by Adam Cohen   Schadenfreude is German for happiness at the misfortune of others.  There’s little happiness and plenty of misfortune in Joseph Scott Ford’s new play Not Even The Good Things now playing at Theater Row.  Sartre said, “Hell is other people.”  And in this production,...

  Best in Shows, a star-studded cabaret evening benefiting the Humane Society of New York, will honor Broadway stars Andy Karl and Orfeh on Monday, October 14 , 2019 at 7 pm at Feinstein’s/ 54 Below.  Karl and Orfeh be awarded the Humane Society of New York’s Sandy Fund Award in...

      by Carole Di Tosti     A dynamic, original and thrilling musical which is part of the New York Musical Festival 2019 season is Ladyship concisely directed by Samantha Saltzman with equally fine music direction by Simone Allen and choreography by Sara Brians....

    By Marilyn Lester   Never experienced an acid trip? Curious? Then the theatrical piece, I Am., is for you. Running, 45 minutes, I Am. is a jumble of ideas and actions of the nightmarish kind. It’s a bad trip for sure for those looking for enlightenment, drug-induced or not....

Frances Ruffelle LIVEs in New York   By Alana Silber   Sitting at the small round table at The Green Room 42, I sipped a glass of chardonnay and waited for Frances Ruffelle to take the stage. In the meantime, I chatted casually with the press photographer Magda, who had previously...

Deborah Grace Winer’s revue New York: Big City Songbook returned to the Birdland Theater on July 14th with a stellar cast paying tribute to NYC in song.   by Linda Amiel Burns   The Birdland Theater (beneath Gianni Valenti’s renowned Birdland Jazz Club) is a wonderful addition to NY...

    by Susan Hasho   Luba Mason told a very human story at The Green Room 42 Wednesday night (July 10). She opened the show with the song “On Broadway” (Lieber/Stoller) and described her painful beginnings as a performer with the American Dance Machine. She talked about her...

  By Brian Scott Lipton   If you’ve done your fair share of cabaret-going, you’ve likely sat through at least one act that could have doubled as a therapy session, as a performer clearly tries to work out his or her personal issues through song and patter. But you’ve probably never...

  Theater Pizzazz’ Marcina Zaccaria spoke with Hazen Cuyler about Greenhouse Ensemble’s upcoming production of Romeo and Juliet to gather more information about the Artistic Director/Founder and the company’s mission.   Marcina Zaccaria: What is The Greenhouse Ensemble?  What is...

  by Adam Cohen   Alien lizards secretly rule Earth.  And their goal is to impregnate as many humans as possible in order to secure their rule.  However sound their plan, things aren’t going well and the current alien rulers are in jeopardy of losing their cushy Earth assignment. ...

  By Marilyn Lester   Surely the ghosts of Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet and Eugène Ionesco were hovering over the three playwright-performers of the highly existential play, leaves. But unlike these European absurdists, the all-female collective, billed as Don, Pat and Tom, turn...

    by Harry Haun    ON AGAIN LONERGAN: Playwright Kenneth Lonergan started small, Off-Broadway, but, ever since he copped the British and American Oscars for his Manchester by the Sea screenplay, three of his six Off-Broadway efforts have been upgraded to Main Stem stuff. This Is Our Youth,...

    By Brian Scott Lipton   The thrill of seeing a legendary singer such as Rita Coolidge just a few feet away from one’s seat might have brought out some people to the Iridium on July 10, but the real thrill was the show itself. At 74, Coolidge not only remains physically...

  Don’t Tell Mama Comedy presents a special edition of its weekly Friday night comedy hour with Don’t Tell Mama Comedy All-Stars. Featuring celebrated comics Nancy Witter, Clayton Fletcher, Sidney Myer and more! “Ever since I started booking comedy Friday nights at Don’t Tell Mama I’ve...

    Rip Torn, one of the leading stage actors of his generation and an Emmy Award-winner for his portrayal of the deliciously devious producer Artie on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” has died. Torn passed away peacefully this afternoon (Tuesday) at his home in Lakeville,...

  by Harry Haun   It’s getting so you can’t see the forest for the woods—or, rather, the Woods. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s scrambled storybook musical of 1987, Into the Woods, is still among the most performed in Sondheim’s canon. Maybe it’s never been away. Currently you...

  The phenomenon known as Charles Busch will return to Feinstein’s/54 Below for two encore performances of Native New Yorker on Tuesday July 23 and Wednesday July 24 at 7 pm.  Busch is a Tony Nominee and MAC Award Winner and this is the show that gets to the essence of this...

  By Tania Fisher   Described as a dark comedy, this actually very appealing and incredibly interesting play is so much more. Award winning playwright Zayd Dohrn, gives us a truly original and unique story in Reborning, opening at the SOHO Playhouse on July 12. Set in a doll maker’s...

  Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, July 9 for FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME, the highly-acclaimed improv sensation created by Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anthony Veneziale in 2004 before In The Heights and Hamilton.  For the first time on Broadway, this strictly...

  by Matt Smith   Iconic Music. New Arrangements. Huge orchestra. Such is the bold and ambitious promise that adorns the Broadway Sings flyer, and flashes against the projection screens as patrons pour in to witness the magic. For some, such a promise might be terrifyingly daunting,...

    By Ron Fassler   It’s hard to believe that Joanna Gleason made her Broadway debut forty-two years ago as a member of the original cast of Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart’s I Love My Wife. As Monica, the sexually curious girl-next-door, she displayed a strong singing voice...

      by Sandi Durell   The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook and Five Time Grammy Nominee Michael Feinstein will be back at his namesake, Feinstein’s/54 Below, with a brand new show August 6 thru 23 at 7 pm.  He’ll be highlighting a special tribute to...

      WHATEVER YOUR PLANS ARE FOR THIS HOLIDAY TIME . . .  BAR-B-QUE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS – TRAVEL – A DAY AT THE BEACH – SOME PEACE AND QUIET TIME . . . MAKE IT A GOOD ONE!   REMEMBER THAT KINDNESS, RESPECT AND SHARING LOVE IS WHAT WILL MAKE LIFE...

    by Marcina Zaccaria   Going back in time makes us think.  In the dreary months between 2007 and 2008, a married couple suffers.  On stage, a shiny bathtub, a toilet, and a sink accompany the dream of a finished, built-in bookshelf in an apartment in Castle Green, a building...

  by Harry Haun   A BEELINE TO BROADWAY: Don’t look now, but the next Broadway season is already off and running. Bolstered by all but The Times’ review, Atlantic Theater Company is now shopping around for a suitable Main Stem home for its current Off-Broadway play-in-residence, The...

    By Tania Fisher   The reputable NYC acting school, The Simon Studio, now in its 41st year, presented its Annual Shakespeare’s Bard at the Bar at The Players in Gramercy Park on Friday June 28th. This fun packed, joyous, and high spirited event stood true to its name sake,...

    By Sandi Durell   When you’re in the presence of the Great Diva, be assured you’re in for a Diva Hug, an AHC signature. And going to the movies jazz style employed a hug in every song. Ann is not only one of the great jazz interpreters, both vocally and on piano, but I...

        By Samuel L. Leiter   David Cale’s We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time has a very long title for a play that takes such a short amount of time to perform. Every minute of this 90-minute solo piece, however, is used to full capacity. Employing both song...

  By Sandi Durell   It’s especially comforting to know that there are young performers who care so passionately about the past history of American music and the iconic artists who changed the profile of musical eras. These great names forever remain as beacons to whole new...

        By Samuel L. Leiter   Brenda Maddox died on June 16. I begin with that news because it eerily coincides with the production of Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, a mesmerizing one-woman play now playing in the Irish Rep’s tiny W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre....

    By Brian Scott Lipton   The trucker. The waitress. The teacher. The customer service specialist. The everyday lives of America’s working class come vividly to life – in monologue and song – in the revised version of “Working,” the 1978 musical based on Studs Terkel’s...

  By Brian Scott Lipton   Much like its mouthful of a title, “Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise,” now premiering at the massive McCourt Theatre at The Shed at Hudson Yards, is a lot to take in. In under two hours, the internationally renowned director Chen Shi-Zheng (“The Peony Pavillion”)...

  By Maryann Lopinto     Judy Garland passed away 50 years ago on June 22, 1969 at the age of 47. It was 12 days after her birthday which was June 10.  If she was still with us she would have been 95 years old. A celebration commemorating the 50 years of her passing was...

    By Myra Chanin   One of the best things about New York is that you can intend to perform a mitzvah, a commanded-by-God virtuous deed, by stumbling into a ratty 40-seat you-should-excuse-the-expression theater for the next to last showing of a three-day run of a play with a...

  By Myra Chanin   Friday night, as I was strolling toward Don’t Tell Mama for the latest edition of the multi-annual-award-winning Ricky Ritzel’s Broadway, I spied Madame R. catching a pre-performance breath on the stairs of an adjacent brownstone. Ricky was not attired in his...

  by Matt Smith   “As someone with a lot of friends who do cabaret shows, I know what it takes to see a friend’s cabaret show.” Sure, her hubby Santino may be captivating audiences in his nightly Tony-winning turn in Tootsie, but Monday night, it was clear all eyes were on comic...

  By Sandi Durell   The Theater Pizzazz mantra: “If music was everywhere and in everyone’s life, the world would surely be a better place” . . . Summer is here! The rain has taken a hiatus (hopefully for a long while) and the cabarets and clubs are busy – performers are...

    The magnificent production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish donated every seat in the Stage 42 Theater to refugees from around the globe in celebration and in honor of World Refugee Day on June 20. The afternoon was filled with events including Gillian Laub with...

By Ron Fassler   For myself (and for many as well), Andrea McArdle will always be the young star who brought that certain something extra to the title role of Annie in its original Broadway production, an achievement no other moppet has ever quite matched in any of the subsequent...

