Michael Dale
After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular audience participation murder mysteries (try improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring free live theatre to underserved communities, and dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows Michael can be seen at Citi Field pleading for the Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared celebrities making their stage acting debuts by starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Getting Scatological at POTUS, plus H*tler's Tasters and Trojan Women
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: The Baker's Wife Sublimely Returns
Sunday Morning Michael DaleSunday Morning Michael Dale: Giants Can Be Good in Into The Woods & Artist and Subject Fight For Control of the Narrative in Shooting Celebrities
May 15, 2022
Three plays where what seems like the truth might be a subjective point of view.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Getting Scatological at POTUS and Unique Looks at History in H*tler's Tasters and The Trojan Women: A Native American Adaptation
May 8, 2022
This week I saw a Broadway farce, an Off-Broadway history play and an Off-Off Broadway adaptation all written and directed by women.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Austin McCormick's Company XIV, Still Creating The Sexiest Date Nights In Town
May 1, 2022
Seven Sins returns to Brooklyn, plus thoughts on Funny Girl and 'for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf'
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Witnessing History with All The Mournful Voices and Getting a History Lesson with Citizen Wong
April 24, 2022
Immersive All The Mournful Voices takes audience members to a time that tore the country apart just as it was beginning to heal and Citizen Wong celebrates a 19th Century activist for Chinese American rights.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: David Greenspan Goes Solo in The Patsy and Take Me Out Prompts a Mets Memory
April 17, 2022
Notes on David Greenspan in The Patsy, a Mets memory from Take Me Out and keeping track of New York theatre's Lenape Land Land Acknowledgements.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Broken Box Mime Tackles Contemporary Issues
April 10, 2022
Broken Box Mime Tackles Contemporary Issues, I get emotional at Suffs and Dominique Morisseau encourages laughter at Confederates.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: The Wizard of Oz's Celebrity Pooch Tells All and An Anti-War Pageant Arrives From Kosovo
April 3, 2022
And Toto Too is riotously funny and remarkably true, Balkan Bordello arrives at La MaMa from Kosovo, and Gong Lum's Legacy combines romantic comedy with a controversial Supreme Court case.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: A Guide To Rikers Island and A Hamilton Landmark You May Have Missed
March 27, 2022
Notes on Rich Roy's autobiographical A White Man's Guide To Rikers Island, Sam Chanse's 'what you are now' and a Hamilton-related theatre landmark on St. Marks Place.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Baldwin Debates Buckley, The Brontës Rock Out and Billy Porter Revises The Life
March 20, 2022
Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley is an extraordinary recreation of A 1965 televised debate, Glass Town is a fun rock concert with a Bronte band, The Life gets reworked for Encores! and an O'Neill drama involving Andrew Jackson may be seen differently today.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: THE BAKER'S WIFE Sublimely Returns and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE's Satire Remains Uncomfortably Relevant
March 13, 2022
This week I saw productions of two decades-old musicals, each written by one of theatre's great composer/lyricists, which, in their original productions, ran a combined total of nine performances on Broadway.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Love Gets Debated, The Duplex Gets a Makeover and the K.G.B. Switches Allegiances
March 6, 2022
An audience participation panel discussion show that tours one-nighters around the country debates how to get dating right.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: LBJ, The CIA and Eartha Kitt
February 27, 2022
A recreation of Eartha Kitt's brief speech at a White House event is the thrilling dramatic centerpiece of playwright/performer Dierdra McDowell's excellent solo play, Down To Eartha.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: In Comes Platonic Heterosexual Company
February 20, 2022
Notes on Company, The 2022 FRIGID Festival and A Class Act.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: A Broadway Dance Classic Returns To Lincoln Center
February 13, 2022
New York City Ballet brings back Slaughter On Tenth Avenue, the Louis Armstrong House Museum reopens in Queens and a hat tip to the guy who keeps MJ grounded.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Selling More Than The Sizzle
February 6, 2022
Jaime Sunwoo on the significance of SPAM in Asian American culture and Taylor Mac and Matt Ray throw the hottest jazz funeral in town.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Hey, Old Friend
January 30, 2022
Like Sweeney Todd's right arm, I haven't thought of the Theatre District as being complete again until the reopening of that historic watering hole and bistro on 44th Street, Sardi's.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: 30/90, 30/89 & 30/13
December 5, 2021
Jonathan Larson's posthumous success may be a unique story, but tick, tick... Boom! deals with a universal truth most artists must deal with sometime in their lives.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: After a Brief Intermission...
November 28, 2021
How my exposure to the diversity of New York theatre changed once I started going to Off-Off-Broadway more frequently than to Broadway.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale
November 14, 2021
Sharing views not only on the current Broadway and Off-Broadway scenes, but offering an appreciative spotlight to Off-Off Broadway artists and other lesser-known entertainers who are just as important in making New York the nation's live performing arts capital. To encourage rather than critique.
