Photo-by-Matthew-Murphy A show about rock music should be loud. So loud that you feel the music going through you! When the cast of “Almost Famous: The Musical ” took the stage and performed “Ramble On,” I felt the vibrations pounding through my ches …Read more

Often a visit to the theater can be an opportunity for discovery. That’s what happened when I attended a performance of The Butcher Boy at the Irish Repertory Theatre. The musical, based upon the novel by Patrick McCabe features two exciting young ta …Read more

Mr. Saturday Night I’m a staunch Billy Crystal fan, and judging from the audience’s reaction at the Nederlander Theatre the other night, I’m not alone. I love Crystal’s quick wit, easy laugh and perpetual grin, even as he delivers a barb. Yet, sadly, …Read more

Once upon a time there was a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan called The Five Points. For over 70 years, it was a crowded slum, populated mostly by newly -freed slaves and ethnic Irish. Although there was much tension, historically the area is conside …Read more

Photo by Julieta Cervantes When TV’s Murphy Brown was mocking singer Barry Manilow, I was buying his albums and attending his concerts. I was unabashedly a Fanilow. So I looked forward to “Harmony,” the musical that Manilow wrote with Barry Sussman, …Read more

When was the last time you smiled for two hours? Were you wearing a mask? Under their masks, audiences at the Winter Garden Theater are grinning broadly eight times a week. Despite any criticism you’ve heard about the lack of innovation or creativity …Read more

Only Stephen Sondheim could have taken a motley group of would-be murderers and made them sympathetic and funny. At one time, a musical about killing presidents would have been controversial or startling. Certainly that was the case 30 years ago when …Read more

By now, everyone associated with musical theater has written a tribute to legend Stephen Sondheim who died Nov. 26, 2021 at age 91. Productive until the end, Sondheim died while working on another musical. Every season, even truncated ones like 2021, …Read more

First let’s get rid of the elephant in the room- Rob McClure, hardworking star of Broadway’s “Mrs. Doubtfire” is NOT Robin Williams who created the 1993 movie role. However, he doesn’t have to be; he just has to be the fun-loving talented Daniel Hill …Read more

Photo credit: Joan Marcus We have a conflict in America. While it is built on the shoulders of immigrants,and the Statue of Liberty stands tall in New york harbor, our policies discourage immigration. Based on a 2007 movie starring Richard Jenkins,Th …Read more