Broadway To The People
Though these shows may have closed on Broadway, they may be going on tour to a theater near you! Here's some information if you're considering buying tickets:
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Musical)
Synopsis: This show, set in England, is about a man who discovers that he is 9th in line to be an earl. It's a comedy that unravels as the main character decides to kill all those who stand in the way of him and his nobility. Currently, Bryce Pinkham is the main character and Jefferson Mays brilliantly plays all the 8 people who stand in his way.
Our Review: Farcical, silly and fun! The music is good, the actors are on-point, and the whole production is very well done. It's a very enjoyable show. Should it have won the 2014 Tony for Best Musical? You decide. We think not, just because it was missing that element of poignancy, of a really remarkable story, and music that moves you. But as far as entertainment, it's the tops.
Allegiance (Musical)
Synopsis: A musical based on the childhood experience of actor George Takei and his family during the Japanese-American Internment. It got great reviews from its run in La Jolla.
American Psycho (Musical)
Closed on Broadway on June 5, 2016
Synopsis: Based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis (you may also have seen the movie with Christian Bale), American Psycho is about a young man in the 1980s who gets caught up in the excess of Wall Street...and takes it a little too far.
Our Review: Full disclosure: we did not see this show. BUT we know people who did and we attended the Drama Desk Awards this year and this is what we learned: The show was nominated for, and won, a number of Drama Desk Awards (both for the technical categories and the "artistic" categories) and the audience at the Drama Desk Awards always gave the show a large round of applause when it was mentioned. Anecdotally, we heard from a number of people talked about how much they loved American Psycho. It seemed to do something very interesting and electric and we were sorry to hear it had closed.
Notable People: The music and lyrics were written by Duncan Sheik, who also wrote the music for Spring Awakening. The show also starred Benjamin Walker (in his tightie whities) who we really like (Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Film: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter...that's right! He was Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter) as Patrick Bateman.
An Act of God (Play)
Synopsis: God comes to Earth in the body of [insert some lovable gay male actor here] to deliver new commandments.
Notable People: Sean Hayes and Jim Parsons have both starred in this role. Wesley Taylor will be taking on the role in an upcoming Denver production in March 2017.
Our Review: We saw this play last summer when Jim Parsons was starring as God. It is hilarious and fun.
An American in Paris (Musical)
This show is on tour. Check out their website to see if they are coming to a theater near you!
Synopsis: Your favorite, Oscar-winning, Gene Kelly movie-musical hits the stage this spring with all the wonderful music you remember!
Notable People: Music & lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin
Our Review: Gorgeous gorgeous dancing. This show is practically a ballet and what a beautiful one it is. The sets are also really well done and colorful. If you love the movie, the show will not disappoint. They changed the plot around a bit but all good changes, actually. Just wished there'd been a bit more tap dancing...
Bright Star (Musical)
Playing in LA
Synopsis: Bright Star presents two stories: one in 1920s North Carolina and the other 20 years later. A young man returns from WWII and wants to write. He presents his short stories to a ruthless editor, played by Carmen Cusack and we learn about her traumatic past. All told with bluegrass music and beautiful folk dancing.
Notable People: Music by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, lyrics by Edie Brickell and book by Steve Martin. When we saw it, Steve Martin came on stage to play banjo!
Our Review: The show is a little cheesy. But we like cheese so we were sort of fine with it. The music is great and it is really cool to hear bluegrass music on Broadway (though it's not the first time, we had some in Violet starring Sutton Foster and Joshua Henry, written by Jeanine Tesori). Carmen Cusack was really wonderful, she was kind of quirky and made the show.
**Buyer and Cellar (Play)
Hilarious!
**Constellations (Play)
Freaking Amazing
**The Color Purple (Musical)
Synopsis: Based on the book by Alice Walker, The Color Purple tells a story of resilience among a group of African American women in rural Georgia in the 1930s.
Notable People: Jennifer Hudson, Heather Headley and Danielle Brooks (from Orange is the New Black) all performed in the recent Broadway cast. But the big break-out star (at least it was her break-out in the US) was the AH-MAAAAAZING Cynthia Erivo, who won a Tony for her performance.
**The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Play)
Synopsis: A theatrical adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same title, The Curious Incident is about 15 year-old Christopher, a boy with a brilliant mind, who is accused of killing his neighbor's dog and sets out to find the real culprit.
