BROADWAY THEATER REVIEWS

'La Fille mal gardee', Frederick Ashton has given us folksy innocence, clever games, and sunny smiles. That smile was perfectly embodied by soloist Jeffrey Cirio, making a splendid debut as Colas in the opening performance of this life affirming ballet. He is more than ably assisted by a cast of tre...

Ms. Forte-Saunders has created an evening of misery that blocks any discourse beyond the bleak. If her intent was to wield art as a blunt instrument with which to hammer home her point, then she has certainly succeeded. The tragedy therein is that she could have done much more. Hers is a ferocious i...

Last Saturday night at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center presented a celebration on what would have been Ray Charles' 85th Birthday. The program was led by Musical Director and trumpeter Kenny Rampton (who once toured with the Ray Charles band), and included 10 longtime members of the icon's ...

In its robust 101st season, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene is the longest consecutively producing Yiddish theater company in the world. Its mission: To celebrate the Jewish experience through the performing arts and to transmit rich cultural legacy in exciting new ways. The theatre's Gala 2016 ...

With over fifty presenters, conference attendees engaged in a vibrant discourse on ballet structure, technique(s), and form; race; gender; and, sustainability at New York University's Center for Ballet and the Arts and Barnard College, Columbia University....

On the afternoon of May 22nd 2016, audience members at a nearly sold out performance of New York City Ballet's 'Classic NYCB II' program at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center were treated to five selections that underscored the impressive range and enduring excellence of the troupe's repertoire....

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre premiered the second edition of its modern dance festival May 19, 2016 at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater on West 64th Street in Manhattan. Comprised of six distinct pieces from different choreographers, the night was a tribute to the creativity of movement and how...

On paper, Lawrence Goldhuber/Bigmanarts contrasted with Christopher Williams -- both theatrically inclined and unafraid of being wacky -- sounds marvelous. Marvelous dance evenings are certainly what Mr. Parker usually presents, but many hours after the fact I am still waiting for the magic of May ...

We are lucky in New York City. The talent here is unbelievable. Sometimes you settle in for an intimate evening at a little local club and you get your socks blown off. On Friday the 13th (of May, to be exact), I had such an experience at the latest monthly installment of Stephen Hanks' Metropolitan...

On the evening of May 16th 2016 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, the beloved troupe that was recognized as 'America's National Ballet Company' in 2006 by the United States Congress proved once again that the American Ballet Theatre is indeed a treasure. Dancegoers in dazzling forma...

A review of ABT's performance of 'Sylvia' at the Met Opera House....

On May 11, 2016, The Cutting Room on East 32nd Street housed Polly Ferman's Glamour Tango. In befitting cabaret style, wining and dining were part of this evening's performance. A four-piece band would allow our ears to hear live music, which is something quite rare if not at the opera or the ballet...

Under the umbrella of the New York Opera Fest, The Center for Contemporary Opera presented an hour's worth of excerpts from THE WILD BEAST OF THE BUNGALOW, an episodic opera still in development by composer Rachel J. Peters and (the omnipresent) librettist Royce Vavrek. It was, frankly, spellbinding...

On May 9th 2016, the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University curated an interesting presentation entitled: Ballet and Tap Dancing: Oil and Water? The History of Attempts to Mix Ballet and Tap as part of their public conversations series. This one featured acclaimed author, dance critic...

“I . . . am a survivor,” Lisa Jason announces solemnly near the beginning of her poignant new cabaret show, Bullied to Beautiful, which premiered in its present incarnation last Wednesday night (it originally debuted last October at the Metropolitan Room) at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Uprooted...

A different kind of energy crackled throughout the David H. Koch Theater on the evening of May 13, 2016, vibrant and self-aware, with a knowing sense of the dynamic dancing that lay ahead. As I settled into my seat, preparing to bask in the evening's ode to Jerome Robbins, a British accent behind me...

I longed to see more. One would love to see the Martha Graham Dance Company commission a new from Ms. Zall. Unlike their usual fare, she clearly understands stagecraft and is able to communicate in the language of their founder. It seems to me that all she needs is the opportunity. Denise Vale, the ...

As part of the New York Opera Fest, Brooklyn's scrappy Vertical Player Repertory ventured into Manhattan's Christ and St. Stephen's Church near Lincoln Center, bringing with it a true rarity: Giovanni Pacini's bel canto-ish MALVINA DI SCOZIA, which dates from 1851. And while it was good to hear a wo...

“Park and bark” is a term usually used derogatively when speaking about opera--a kind of old-style singing that involves standing still and bursting forth in song, with little or no acting skills involved. There certainly wasn't anything old-fashioned about the operas or the group of young singe...

One of New York City's cultural treasures, the New York Theatre Ballet, presented Children's Dance on a Shoestring on May 6th and May 7th, 2016, at New York Theatre Ballet's intimate E. 10th street studio inside St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery. This was a delightful weekend of student dancers and th...

The spirit of jazz legends Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald (with a little Tito Puente) was palpable in the Milton Berle room at New York's Friars Club on April 25 for the second-annual production of Triple Threats. Broadway veterans (including Duke's granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington, who also co...

Carnegie Hall was filled with musical theatre stars to celebrate the creators of LES MISERABLES and MISS SAIGON....

Those of us with long enough memories can recall some exciting nights at Opera Orchestra of New York's concerts at Carnegie Hall, with Eve Queler at the helm. It's reputed that Donizetti's PARISINA D'ESTE made quite a stir with Montserrat Caballe in the spotlight in 1974--but anyone expecting histor...

New York City Ballet, home to George Balanchine's vision of dance in America, is well known for commissioning new work. This devotion to innovation can result in work that runs the gamut from zestful to appalling. Case in point, the '21st Century Choreographers II' program on May 7th, 2016, which pr...

I don't know when Ann Hampton Callaway started this chapter of her life, but she's emphatically in a new one. The artist savors every note, propelled headlong into her songs with uncommon exuberance. Signature authority extends not only to stellar scat but to enacting selected material. Accompanied ...