Ricky Pope

Surflight Theatre will be continuing their 2023 Season with the romantic musical comedy, Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, book by Dan Remmes, music by Neil Berg, lyrics Nick Meglin. Performances are already underway, find out more here!

Surflight Theatre will be continuing their 2023 Season with the hilarious musical comedy, Disaster!.

Surflight Theatre is continuing their 2023 Season with the musical theatre staple, State Fair. Filled with dance and gorgeous music, State Fair travels with the Frake family as they leave behind the routine of the farm for three days of adventure at the annual Iowa State Fair.

Surflight Theatre has announced that they will be continuing their 2023 Season with the hilarious musical comedy, Something Rotten!

It’s one thing to be a good singer.  It’s one thing to be a great singer.  But what Jessica Vosk did on the stage today went beyond good or great.

After two NYC appearances in 2022, Phillip Officer returns to the Manhattan cabaret stage, where he belongs.

 Surflight Theatre is opening their 2023 Season with a show celebrating the magnificent history of Atlantic City’s Steel Pier in the 1930’s:  Kander and Ebb’s STEEL PIER the Musical.

It is not surprising that playwright and spoken-word artist, reg e gaines and legendary tap dancer Savion Glover chose Coltrane to create a show around. Both gaines and Glover have pushed their art forms into brave new territory like Coltrane did

Classical Theatre of Harlem is to be congratulated for presenting this wonderful play. Langston in Harlem is a piece that absolutely deserves a second look, and this company delivered a first-rate production.

Tou are missing out on one of the last vestiges of what the golden age of cabaret was like.

Goldie Dver will play her new show BRIDGES at Don't Tell Mama with special guest Tanya Moberly for three dates in June.

SETH SIKES & NICOLAS KING; THE NEW BELTERS is a high-energy, well-honed entertainment that has its audience buzzing with excitement and tapping its toes with joy.

Christine Andreas has one of the finest of Broadway voices, an instrument with a huge expressive range capable of belting to the rafters and pliable enough to sing the gentlest lullaby.

It would be hard to think of a Broadway pairing who are capable of such bravura singing and are so at ease in each other's company. The evening they have created is a casual party in cocktail attire. It feels like a throwback to the days of after-show supper clubs where the elite came to meet and mingle with mere mortals. Baldwin and Lazar do serious work with the lightest touch.

COME CELEBRATE WITH MARILYN MAYE,  is ostensibly a celebration of her upcoming birthday. But it is so much more than that. It is a celebration of all the fans who have made Maye as loved and respected as she is. It is a two-way avenue of gratitude between an entertainer and those she entertains. It’s hard to say which is more delightful, the songs themselves, which are beautifully sung and acted, or the banter that feels as unscripted as a cocktail party. And Marilyn Maye is the most charming host of her own fête. Two weeks ago she performed with 80 musicians at a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. But is this Marilyn, with only herself and her trio, that I prefer. An intimate evening of great songs and good-spirited bonhomie.

The self-proclaimed 'senior citizen, redneck, lesbian, diva' brought her post-modern talk show to the Green Room 42 last night. It was, as we say in the South, a 'ring-tail tooter' of an evening.

From the moment she appeared in the audience singing “One Night Only from Dreamgirls, sliding down a banister like a wacky Mame, you knew you were in for a comedic master class. She is an excellent mimic, a powerhouse singer, and in the end a sensitive and truthful actor. She is living proof of Elaine Stritch’s maxim, “To play comedy you have to be real.” Jennifer Simard is absolutely the real deal.

A dynamic concert graced the stage of 92NY this past weekend.

Last week, it was with great joy that I went to 54 Below to see the TCU Department of Theatre Senior and Alumni Showcase. As about half of the performers were graduating seniors, it isn't really fair to review the evening, but there was so much talent on the stage it is an event that should be noted. These are performers we will definitely be seeing in New York again, and soon.

This is not a “Best Of” list because it isn’t for me to say what is best, only what resonated with me, but after a lot, a lot, a lot of shows, this New Year's Eve, these shows are still on my mind.