Lobby Hero
Helen Hayes Theater

Jeff is a “fuck up.” Kicked out of the Navy and in debt, he’s living in one room that he rents from his brother. For the last nine months, he’s been working as a security guard (not a doorman, which he clearly explains). He’s funny and garrulous and working the graveyard shift from 12-8 am. William, his boss (Brian Tyree Henry of TV’s “Atlanta”), calls Jeff a “joker.” He’s also the central character in the revival of Lobby Hero by Ken Lonergan at the Helen Hayes Theater. Jeff is somewhat lonely, so when anyone else shows up, he talks almost nonstop.

Elyse Trevers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Fantasticks, The
Tenth Street Theater

When Broadway producers dream at night, one can perhaps imagine what sweeps through their thoughts: “A hit show!” It’s no surprise that some might envy the success enjoyed by The Fantasticks. It’s the only musical in U.S. history that can claim an Off-Broadway run of 42 years (not to mention the Off-Broadway revival, which ran from 2006-2017).

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Iceman Cometh, The
Bernard B. Jacobs Theater

It is 1912 on the seedy West Side of Manhattan where director George C. Wolfe's artistic staging of The Iceman Cometh presents the regulars at Harry Hope's saloon frozen in drunken stupors. They had been waiting for hours for Hickey to arrive and liven things up. Surely when Theodore Hickman (Hickey), a traveling salesman arrives, it will be as usual, drinks all around and lively stories from the road. But tonight Hickey is late and everyone is tired of waiting.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Pygmalion
Sheen Center

Remember Pygmalion? It’s My Fair Lady without the Ascot Gavotte. If you share the English-speaking world’s fondness for George Bernard Shaw’s clever and witty version of the mythology, you will admit that his most adored comedy more than holds its own even without Lerner and Loewe’s “loverly” score, and that the cherished classic hold up beautifully even with a healthy dose of cross-dressing-double casting and an unorthodox, if expediently workable staging by the always adventurous Off Broadway Bedlam company.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Three Tall Women
Golden Theater

None of the disaffection for a series of Edward Albee’s plays that followed years of success and great acclaim was deemed relevant when Three Tall Women (premiered in Vienna in 1991) eventually opened in the U.S. at the Vineyard Theater in 1994 and featured memorable performances by Myra Carter and Marian Seldes. It re-awakened in us what we already knew: Albee is once again to be acknowledged as one of the best American playwrights of the 20th century with this play winning for him his third Pulitzer Prize.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Carousel
Imperial Theater

Nothing is going to change the fact that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Carousel is unrelentingly sentimental, occasionally maudlin and even at times corny. But when you futz around too much with this gloriously melodic 73-year-old musical drama, you are asking for trouble. In what turns out to be a misbegotten re-envisioning of it directed by Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Justin Peck, the classic musical fails almost irretrievably in its effort to be either an uplifting or wonderfully romantic experience.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Shakespeare Jubilee, A
Bram Goldsmith Theater

A Shakespeare Jubilee!, a one-night celebration of The Bard’s work, was recently mounted at The Wallis with 34 actors and singers filling the evening with excerpts from plays and sonnets that have become mainstays of the English language. The night, which was narrated by Ioan Gruffudd and Joely Fisher, also included “Songs for Shakespeare” by John Dankworth and Cleo Laine (sung by Sherry Williams) and an aria from the opera “Macbeth,” (sung by Oscar ZC. Zhang).

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Saint Joan
Samuel J. Friedman Theater

Condola Rashad is an African-American woman onstage with a company of men, most of them white. This works perfectly with the sense of isolation and uniqueness felt by Saint Joan. She is like no one else. A girl from a rural community, she feels compelled by the voices of Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine to drive the English from France, and have the dauphin (Adam Chanler-Berat) crowned at Rheims. At first, few believe her, but when they meet Joan, they must admit that she has something special.

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Twelfth Night
Classic Stage Company

There is not a better way to celebrate the holidays than a visit to the Classic Stage Company where they are hosting the Fiasco Theater’s entertaining and very funny production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will. If you are wondering what play to introduce your child to the Bard right now, this one is it.

Every now and then there is that rare confluence of conception, acting, directing, and in this instance, a lot of extra songs and (with no apologies) silly cavorting that adds up to sheer pleasure for two and one half hours.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Angels in America
Neil Simon Theater

New York is the recipient of the stunning and superb revival of the two-part masterpiece Angels in America from London where Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play actually began a quarter century ago before it took Broadway by storm in 1993. Repeating their roles in this glorious new National Theater production are Nathan Lane as Roy Cohen and Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter. The king-size play is being presented as a unit with its two lengthy parts staged in consecutive evenings or with a matinee and evening option.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Always...Patsy Cline
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Stackner Cabaret

The life of Patsy Cline, was brilliant and all too brief. Having survived two car crashes, at the age of 30 her small plane went down in bad weather while puddle hopping to a gig in Nashville. Against advice to stay the night the pilot, a member of her entourage, who was not trained in flying by instruments, insisted on taking off with tragic consequences.

