhouse and just as delightfully daft and demented as it was there in 2003 and 2005.
‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ Is… Well, You Can Get It If You Try
Often critics start their reviews with some analysis of the life lessons that a theatrical work contains. Not this time. The deep inner meaning of Broward Stage Door’s peppy perky production of Nice Work If You Can Get It is unabashedly “let’s have fun.”
‘Evita’ Plays To The Masses With Thoughtful Complexity
David Arisco has directed Evita for Actors’ Playhouse three times. So, what’s different this go ’round? Well, to hear him tell it, the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical, written four decades ago about a celebrity turned power hungry politico in mid 1940s Argentina is even more relevant than ever.
‘It Shoulda Been You’ Spotlights A Major Talent At Playhouse
The temptation is to announce that ‘a star is born’ in Actors’ Playhouse’s production of the musical It Shoulda Been You. But that would be mildly insulting to the fact that Cindy Pearce has been working on local stages about 14 years, most memorably as Penelope Pennywise in Slow Burn Theatre’s Urinetown.
Stage Door’s Nine Nearly A Ten
Broward Stage Door’s production of the musical Nine, based on Fellini’s 8 1/2, is a fine evening of exuberant music and even more soaring voices.
Danny Kaye Musical Entertains But Danny Himself Is AWOL
The Kid From Brooklyn, a bio-musical about Danny Kaye at Broward Stage Door, is blessed with strong singers, likable performers, a peppy period score, a fine live band, a few touching moments and other virtues – everything but one missing element. Danny Kaye.
Gorgeous Music Elevates Stage Door’s The Most Happy Fella
Some directors say if you cast a show well, you’re more than halfway home to a successful production. So while the acting is just barely adequate in Broward Stage Door’s The Most Happy Fella, have they ever casted the voices beautifully and that makes for some stirring satisfying moments well worth the ticket.