    By Sandi Durell   Being a part of the 15th Anniversary Party at the Consulate General of the Russian Federation was an eye opener into what good relationships between Russia and the United States could be on multi levels. Sponsored by Time Out Weekly TV Magazine on NTV...

    By Myra Chanin   Goldie Dver has an abundance of attributes that are, even individually, prerequisites for stardom. She’s talented, flexible, endearing, passionate, resourceful, honest, collaborative, sexy and unselfconscious. She also looks very much at home on stage. In...

The Off Broadway Alliance, an organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals, has announced the winners of the 9th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and not-for-profit productions that opened Off Broadway...

  by Matt Smith   “We leave our judgment at the gate / there’s no fight and no debate / the only thing we hate is hate…” Such is the expressive and resonant motto of Camp Morning Wood, the vibrant, naturalistic setting of the show that bears its name, now playing at the Peter Jay...

  By Sandi Durell   Unless you’re a diehard baseball fan who loves delving into the history of the sport from every angle, you’re probably not aware of Toni Stone, born Marcenia Lyle Stone in West Virginia in 1921, who moved with her family to St.Paul, Minnesota where she...

        By Samuel L. Leiter   The Mint Theater, which prides itself on unearthing worthy but forgotten plays, has dug very deeply to come up with The Mountains Look Different, a 1948 play first staged at Dublin’s Gate Theatre by the colorful Irish...

  by Cathy Hammer   In a small mountain settlement above a city in the South, three elders — Alberta, Oscar, and Lillie Mae — along with the daughter and grandchild of a fourth — Virginia who has temporarily left to seek medical attention at a rehabilitation center — are enjoying a...

  By Brian Scott Lipton   “Since day one of this show, we thought wouldn’t it be great to get a real singer-songwriter to play Carole King, and now, five-and-a-half-years later, we finally did it,” said “Beautiful” producer Mike Bosner to the crowd, just before introducing pop...

    by Sandi Durell   Charlie Romo is only 23 years old but claims that his greatest influence has always been the legendary singer, songwriter, musician and actor Bobby Darin.  Although Darin passed away in 1973—23 years before Romo was even born—Romo feels a great connection...

        By Samuel L. Leiter   Gordon Dahlquist’s [Veil Widow Conspiracy] is a dramatically veiled construct embedding three stories, one within the other, like a play-within-a-play-within-a play, or, more appropriately, a set of Chinese boxes. Produced at Next...

  by Marcina Zaccaria   Life upon the wicked stage rivals an ego-driven world of film and video production that combines top name talent with nervous newbies, believing in the worth of the human actor, above all. What elapses over 75 minutes in Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson is a...

  Favorites of stage and screen took to the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center last night to help The 24 Hour Plays mark its 24th anniversary with an intimate production of The 24 Hour Musicals. Erich Bergen, Jessica Hecht, Alex Moffat, Bonnie...

        By Ron Fassler   When the actor-playwright-director Charles Ludlam died of AIDS in 1987 (at the age of only thirty-six), New York lost one of its most treasured resources. For twenty years, his Ridiculous Theatrical Company contained a group of fellow artists...

  by Harry Haun   One fine February day in 1976, best-buds Carol Kane and Sylvia Miles decided to dine at the Russian Tea Room where celebs normally went to be seen. Midway through the meal, Sylvia excused herself to call her agent and returned with the breaking news that her...

    by Alix Cohen     “Think of me as your spirit guide for tonight…” begins host Deborah Grace Winer. “The world was always chaotic-enter magic…” ‘An intriguing premise. Jenn Gambatese, Sydney James Harcourt, Matthew Scott, and Linda Purl open with a tandem “Pure...

  By Myra Chanin   I spent the winter and most of the spring in Florida with my husband. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Culture in Florida? I’ve been to the most upscale theater companies in Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Miami, and to put it kindly, their programs are mostly...

  by Hazen Cuyler   Small or no budget theatre often creates amazing, pure work. But the vast majority of these Off-Off Broadway productions operate under not-so-ideal conditions and sometimes the limitations of a truncated budget and abbreviated rehearsal period, mixed with...

          by Carole di Tosti   Square Go, presented by Francesca Moody Productions in association with Seared Productions, is a wild ride through adolescent angst, self-hatred, inferiority and macho stereotypes. In its New York premiere at 59E59 Theaters the...

      By Ron Fassler   I don’t have much experience seeing Russian actors perform on stage in their native language, frequently presented in something by Chekhov or another brilliant, but long-dead dramatist. Though when I do, I wind up marveling at the originality and...

            By JK Clarke   As unorthodox as it may be to begin a review of a Shakespeare play with such a claim, the fact is you’ll probably never see better dancing in a Shakespeare play than in the Public Theater’s current production of Much Ado About...

  by Myra Chanin   Mazel Tov Manhattan! The Award-Winning Adrienne Haan, the international star hailed as The First Lady of Cabaret and an entertainer of the highest caliber is presently ensconced at The Triad Theater as 2019’s Resident Artiste, a word that should always be spelled...