Our Review: This is a creative and stimulating play - it is a definite must see! It is set up as a detective story and the entire experience felt like entering the mind of the main character, who is on the autism spectrum. In this way it feels like an immersive theatrical experience. Reading the book before seeing the play was a plus, but not at all necessary. The set is unique; the entire stage is a computer screen and there were very few props. Actors were even used as furniture pieces at times. Note: Be sure to stay after the curtain call for an additional scene that shouldn't be missed!
**Disgraced (Play)
Amazing, thought-provoking
Finding Neverland (Musical)
Synopsis: A musical based on the film with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet about J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, and the family that inspired him to write Peter Pan.
Notable People: Diane Paulus directed the original Broadway production.
Our Review: OK, I actually found this show to be really sweet and moving. Might have teared up a bit at the end. The music is really great and fun, kind of a Pop style, and the show has a great energy. It's a little cheesy at times but actually not as much as you'd think, and the set design is wonderful. Overall, it's a really joyful, imaginative show and definitely draws out your inner child. This is worth seeing before it closes!
Fully Committed (Play)
Synopsis: "You think you’re having a bad day? Meet Sam. He works the red‐hot reservation line at one of New York’s trendiest restaurants, where the best food inspires the worst behavior. Coercion, petty threats, bribes, histrionics—a cast of desperate callers, all brought to life by Ferguson, will stop at nothing to land a prime reservation, or the right table. Amid the barrage, Sam has his own problems to deal with. While juggling scheming socialites, name‐dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities and egomaniacal bosses, can he still manage to look out for himself?" - Broadway.com
Notable People: Jesse Tyler Ferguson starred in the Broadway production.
Our Review: Funny!
**Fun Home (Musical)
Synopsis: 43 year-old Allison narrates the story of her youth, 19 year-old Allison is a student at Oberlin discovering her sexuality, and 8 year-old Allison struggles under her father's expectations. Tony winner for best musical!
Notable People: music by Jeanine Tesori (won the Tony for best music), based on the graphic memoir by Allison Bechdel.
Our Review: This is a really beautiful show - the way the stage was set up and the way certain boxes were illuminated (like a graphic novel) were especially cool elements. The music (by Jeanine Tesori) is really gorgeous. Our favorite was the actress who plays the young Allison, she was great! This show moved a lot of people, we heard sniffling in the audience :)
Of Note: The incomparable Lea Salonga will be playing Helen Bechdel (the mother of Alison Bechdel and Judy Kuhn's role in the Broadway production) in Fun Home in the Philippines November 10-27, 2016! If you happen to be in the Philippines...
*********Hamilton (Musical)
Hamilton will be opening for a stint in Chicago beginning September 27, 2016. It will also begin a national tour starting in San Francisco and will be coming to London! See our "Shows" page for more information about Hamilton!
**Hand to God (Play)
Synopsis: A shy student, Jason, finds an outlet in the Christian Puppet Ministry in the small town of Cypress, Texas. But soon his puppet begins to take on a life of its own.
Our Review: This show was amazing. It is HILARIOUS and also quite dark. The actor who plays Jason is phenomenal, playing two different characters: one a shy, timid, slightly awkward teenage boy and the other a crude, angry, violent puppet, Tyrone, who lives on the end of Jason's arm. The show has you thinking a lot about human nature and the concept of "evil" - which is reflected in the opening and closing monologues. But what it brought up for us was more a look at issues of grief and family dynamics. The show is definitely original and very clever and we're glad it got some Tony nominations, especially Steven Boyer, who played Jason.
**Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Musical)
Synopsis: Hedwig is an artist/singer/performer and she has an "angry inch" left over from a gender reassignment surgery that went awry. She hails from East Berlin and made her way to the US where she met her former lover, Tommy Gnosis. Tommy Gnosis's career took off, leaving Hedwig in the lurch. She comes to the Belasco Theatre for a one night only performance, while Tommy Gnosis plays to a massive crowd just down the block in Times Square.
Our Review: An hour and forty minutes of non-stop, high-energy magnificence! Hedwig is fun, spirited, hilarious, and fabulous, but also poignant, sad, beautifully human, and ultimately uplifting. It is a must-see!
