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The Siegel Column
Musical Revivals: Purists versus Radicals

Musical Revivals: Purists versus Radicals

Musical Revivals: Purists Versus Radicals - Where to Draw the Line?     By Barbara & Scott Siegel     We didn’t used to have a big hubbub when a musical revival hit the boards on Broadway. Sure, a song might be added or dropped, a revision/cut...

The Siegel Column

The Siegel Column

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   The Confession of Lily Dare - Another Charles Busch Comic Masterpiece!   Charles Busch puts the amp in camp; his shows spark with comic electricity, lighting up stages with bright creative surprise. And his latest...

Look at What’s Been Happening . . .

Look at What’s Been Happening . . .

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   We have not been writing this column for awhile, due in large part to Scott’s major Citibike accident that put him in the hospital for 19 days with a six month recovery period. That is not to say, however, that we have not...

Theater on the East Side Is Alive and Well

Theater on the East Side Is Alive and Well

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   Broadway is the destination for the vast majority of people who come to New York City for the theater. Of course, theater lovers with more time, more courage, and often with more discernment, seek out the plays and musicals...

Diversity on Broadway: A Fresh Look

Diversity on Broadway: A Fresh Look

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel     Last year we wrote a column about the significant increase in the number of new shows on Broadway that featured Latin and Afro-American casts. This year, aside from Once On This Island, something different but...

Nathan Lane is Monumental in Angels in America

Nathan Lane is Monumental in Angels in America

  by Barbara and Scott Siegel   When the history of contemporary American theater is written, Nathan Lane will surely dominate in any chapters about our actors — and he’ll dominate in the chapter about musical theater actors just as much as he’ll soar above...

The Siegel Column – Sending a Message

The Siegel Column – Sending a Message

Sending a Message: From The Band’s Visit to Jerry Springer: The Opera         By Barbara & Scott Siegel   There is a famous quote, usually attributed to the famous Hollywood film director Frank Capra, who said, “If you want to send a...

The Serious Side of Gerard Alessandrini

The Serious Side of Gerard Alessandrini

  The Serious Side of Gerard Alessandrini (or) Why Did Our Most Hilarious Musical Theater Parodist Conceive and Direct a Show Devoted to the Music of Maury Yeston?     By Barbara & Scott Siegel   When you think of Gerard Alessndrini, you think...

The Siegel Column – A Look Back at Some Summer Highlights

The Siegel Column – A Look Back at Some Summer Highlights

Songbook Summit, Charolais, Van Gogh’s Ear, and Prince of Broadway       By Barbara & Scott Siegel     In a new season that is, so far, more noteworthy for what is closing rather than for what is opening, we look to the mostly rare and...

The Siegel Column – Tony Talk and More

The Siegel Column – Tony Talk and More

Some Tony Talk Plus A Look at The Inspector General   Come From Away (Jenn Colella) Photo: Matthew Murphy   By Barbara & Scott Siegel     The last thing you want to read is yet another column of Tony predictions by people who are no better at...

The Siegel Column on Christy Altomare

The Siegel Column on Christy Altomare

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   This Season’s Breakout Star Discovery…   Not every season boasts a breakout star, but when it happens, there is never any doubt about it. Watching Christy Altomare, who plays the title character in the big budget...

The Siegel Column – Homegrown Stars!

A Welcome New Trend on Broadway: Homegrown Stars!       By Barbara & Scott Siegel     It wasn’t long ago when it was much remarked upon that the musical Memphis had become a hit Broadway show without using either TV or movie stars as its...

The Siegel Column: Off Broadway the New Engine of Broadway!

The Siegel Column: Off Broadway the New Engine of Broadway!

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel   At the elegantly produced Lortel Awards on Sunday night, it was noted that two of the four Broadway musicals competing for Outstanding Musical Tony Awards this season, and three of the four Broadway plays competing...

The Siegel Column – Foaming at the Mouth

The Siegel Column – Foaming at the Mouth

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   Some Things You Should Know About This Theater Award Season…   The crazy theater awards game of who was snubbed and what was over-praised is now in full swing after the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Tony Awards...

