Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
Report From New York: ‘Love Noel’ Revue Is Entertaining Gift From Noel Coward
The lovely, witty and sometimes caustic songs of Noël Coward are receiving an energetic and heartfelt revival in the highly entertaining Love, Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward, currently at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City.
Starmaker Premiere At Island City Brings Back Old Hollywood
Starmaker, getting its world premiere at Island City Stage, is about Henry Willson, the agent behind the hunky male stars of the 1950s, who, while fooling the cameras as straight sex symbols, are hiding their biggest secret: they’re all gay, notably Rock Hudson.
Lightning Bolt’s Showcases Hair’s Best & Worst Tendencies
Hair is a weird show, and not because the characters are weird. To the contrary, the flower children of the Vietnam era, which it explores with both affection and criticism, have arguably aged more into the mainstream after decades of the liberalization of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and new age spirituality. Hair is strange because of the shambolic structure , as neither a fully sung-through musical nor a traditional, book-driven story.
Report From New York: Tootsie Has Own Vibe, Not Copy Of Film
The creators of Tootsie, a Broadway musical destined to tour near you , made a brilliant and courageous choice to abandon duplicating the 1982 Sydney Pollack film starring Dustin Hoffman, and produce a fresh take on the same idea.
Men On Boats — All Played By Women — Is A Goofball Pageant, Not A Feminist Manifesto
Main Street Players’ tongue-in-cheek production of Men On Boats — in which women portray the male explorers of the Colorado River — is basically a declamatory sixth grade history pageant merged with the broad humor of a Carol Burnett skit, blue language, and rarely a wink’s acknowledgment of the change in gender casting.
Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew Is GableStage Benchmark Triumph
Amid a constellation of superb theater from GableStage comes a supernova of passion, pain and socio-political protest in a scorching drama Skeleton Crew. Its portrayal of African-American workers in a Detroit auto plant teetering on closing incisively examines racial issues that intensify impending tragedy, but also a world evaporating under our feet whuch crosses all demographic boundaries.
Murder For Two Is a Welcome Summer Farce At Playhouse
As in troubling days in the past, once again farce provides a welcome dose of mindless zaniness that even the real life actors on the world stage cannot not equal. Add the musical mystery Murder For Two as two gifted clowns cavort at Actors’ Playhouse in a manic mélange of kinetic physical comedy, wacky wordplay and unrestrained supreme silliness.
She Shorts Is Female-Centric, But Message Is For Everyone
Alright ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, she’s and he’s, and those who would prefer not to self-identify, Thinking Cap Theatre and City Theatre’s summer short play fest, She Shorts is for you, so that means everybody.
Report From New York: ‘Toni Stone’ Hits A Home Run
Live theater’s ability to transport us to different situations and show us others’ stories makes a solid home run in the play Toni Stone, now receiving a rousing, heartfelt production through Aug. 11 at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre in New York City.
Percy Jackson Musical The Lightning Thief Mixes Young Adult Classic With Rock Vibe
Theatreworks USA’s touring production of The Lightning Thief is what results from mixing a young adult classic with a rock concert vibe à la Rent: a sometimes intense, yet always laid back feel-good romp that will leave audiences wishing that they, too, had a Greek god as a parent.
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