Of Note: The entire show of Hedwig, at least when it was on Broadway, was framed as a concert that Hedwig is giving on the stage of the Belasco Theatre. Hedwig is fortunate to be able to use this theater, she says, as it has recently become available due to the fact that "Hurt Locker: The Musical" (a fictional show based on the film) has recently closed at that theater. Several tongue-in-cheek references are made to the fictional "Hurt Locker: The Musical" throughout the show, and the set of Hedwig is made to look like the set of "Hurt Locker," which has yet to be cleared from the stage of the Belasco. What's more, if you looked on the floor or under your seat at the theater, you might have noticed that there were several fake Playbills for "Hurt Locker." If they are still doing this on tour, pick one of these up as they are really funny. Especially the list of other fictional shows playing on Broadway.
Notable People: Neil Patrick Harris originated the role of Hedwig for this Broadway production (and won a Tony for best actor in a musical!). Lena Hall, who played Yitzhak, also won a Tony for best supporting actress in a musical for her performance). For the tour, Darren Criss will be playing Hedwig (he also did the role on Broadway) and Lena Hall will be playing Yitzhak EXCEPT one night a week when SHE will be playing Hedwig! This sounds really exciting.
Homos, or Everyone in America (Play)
Synopsis: "'Love is love' – but is navigating it any less complicated today? What does it mean to be in a committed relationship? Is monogamy just monotony? Told through interweaving glimpses into the life of an everyday couple unexpectedly confronted by a vicious crime, HOMOS, OR EVERYONE IN AMERICA is a fearless, funny, heart-on-its-sleeve examination of the moments that can bring two people together – or pull them apart."
Our Review: This was an intimate, compelling, well-acted show. Definitely worth seeing if it ever comes to your neck of the woods!
The Humans (Play) - On Tour 2017
Synopsis: "Breaking with tradition, Erik Blake has brought his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside the ramshackle pre-war duplex, eerie things start to go bump in the night. Soon, family tensions reach a boiling point… and the hilarity, heart and horrors of the Blake clan are exposed." - Broadway.com
Our Review: Considering it's a pretty traditional model for a play (a White family sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner), this play really is amazing and worth all of the accolades and Tonys it has received. Reed Birney and Jane Houdyshell are tremendous. It has a slightly eerie, almost supernatural feel to it, while at the same time presenting some really universal human truths.
If/Then (Musical)
It was OK but not amazing
**Indecent (Play)
Synopsis: Indecent is inspired by the true events surrounding the controversial 1923 Broadway debut of Sholem Asch’s God of Vengeance—a play seen by some as a seminal work of Jewish culture, and by others as an act of traitorous libel. The play charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it.
Our Review: If this play ever has a production near you, GET TICKETS!!! This is an incredible and moving play about how art changes lives. A unique and beautiful production.
The King and I (Musical)
National Tour to launch in November in Providence, RI
Synopsis: The classic Rodgers & Hammerstein story, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam, about a British widow who travels to Siam with her son to teach English and Western culture to the King and his family.
Notable People: Jose Llana (of Here Lies Love and Spelling Bee fame) will star as the King and Laura Michelle Kelly (most recently of Broadway's Finding Neverland) will star as Anna Leonowens.
Our Review: This was a really beautiful production at Lincoln Center. The set was gorgeous and everything was very well-done, very professional, very clean.
Matilda (Musical)
Synopsis: A musical version of the Roald Dahl book about a brilliant little girl named Matilda who discovers her own powers when faced with the cruel headmistress of her school, Miss Trunchbull.
Our Review: We actually loved Matilda. The children particularly stole the show. There is a lot of creative staging and interesting choreography and the music is bold and fun.
**Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Musical)
On tour 2017-2018!
Synopsis: "Drawing inspiration from a 70-page portion of Leo Tolstoy’s Russian masterpiece War and Peace, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 follows Natasha, a young girl who forms a relationship with the attractive rebel Anatole while her betrothed Andrey is off fighting. Andrey's best friend Pierre remains on high alert as the new romance blossoms." - Broadway.com
Our Review: The creative team has done a remarkable job of keeping the immersive feel of the original off-Broadway production. I sat on the stage in banquette-style seating, they even handed out little dumplings! The show's energy is incredible. The stage snakes all around the orchestra and they even built stairs into the balcony and some of the action takes place up there. The music is great and the whole show is incredibly fun.
**Newsies (Musical)
So much fun and the show has tremendous dancing!