The Siegel Column – Indecent & The Jewish Audience

The Siegel Column – Indecent & The Jewish Audience

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel In 1964 Fiddler on the Roof opened the floodgates for Jewish related fare on Broadway. It’s not that there weren’t Jewish plays and musicals on Broadway before – consider shows as specific as Bagels & Yox (1951) and Milk...

The Siegel Column – The Theatrical Elite

The Siegel Column – The Theatrical Elite

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel   Theatrical Elite: Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole, John Leguizamo, Harvey Fierstein, Kevin Kline…They’re Back!   As we head toward the end of the 2016-17 theater season, never quite knowing if the waterfall of...

The Siegel Column – The Power of Expectations

The Siegel Column – The Power of Expectations

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel   The power of expectations: Church & State and The Glass Menagerie   The way we react to a play depends a great deal upon our expectations. Lower the bar enough and a show can seem great compared to what you...

The Siegel Column Talks Jack Cummings III

The Siegel Column Talks Jack Cummings III

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel   The Most Talented and Consistently Innovative, and Entertaining Director Working Off-Broadway: Jack Cummings, III   Play after play, and season after season, when you step back and look at the Off Broadway shows...

The Siegel Column – Public Theater’s Tony Trifecta

The Siegel Column – Public Theater’s Tony Trifecta

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   Sweat Might Give The Public Theater the Tony Trifecta   Back in the day, The Public Theater earned its place in the theatrical mainstream when, in 1968, Hair made its way from its downtown stage to Broadway. That...

The Siegel Column – When Truth Enhances Fiction

The Siegel Column – When Truth Enhances Fiction

When Truth Enhances Fiction: Theater Based on True Stories…     By Barbara & Scott Siegel     If the true story upon which the new Broadway musical Come From Away had been made up out of whole cloth, it would be consigned to the category of...

The Siegel Column: Death in the Theater

The Siegel Column: Death in the Theater

Death in the Theater: Everybody & Wakey, Wakey         By Barbara & Scott Siegel     With the recent passing of the Signature Theatre’s James Houghton, the company he founded – and some of the people he left behind – have turned...

The Siegel Column – The Lesson of the Object Lesson…

The Siegel Column – The Lesson of the Object Lesson…

    By Barbara & Scott Siegel       For all its awards, glowing reviews, and standing ovations at night, the secret truth about The Object Lesson at New York Theatre Workshop is that it is slow, tedious, and boring. At 100 minutes, it...

The Siegel Column – New Theater & Theaters

The Siegel Column – New Theater & Theaters

By Barbara & Scott Siegel   The British called their working class theater “Kitchen Sink Drama.” One is tempted to call the new American play created by the Neo-Futurists, “Everything Except The Kitchen Sink Drama” because in a brisk 90 minutes of playful,...

The Siegel Column: The Importance of Failure

The Siegel Column: The Importance of Failure

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel     The theatrical season is well under way, and many of our colleagues are already in a big sweat over the plethora of plays they are obligated to see. So far, however, the Summer and early Fall have not yielded a big...

The Siegels Make Their Tony Award Predictions

The Siegels Make Their Tony Award Predictions

  The Siegel Column By Barbara & Scott Siegel   Our Tony Award Predictions (plus who should win):     Best Play The Humans It will win. It should win – because it’s the best play of the year, by far! That it happens to be an American play makes...

The Siegel Column – Greatness? Two Plays

The Siegel Column – Greatness? Two Plays

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel   Greatness? Two Plays: The Father & The Humans   While musicals have historically accounted for approximately ninety percent of theater ticket sales during the modern Broadway era, the theatrical drama (with rare...

The Siegel Column – Year of the Musical

The Siegel Column – Year of the Musical

  By Barbara & Scott Siegel     It’s rather remarkable that in a season in which everyone knows that Hamilton is the odds-on favorite to sweep the Tony’s in most of the major creative categories, that there are so many other musicals choosing to...

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