Ross

What ultimately makes Two Strangers such a winning Broadway arrival is its belief that tenderness is still theatrical currency. Jackson’s direction keeps the show surefooted, even at its most delicate, allowing Tutty and Pitts, and the entire creative team, to craft something that sneaks up on you. As we saw with Maybe Happy Ending, audiences are hungry for productions that treat emotion as serious craft, and hopefully, with these delightfully engaging Two Strangers, the much-needed emotional connection will deliver the Tony Award goods once again.

When the first version of Heathers the Musical premiered in 2014, its overly grody comedy seemed to me out of step with that era of “hope and change.” But this new, much improved production is right on time. In our “cruelty is the point” age, it’s unexpectedly cathartic to see battle-scarred asshole teenagers live to flip off another day.

I was happy and excited when they returned to the main topic of this joyful cabaret show and sang a rousing, enlivening rendition of Hairspray‘s magnificent ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’. This is what we were all in attendance for, to watch three wildly and wickedly talented women sing their hearts out so we could forget our troubles and be happy, even if it only lasted the ninety minutes we spent with these talented souls at the New World Stages in New York City. Mama I’m a Big Girl Now! is exactly what the musical theatre junkie doctor ordered during these dark and upsetting days after the election, and I was reborn, taken back to the joy I felt every time I heard these ladies sing since 2003.