Tag Archives: David Nagy

Letter From Bill Hirschman To Stephen Sondheim: Come On Down To Visit Actors’ Playhouse

The Actors’ Playhouse production of Sondheim On Sondheim transcends the Broadway edition in nearly every detail. The work by eight inspired performers and the band, molded by director David Arisco and musical director David Nagy, would make the master proud.

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The Andrews Sisters Harmonize Stage Door’s Sisters Of Swing

Harmony. When it’s sung well, a warm visceral sense of well-being and balance missing from much of human interaction just envelops the lucky listeners. The three actresses impersonating The Andrews Sisters in Broward Stage Door’s jukebox bio-musical Sisters of Swing don’t especially look like the real-life trio, but they sound as much like the original songbirds as you can hope for.

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Trot Out The Superlatives For Actors’ Playhouse’s Ragtime

As far as large-scale Broadway musicals, Ragtime stands as Actors’ finest mainstream work ever, as accessible and satisfying as it is passionate and thoughtful. Anyone who cares about musical theater, or theater in general, should make a special effort to see this production.

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Stage Door’s Old Jews Telling Jokes Is Catskills Cavalcade With A Bit Of Borscht Belt Blue

Old Jews Telling Jokes at Broward Stage Door is precisely what it wants to be and precisely what you think it will be. If it sounds mildly engaging, you will love it, for what they want to do, they do well. But if this isn’t your cup of kreplach, stay far away.

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This Show Boat Has Lovely Music But Uninspiring Acting

Warm, full-singing voices swiftly carry a happy audience down the Mississippi through a glorious score in Broward Stage Door’s Show Boat, but the acting and directing are so pedestrian that they rob the masterpiece of the magic it is capable of delivering. The magic is missing because Show Boat is more than its music. Still, audiences just wanting to hear Kern’s rich melody and sweeping underscoring tied to Hammerstein’s deceptively simple but deeply evocative lyrics will relish what Stage Door has wrought.

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All Night Strut Will Transport Greatest Generation Patrons

If you think time machines are only found in science fiction, visit All Night Strut at Broward Stage Door and watch an audience of Greatest Generation grads be transported back 65 years to the marrow of their youth.

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Actors Playhouse Joy-Filled Hairspray Crippled By Sound Quality

The tragedy of this lavish, ebullient production of Hairspray is how the muddy, uneven, out of balance, sloppy sound on opening night fatally sabotaged the energy, enthusiasm, theatrical skill and money that the cast, musicians, designers and producers invested into this perfect match of material to a company known for mainstream musicals.

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