Oslo (Play)
Synopsis: "Oslo tells the true—albeit little known—story of Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, who together coordinated top-secret peace negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat in the early 1990s. Their efforts culminated in the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993." - Broadway.com
Tony-winning play of 2017
Shuffle Along (Musical)
Synopsis: This musical is about the making of the original Shuffle Along, a Jazz Age/Vaudeville-style musical revue based around a mayoral race. The original 1921 cast included Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson. This show comments on the importance of the original and the impact it had as the first production written by, produced by, and starring an all-Black company.
Our Review: We saw this show with the most fabulous cast you could dream of: Brian Stokes Mitchell, Joshua Henry (we loved him in Violet with Sutton Foster), Billy Porter, directed by George C. Wolfe, choreographed by legendary tap dancer Savion Glover and also starring AUDRA MCDONALD.
It could be slightly "teachy" at times but mostly this was an amazing production with one of the most talented groups of people ever, basically. The tap dancing is TREMENDOUS. Audra was like 5 months pregnant when we saw it and was still tapping away. She is really a god among mortals. The whole show is a delight and tells an important story - a bit like Hamilton in that it tells a bit of history that may have been overlooked.
Something Rotten (Musical)
Tour: The Something Rotten tour begins in Schenectady, NY January 10, 2017
Synopsis: Nick and Nigel Bottom are playwrights in the 1590s living under the shadow of The Bard. They get a message from a a local soothsayer who tells them plays in the future will feature acting, singing, and dancing all at once so they set out to write the first musical ever.
Our Review: We have never seen a literal "show-stopping number" on stage before seeing this show. There is a song and dance number in the first act that is so spectacular, the audience all got up in their seats and gave a standing ovation for a full two minutes. It was incredible. This show is immensely entertaining, has incredibly fun songs and dances, and is hilariously self-referential, poking fun at the musical theater genre (including references to dozens of other musicals). Yes it's a bit "sophomoric," as the NYT reviewer called it, and yes some of the comedy is a little cheap and not so clever, but mostly it's just a purely good, fun show.
**Sweat (Play)
Synopsis: Pullitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage. With warm humor and tremendous heart, Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets and laughs while working together on the line of a factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in the hard fight to stay afloat.
Our Review: This is an INCREDIBLE, and extremely topical, play about a community in a changing economy and a group of friends and community members pitted against each other. Astoundingly relevant.
**Sweet Charity (Musical)
Synopsis: "Timed to the 50th Anniversary of the classic musical Sweet Charity, this production stars two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster (“Younger,” Violet, Anything Goes) as Charity Hope Valentine, the sassy, diehard romantic dancehall hostess whose naivety and overeager embrace of every man she meets keeps getting her in hot water. Performed in an intimate setting with original choreography by Joshua Bergasse (On the Town), this production of Sweet Charity will be given a fresh, modern perspective by Tony-nominated director Leigh Silverman (Violet, Well)." - Thenewgroup.org
Our Review: I'm not really familiar with the original production so I'm not sure how much was changed from the original but this production felt like a throwback to the 60s in a good way, while still feeling fresh and relevant and even empowering. Sutton Foster is an absolute dream. Loved the choreography, the throwback style, the costumes, the energy, and the joy!
**Deaf West's Spring Awakening (Musical)
Synopsis: A revival of the original production which opened in 2006 and starred Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff. This production is from the Deaf West theater company and features some hearing and some Deaf actors. American Sign Language (ASL) is completely incorporated into the dialogue and songs. Spring Awakening is "based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play with music, Spring Awakening boldly depicts how young people navigate the thrilling, confusing and mysterious time of their sexual awakening. The story centers around a brilliant young student named Melchior, his troubled friend Moritz and Wendla, a beautiful young girl on the verge of womanhood." The production will also feature American Sign Language fully incorporated into the dialogue. Pretty cool.
Our Review: This production was amazing! It was so beautiful and special to see Deaf people in the audience being able to watch a musical in their language and to enjoy it so thoroughly. It had us tearing up. Of course the subject matter is also pretty dark and will have you tearing up too. The music is beautiful, though we have to admit that we were hoping seeing this musical would finally get the Hamilton cast album out of our heads, but it didn't. The music wasn't quite catchy enough to do that, we suppose. But the whole show is very moving and very well-done.
The Terms of My Surrender (Play/One Man Show)
Synopsis: Michael Moore's one-man show.
Notable People: Michael Moore
My Review: I really loved this show, it is informative and engaging, angering yet hopeful. It is a call to action and still entertaining. I highly recommend seeing this show on tour!