BWW Book Review: SHAPES OF AMERICAN BALLET: Teachers and Training Before Balanchine, by Jessica Zeller
Jessica Zeller's exhaustively researched and engagingly written book, available now for pre-order, is an eye-opening addition to our currently extant ballet literature. Full disclosure: I was Zeller's childhood ballet teacher, and I'm honored that she mentions me in her acknowledgements. That said, ...
BWW Review: IN THE NAME OF GUCCI by Patricia Gucci is Captivating
Read Patricia Gucci's compelling memoir, 'In the Name of Gucci.' It chronicles the drama of her family life and the famous Gucci fashion dynasty....
BWW Review: REAL LIFE ROCK is Critic's Magnum Opus
When a culture critic is as prolific and well known as Greil Marcus, and has written books as revered as Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces, it's a mouthful to say any one book defines him...
BWW Review: ADVENTURES OF A BUXOM BLONDE by Demetria Daniels
Blogger and playwright Demetria Daniels has followed the traditional advice to write about what she knows -- and what she knows is meeting celebrities....
BWW Review: ALICE IN WONDERLAND - A Family Adventure
ZACH Theatre's production of Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND adapted by Katie Bender and Gabrielle Reisman, produced in partnership with Underbelly, is an interactive adventure for the whole family....
BWW Review: Marsha Volgyi's THE CREWMEMBER
In the midst of some major illnesses and a deep depression, I was given Marsha Volgyi's new novel, 'The Crewmember,' to review. To say that it was just the antidote for my emotional state is an understatement; to say that I Iaughed out loud at least 500 times while reading the novel is doing the w...
BWW Review: WHERE WE BELONG by Hoda Kotb is Moving and Motivating
'Where We Belong, Journeys That Show Us The Way' is a gem of a book by Hoda Kotb with Jane Lorenzini. It tells seven moving and motivating stories of individuals who have made unexpected life changes....
BWW Review: ON SONDHEIM: An Opinionated Guide
As a self-proclaimed Broadway and theatre aficionado, I certainly thought I had a solid working knowledge of Stephen Sondheim. His music and lyrics have spanned a generation and impacted the world with innate complexity and thoughtfulness. In particular, Gypsy has had a tremendous personal impact on...
BWW Review: ON SONDHEIM an Opinionated Guide by Ethan Mordden
Ethan Mordden's guide of Sondheim's work, process, and aesthetic....
BWW Review: WOMEN CRIME WRITERS: FOUR SUSPENSE NOVELS OF THE 1940s Fills a Void
The latest benefit to readers in the stage of enlightenment exemplified by the Library of America's expanding coverage of post-war pulp is the new two-volume collection devoted to Women Crime Writers, the first of which covers the 1940s...
BWW Review: JOHN IRVING Grips at 92nd Street Y
John Irving is the epitome of the modern American storyteller. His ability to render the passage of time in prose fiction is peerless--a testament to his success as the author of 13 novels spanning more than four decades. His 14th novel, Avenue of Mysteries, named after the street in Mexico City tha...
BWW Review: A CELEBRATION OF PRIMO LEVI Hallows at 92Y
Momentous is a strong word, yet not so strong as carbon, the sixth element in the Periodic Table of Elements, inspiring the literary masterpiece known by the “scandalous” title, as its author Primo Levi confesses, The Periodic Table. Named in 2006 by the Royal Institution of Great Britain as the...
BWW Review: Freely Sounds the Mockingbird's Song in CCTC's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Now brought to the stage, thus making the message of a shared humanity that much more profound, the Cape Cod Theatre Company has given us a production that is worthy of more than just the audience's time and consideration: it is a lesson that must be carefully taught to each of us again and again, a...
BWW Review: MANSON Fills in the Missing Pieces
In fiction or life, I generally turn a cold shoulder to studies in psychopathy. I make a sort of exception for the subject of Charles Manson. Apparently I'm not alone....
BWW Review: ANITA & ME, Birmingham Rep, October 2015
Meera Syal's debut novel, Anita & Me, receives its world stage premiere at the Birmingham Rep this month. Famously autobiographical, this coming of age tale follows Meena, a 13 year old 'naff and uncool' daughter of the only Punjabi family in the mining village of Tollington. As the summer holidays ...
BWW Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at Playhouse On Park
At the beginning of the premiere production of Playhouse on Park's seventh season, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, we learn that we are present for the last class taught by Morrie Schwartz, and that Mitch Albom, the author of the book on which the play is based, will be the sole student. But seated in the aud...
BWW Review: THE SOUND OF MURDER by Cindy Brown
Cindy Brown's breezy, lightly satiric book THE SOUND OF MURDER casts Ivy Meadows in a mirthful musical mash-up called “The Sound of Cabaret”!...
BWW Review: STAR TREK: COSTUMES Lets Trekkies Look Behind the Seams
Covering five decades of theatrical history, STAR TREK: COSTUMES is a 256-page homage to the history of the clothing featured in the iconic franchise....
BWW Review: THE EVER AFTER Illuminates at Simon Fraser University
Looking back thirty years ago, the world appears to have been a very different place. Soviet Russia continued to perplex the foundations of western civilization from behind the Iron Curtain, and apartheid South Africa would not see a political resolution for another ten years....
BWW Book Review: Alex Sheremet's Insightful WOODY ALLEN: REEL TO REAL
One of the things I truly enjoy about being a critic is not just the fact that I get to cover the St. Louis theater scene, but also that I receive countless opportunities to review other mediums within the artistic world of creation. I've had the request to deliver my thoughts and opinions on concer...
BWW Review: TEAR IT OFF, a Romance Novel Comes Alive at convergence-continuum
Book buyers spend an estimated $1.08 billion dollars each year purchasing romance novels. Since 1972 when Avon printed Kathleen Woodiwiss's 'The Flame And The Flower,' supposedly the first U.S. published book of that genre, almost 55% of all paperbacks sold in the U.S. have centered on romantic rela...
BWW Review: ROSS MACDONALD: FOUR NOVELS OF THE 1950s Is a Great Introduction
Remarking on the distinction between English drawing room mysteries and America's hard-boiled crime dramas, Raymond Chandler famously wrote that his role model, Dashiell Hammett, “gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse.”...
BWW Review: METHOD OF PROCEDURE A Wonderful Cookbook by Chef Thomas Gosney
Chef Thomas Gosney's book, 'Method of Procedure, The Guide and Techniques for Excellent Cuisine' will please novice and seasoned cooks with wonderful recipes and terrific preparation tips....
BWW Reviews: LOSING OUR WAY by Bob Herbert is Essential Reading for Americans
'Losing our Way, An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America'by Bob Herbert is essential reading for Americans. This book will resonate with readers as the issues of the 2016 presidential election takes center stage....
BWW Reviews: Satiric, Sardonic SEDARIS at Wolf Trap
Today, Sedaris' work isn't just published in the New Yorker, not just in book form, he is now in huge demand as a reader. Who could have imagined that a snarky, off-beat short story writer could generate such a huge following? And with such a sarcastic, nasal baritone? And yet here he stood at Wo...