Reviews
Theater Shelf: Great Moments in Theater, Marilyn Miller, A Visit To Oz, And Betty Blue Eyes
Theater Shelf, a recurring feature, reviews recently-released books, CDs and DVDs of interest to theater lovers. Some are popular titles like a new Original Cast Recording, others are works you’ll be intrigued by, but didn’t even know about.
Report From New York: Satchmo At The Waldorf Hits A High Note Without Playing A Bar Of Music
Satchmo at the Waldorf triumphs with very little music and none of it created live by the brilliant John Douglas Thompson’s resurrection of the jazz great. Instead, Thompson summons up Louis Armstrong reminiscing near the end of his life after a performance at the titular hotel. The evening is an incisive character study not a greatest hits concert.
Vibrant, Zesty Zorba! Gets Staged Concert At Dramaworks
From the first tinkling of the bouzouki, Palm Beach Dramaworks’ mounting of the rarely-seen Kander and ebb musical Zorba! fairly throbs with life-affirming spirit in direct spite of the vagaries of Fate.
Ring of Fire Encircles Johnny Cash Music In Pure Song At Theatre Arts Garage
Ring of Fire, the Johnny Cash Musical, is not a biographical play about The Man in Black. It’s smarter than that. This music-heavy tableau, at the Theatre at Arts Garage i offers more depth than what its title may imply. When that appreciation hits, Ring of Fire lights a burning flame right through to your soul.
City Theatre’s Summer Shorts Kicks It Up A Notch Once Again
Efforts by City Theatre staffers to improve the consistency of its offerings has paid off: This edition of Summer Shorts is not only lushly and imaginatively produced with a noticeable extra bit of polish, but is more consistently funny and entertaining than any edition in recent memory.
Slow Burn’s High Fidelity Is Scruffy Appealing Musical
Like a scruffy stray found on the streets with little promise of being housebroken, Slow Burn Theatre Company’s musical High Fidelity shouldn’t be so appealing and downright winning. But it is. The sense that the energetic cast and creative team seem to be having this much fun should enchant most anyone open to a summer lark.
Alliance’s Linked One-Acts Are Comedies Are Tinged With Mourning For Lost Pasts
Copious laughter embraces Alliance Theatre Lab’s production of James McLure’s related one-act plays, Laundry & Bourbon and Lone Star. But snaking through the jovial landscape is a quiet mourning that the good times are irretrievably behind us in a changing world.
Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah at Broward Stage Door Campy Fun
Despite its almost two hours of one-liners, caricatures and Borscht Belt humor, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, the show based on Allan Sherman’s parody songs at Broward Stage Door, in all its campiness, is energetically enjoyable.
Report From New York: Violet Shines From Foster’s Glow, But Show Itself Is A Bit Dimmer
Something is missing that makes the revival of Violet a fully-satisfying production. It seems inconceivable that it might be “heart,” which would seem to be the strongest suit of a show like this, especially with the unassailably appealing Sutton Foster at its core.
Theater Shelf: Tony Nominations For Musicals Represented on CD
The 2013-14 Broadway season has produced a wide variety of scores from musicals that we are fortunate to have had recorded commercially. Indeed, the season has been marked by a notable raft of very well recorded cast albums that will be reflected at the Tony Awards, many marvelously packaged.
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