OFF-BROADWAY THEATER REVIEWS

Marty Geiger is one of those colorful theatre junkies I often run into during intermissions or on chat boards. A robust gentleman of 60 and a lawyer by trade, he decided two years ago to venture into the world of cabaret performing. When I took my seat for his new show at Don't Tell Mama, Summer B...

Attractive people saying bitchy things while wearing sexy outfits and drinking too much. No it's not another BroadwayWorld staff meeting, but New York Daily News entertainment writer Patrick Huguenin's Paper Dolls, a funny and promising new play about the world of celebrity gossip that just closed ...

Though earlier in the primaries he admitted to being bored by showtunes like 'Oklahoma' in grade school, this Comedy Central article proves that Barack Obama has since developed quite the savvy taste for musical theatre. Unfortunately, the article fails to mention that John McCain was the original ...

Thanks to the gang at [title of show] the new parlor game sweeping the nation (or at least Chelsea) is to come up with unusual names for drag queens. The best one I could think of was 'Belle Jar' but Mike Ceceri of North Shore Music Theatre came up with what I humbly consider to be the best one eva...

Imagine Hamlet infused with a shot or two of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and you'll get an idea of the atmosphere of Moonwork's very clever and entertaining Bound In A Nutshell. Adaptors Gregory Sherman and Gregory Wolfe (who also directs) craft a new script exclusively out of lines from Shakes...

I'm all for creative non-traditional casting, but is Katie Holmes now playing Joe Keller, the successful businessman accused of selling faulty airplane parts to the U.S. government during World War II, in the upcoming Broadway revival of All My Sons? I only ask because this MSNBC blurb is about ho...

While the creators of Desir may have had La Ronde in mind while dreaming up their sensual fantasia of backstage trysts, the sight of so many buff fellas in period undergarments, which, with all due respect to the sensational athletic skills on display, are certainly a selling point of the evening, r...

In this amusing and somewhat bittersweet interview with the BBC, Ruthie Henshall tells of being smuggled into Buckingham Palace regularly after performances of Cats in order to visit her secret boyfriend, Prince Edward. Though she was in love with the British royal, the relationship ended because s...

Yes, she sings it. And if you've never heard her sing it as a full-fledged, poised, articulate, sexy and self-effacingly humorous adult then you haven't really heard her sing it yet....

I never thought of myself as especially gossipy. Surely there are at least two other Michaels in this burg who set the gold standard at reporting that sort of stuff. But when ace press agent Richard Kornberg, the man who convinced half the city that Ben Brantley loved In My Life, says, 'Come here,...

Please forgive my delay, dear readers, in jotting down a few thoughts on the latest Scott Siegel enterprise, the second annual All Singin', All Dancin', which scorched the Town Hall stage last Monday night. What with a bundle of new shows to take in since then (and a biggie opening up tonight) some...

If the old chestnut about life imitating art doesn't cross your mind a couple of times during A.R. Gurney's new comedy, Buffalo Gal, you may want to make a copy of The Cherry Orchard part of your subway reading this week. But brushing up your Chekhov isn't completely necessary to enjoy this funny l...

An orchestra ticket for Thurgood, with one actor and a modest set, costs nearly as much as one for August: Osage County, which has a large cast and an elaborate design. Orchestra seats for [title of show] aren't much cheaper than those for The Lion King. With Broadway prices what they are, do you ...

Playgoers with fond memories of wholesomely sexy television comedies like Love, American Style and The Love Boat may get a kick out of Flamingo Court, Luigi Creatore's trio of one-acts about romance among elderly Florida retirees. The octogenarian playwright most known to Broadway audiences for hav...

Early arrivals to the McGinn/Cazale for Second Stage's Theatre Uptown production of Animals Out Of Paper can fill up their spare minutes by folding up a creation or two with the free origami paper made available in the lobby. Or, if you're like me, just admire the pieces already on display....

Although that bountiful cornucopia of high praise, John 'I Loved It!' Simon, chose to heap lavish compliments on those he saw as standouts with his usual critical generosity, I'd rather not review the performances showcased by Scott and Barbara Siegel in their second annual concert of new talent, Br...

Though idiots like the academic assortment of Richard Nelson's Some Americans Abroad, his 1989 satire of Yankee cultural self-loathing, may be high on Gilbert and Sullivan's Lord High Executioner's little list of those whose loss would be a distinct gain to society at large, this verbose crew would ...

This New York Observer feature on 'New Old Gays' confuses me. Do you have to actually be homosexual to be considered a New Old Gay? Because the writer is describing me and about half of my straight male friends....

First things first; there is no hot air ballooning in Mark Brown's stage adaptation of Jules Verne's Around The World In 80 Days, just in case your only familiarity with the plot comes from Michael Todd's not exactly faithful 1956 movie version. (For that matter, there aren't any martial arts fight...

The word 'ridiculous' carries a certain reverence in theatre circles and when Duncan Pflaster calls his new play, Prince Trevor Amongst The Elephants, 'a big epic naked ridiculous Shakespearean fairy tale play for adults,' those in the know catch it as a bow to the late, great Charles Ludlum. For t...

The title character - well, actually the title prop - of Sam Shepard's new entry, Kicking a Dead Horse, doesn't have to lift a hoof to make an impressive star entrance. Lying beneath a sheet that covers the entire curtain-less stage as the audience enters The Public's Martinson Hall, the slow delib...

Perched above the stage in their private bleacher section, just beyond an outfield fence graffitied with the musical's title, conductor Rob Berman and his 25 piece Encores! Summer Stars orchestra might be mistaken for the conservatory cousins of Brooklyn's legendary Dodger Sym-Phony. But instead of...

The last time I reviewed the cabaret antics of singing comedians Booth Daniels and Patrick Frankfort, a/k/a Booth & Pat, the description, 'The Smothers Brothers on crystal meth,' entered the picture. In their new gig, Slow Children Playing, which has one more scheduled performance at The Duplex on ...

I don't take pleasure in anybody's death; not even the death of someone who trampled on the rights of free speech in order to prevent funding for art that he considered to be obscene. I'm sure he felt he was doing the right thing for the country I have no reason to doubt he loved....

While the rest of the country celebrates Independence Day with barbeques and fireworks, musical theatre lovers like me will gather around their television sets for the traditional viewing of what I and many others call the finest film ever made from a Broadway musical, 1776....