BWW Review: A Beloved New York Stage Actor Recalls Six Decades of Theatre in JOHN CULLUM: AN ACCIDENTAL STAR
April 12, 2021
The first time I saw John Cullum live on stage his fingers were clutched to a window frame of designer Robin Wagner's art deco luxury liner, playing the maniacally flamboyant theatre producer Oscar Jaffe attempting to board a moving train in his Tony-winning turn in ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
May 15, 2022
Three plays where what seems like the truth might be a subjective point of view.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Getting Scatological at POTUS and Unique Looks at History in H*tler's Tasters and The Trojan Women: A Native American Adaptation
May 8, 2022
This week I saw a Broadway farce, an Off-Broadway history play and an Off-Off Broadway adaptation all written and directed by women.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Austin McCormick's Company XIV, Still Creating The Sexiest Date Nights In Town
May 1, 2022
Seven Sins returns to Brooklyn, plus thoughts on Funny Girl and 'for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf'
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Witnessing History with All The Mournful Voices and Getting a History Lesson with Citizen Wong
April 24, 2022
Immersive All The Mournful Voices takes audience members to a time that tore the country apart just as it was beginning to heal and Citizen Wong celebrates a 19th Century activist for Chinese American rights.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: David Greenspan Goes Solo in The Patsy and Take Me Out Prompts a Mets Memory
April 17, 2022
Notes on David Greenspan in The Patsy, a Mets memory from Take Me Out and keeping track of New York theatre's Lenape Land Land Acknowledgements.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Broken Box Mime Tackles Contemporary Issues
April 10, 2022
Broken Box Mime Tackles Contemporary Issues, I get emotional at Suffs and Dominique Morisseau encourages laughter at Confederates.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: The Wizard of Oz's Celebrity Pooch Tells All and An Anti-War Pageant Arrives From Kosovo
April 3, 2022
And Toto Too is riotously funny and remarkably true, Balkan Bordello arrives at La MaMa from Kosovo, and Gong Lum's Legacy combines romantic comedy with a controversial Supreme Court case.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: A Guide To Rikers Island and A Hamilton Landmark You May Have Missed
March 27, 2022
Notes on Rich Roy's autobiographical A White Man's Guide To Rikers Island, Sam Chanse's 'what you are now' and a Hamilton-related theatre landmark on St. Marks Place.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Baldwin Debates Buckley, The Brontës Rock Out and Billy Porter Revises The Life
March 20, 2022
Debate: Baldwin vs Buckley is an extraordinary recreation of A 1965 televised debate, Glass Town is a fun rock concert with a Bronte band, The Life gets reworked for Encores! and an O'Neill drama involving Andrew Jackson may be seen differently today.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: THE BAKER'S WIFE Sublimely Returns and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE's Satire Remains Uncomfortably Relevant
March 13, 2022
This week I saw productions of two decades-old musicals, each written by one of theatre's great composer/lyricists, which, in their original productions, ran a combined total of nine performances on Broadway.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Love Gets Debated, The Duplex Gets a Makeover and the K.G.B. Switches Allegiances
March 6, 2022
An audience participation panel discussion show that tours one-nighters around the country debates how to get dating right.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: LBJ, The CIA and Eartha Kitt
February 27, 2022
A recreation of Eartha Kitt's brief speech at a White House event is the thrilling dramatic centerpiece of playwright/performer Dierdra McDowell's excellent solo play, Down To Eartha.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: In Comes Platonic Heterosexual Company
February 20, 2022
Notes on Company, The 2022 FRIGID Festival and A Class Act.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: A Broadway Dance Classic Returns To Lincoln Center
February 13, 2022
New York City Ballet brings back Slaughter On Tenth Avenue, the Louis Armstrong House Museum reopens in Queens and a hat tip to the guy who keeps MJ grounded.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Selling More Than The Sizzle
February 6, 2022
Jaime Sunwoo on the significance of SPAM in Asian American culture and Taylor Mac and Matt Ray throw the hottest jazz funeral in town.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: Hey, Old Friend
January 30, 2022
Like Sweeney Todd's right arm, I haven't thought of the Theatre District as being complete again until the reopening of that historic watering hole and bistro on 44th Street, Sardi's.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: 30/90, 30/89 & 30/13
December 5, 2021
Jonathan Larson's posthumous success may be a unique story, but tick, tick... Boom! deals with a universal truth most artists must deal with sometime in their lives.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale: After a Brief Intermission...
November 28, 2021
How my exposure to the diversity of New York theatre changed once I started going to Off-Off-Broadway more frequently than to Broadway.
Sunday Morning Michael Dale
November 14, 2021
Sharing views not only on the current Broadway and Off-Broadway scenes, but offering an appreciative spotlight to Off-Off Broadway artists and other lesser-known entertainers who are just as important in making New York the nation's live performing arts capital. To encourage rather than critique.
BWW Review: A Beloved New York Stage Actor Recalls Six Decades of Theatre in JOHN CULLUM: AN ACCIDENTAL STAR
April 12, 2021
The first time I saw John Cullum live on stage his fingers were clutched to a window frame of designer Robin Wagner's art deco luxury liner, playing the maniacally flamboyant theatre producer Oscar Jaffe attempting to board a moving train in his Tony-winning turn in ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
