Michael Dale - Page 50

As with her first Pulitzer-finalist play, BECKY SHAW, the title of Gina Gionfriddo's sharp-tongued comedy CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? is a literary reference.

"In a whirligig of grief" is how one character describes the emotional state of another in Hamish Linklater's ambitious new play, THE WHIRLIGIG, receiving a fine premiere mounting by The New Group's artistic director, Scott Elliott.

One look at the country home setting designer Vicki R. Davis has devised for The Mint Theater Company's intriguing revival of A.A. Milne's rarely visited THE LUCKY ONE and a playgoer wouldn't be blamed for anticipating a night of vintage bon mots and comedy of manners gracefulness.

Traditionally, the human beings with uncommon attributes who are featured as carnival side-show attractions can hold a certain degree of power in their profession. It is their indisputable reality that adds an illusion of legitimacy to the flim-flam and shenanigans that fill out the rest of the show. Those who may appear to audiences as the most pitiable and exploited might very well be the ones taking in the biggest cuts of the profits.

Kat, the woman who's at the center of the wildly fun and unpredictable new two-person musical comedy Ernest Shackleton Loves me, is not exactly in a good emotional place when the show begins.

Most people don't like war. We know that. So when a playwright sets out to write an anti-war drama, it helps to present some kind of specific angle that offers a clear, and hopefully original, message.

Visitors observing the United States Senate in session from the chamber galleries are instructed to refrain from applauding, booing or - perhaps most crucial - laughing at their public servants as they undergo official business.

In the late-night hours of June, 14, 1994, when hockey's New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years, there were fans visiting the gravesites of loved ones, armed with six-packs of beer and radios, to share with long-gone fans a moment they thought they might never live to see.

As it pertains to the 2016 presidential election, the title HER OPPONANT doesn't necessarily refer to Donald Trump. As the first woman to top the ticket of one of America's major political parties, the name of co-creators Joe Salvatore (who also directs) and Maria Guadalupe's fascinating theatre piece could also refer to a number of Hillary Clinton's opponents, such as the public's lingering prejudices against women, the perception of her as an elitist Washington insider or just being a politician cursed with accusations of not being likeable.

The best thing about Classic Stage Company's small-scale, extensively trimmed production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's extraordinarily-written 1976 musical, PACIFIC OVERTURES, is a chance to see a terrific ensemble of actors taken from the New York stage's severely underutilized pool of Asian-American talent. The company includes notables of the musical stage such as Ann Harada, Orville Mendoza, Thom Sesma and Marc Oka.

Sixty years ago, Joseph Papp packed a truck with a small troupe of actors, some modest props and the firm belief that the plays of William Shakespeare belonged to everyone, and traveled throughout New York City giving free performances.

After producer Fred Hamlin christened Columbus Circle's Majestic Theatre with a spectacular musical extravaganza based on L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' (The show had nothing to do with the classic MGM film.), he sought to follow up with another memorable production with a family-friendly setting.

In 1957, Meredith Willson wagered he could get Broadway audiences to cheer for THE MUSIC MAN's serial swindler who cheats nice people out of their hard-earned money and harasses the leading lady on the street and at her workplace while lying his way into her arms. Fortunately for him, the handsome and charming Robert Preston seduced audiences as well as Professor Harold Hill seduced early 20th Century Iowans.

When a classic play from the past is revived, there's always the temptation to point out its relevance to today, or at least to present it through a contemporary lens. In some ways, that's what playwright Lucas Hnath is doing with his entirely new play, A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2, where characters from Ibsen's 1879 drama rehash the events that led to the play's famous ending and introduce subsequent events of Hnath's own invention.

As they sit in darkness, the first thing the audience hears is the sound of distant explosions. They come with an erratic frequency, edging frighteningly closer with each blast. But gradually, the sound becomes more rhythmic, adapting a fierce pulse until what we're hearing is a drum set beating out a swing tempo.

Long before websites like Friendster (Remember Friendster?) increased the awareness of how few people it takes for one's social network to spread worldwide, John Guare's smart and funny 1990 entry, SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION, helped popularize the concept that you can connect any two people in the world by their associations with up to five people placed between them.

No, that's not some forgotten Golden Age musical floating effervescently across the Broadhurst stage, but ANASTASIA sure has the old-fashioned romantic feel of one. The story of a young woman who may or may not be the presumed dead Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia has been told in many forms before - even as a short-lived 1965 Broadway musical called ANYA - but this new stage adaptation by Terrence McNally (book), Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) is surely a welcome variation.

With two supporting actor Tony Awards under his belt, the versatile and immensely talented Christian Borle finally spent an opening night as a Broadway leading man earlier this season, playing neurotic New Yorker Marvin in a limited run revival of William Finn's FALSETTOES. Now, with the New York premiere of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY underway, Borle is placed into a position many stars have had to deal with at one time or another; carrying a sagging show upon his shoulders to create the illusion that everything is just swell.

Yes, yes, we all know… Bette Midler is the above the title attraction and her presence is the reason the latest Broadway revival of HELLO, DOLLY! is the season's hottest new ticket. And she delivers. As Dolly Gallagher Levi, one of the most grandly showcased leading characters ever written for the musical stage, Midler glows with the pure joy that comes with the need to entertain as she lands schticky gags, sings with moxie, conveys lovely sincerity and leads the colorful parade proudly strutting across the Shubert stage.

With her throaty elegance, sharp comic bite and aggressively sexual allure, Tallulah Bankhead quickly earned a loyal following when she appeared in her first five Broadway plays in the years between 1918 and 1922. Unfortunately, her performances were often the only positive attraction and each of the quintet closed very quickly.