Given the success of her career as a torchy, crossover country/pop artist, one may only imagine what might have been.

Charles Giuliano
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Travesties
American Airlines Theater

Tom Stoppard is one of the most polarizing figures in modern theater. Those who love the playwright call him a genius, a master of the English language, a rare wit. Those who hate him say he’s pretentious, boring, a magnet for all the members of the audience with a need to announce to one and all “I get it!

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Ameryka
Kirk Douglas Theater

Presented by Center Theater Group as part of its second annual Block Party festival, Ameryka digs deep into the twin history of the USA and Poland to make a bold statement about mankind’s struggle for democracy and freedom over the centuries.

Originally developed and produced  by the Critical Mass Performance Group (headed by Nancy Keystone) and brought back for this encore production by CTG, Ameryka is agit-prop theater at its best.  Nine actors, all of whom play multiple roles, impersonate such historical characters as Thomas Jefferson, Tadeusz Kosciuszko,

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Frost/Nixon
Redtwist Theater

"I shall be your fiercest adversary. The limelight can shine upon only one of us," proclaims the invisible foe on the eve of the decisive battle, his voice emerging from the darkness as the young warrior who will face him on the morrow listens in stunned trepidation.

This isn't Macbeth at Dunsinane or Richard III on Bosworth Field, however, nor will the duel commencing at dawn be swordplay to the death.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Lyric Theater

No doubt about it: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a smash, a major event, a sure thing, which will run forever. How could it be any less? Potter fans are legion, and fiercely devoted to the lauded wizard and his magical world. The stats are undeniably impressive: 500 million books sold worldwide and nearly eight billion dollars brought in from the movies. $68 million was raised to put on the production, the most ever for a non-musical. The Lyric theater was refurbished for the expected infinite run to the tune of $33 million.

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Soul Man
WBBT Theater

As a historical jukebox musical, Soul Man brings us lessons of the part soul music played in national political and social movements through the developmental life of hip-hop and effects on current hit music.  With Nate Jacobs and his Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe as the teachers, “school” is both dynamic and engaging.

The set-up:  lively young Breezy Wheezy (Derric Gobourne, Jr.) brings his golden-clad self into the studio of media star Diamond (experienced singer and speaker Ariel Blue).

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Love Trade
La MaMa

The pre-show set of The Hess Collective’s production of Elizabeth Hess’ play Love Trade, at La MaMa, is stunning: when we enter the theater, we see something shrouded under white gauze, in a white spotlight, with dozens of white balloons on the floor, all on an otherwise unadorned stage with a black floor and backdrop. When the show begins, that something begins to move and gradually reveals itself to be actress, but she removes the gauze so subtly (by the lower layers, I think) that the revelation is gradual.

Steve Capra
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
It Came from Beyond
St. Luke's Theater

What we do without science fiction? It keeps our imagination sharp even when it’s not on-the-mark predictive. And we can see the imaginative value even in the sci-fi of the past.

It Came from Beyond is a musical frolic through the sci-fi of the 1950’s, produced by John Lant, Cornell Christian and ICFB Productions, at St. Luke’s Theater. It’s not so much a send-up as a comic musical interpretation, with a book by Cornell Christianson and with music and lyrics by Stephen M. Schwartz and Norman E. Thalheimer.

Steve Capra
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Miss You Like Hell
Public Theater

Miss You Like Hell, at The Public Theater, is topical and timely, a musical about a Mexican resident of the US who’s requesting a stay of deportation (it’s also called a “cancellation of removal,” as if the individual were an object). But the play presents in its foreground not a political issue but a genuine personal drama. If it’s uneven, its concept is solid.

The character with the looming deportation hearing in Los Angeles is Beatriz.

Steve Capra
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Martyrs
La MaMa

Romana Soutus’s play Martyrs, at La MaMa, presents nine women in a room with two king-sized beds and a garish sort of expressionist Madonna on the wall. The walls are chicken wire, like a cage.

This is a secluded cult, with three leaders whom the program calls cats, and six followers whom the program calls kittens. They’re all waiting be “lifted,” living in the eternal present. “There’s no before. There’s only now,” one says.

Steve Capra
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Elephant Man, The
Crighton Theater

Fans of the historic Crighton Theater in Conroe, Texas, are well-acquainted with the high-quality work of its resident company, Stage Right Productions, all under the guidance of producers, Carolyn & Steven Wong. The company often produces crowd-pleasing comedies and musicals, but that is not always the case. Consider the present exception to that rule with the current run of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man. Winner of the 1979 Tony Award for Best Play, this dark and very serious play is about as far from musical comedy as dramatic theatre can take us.

David Dow Bentley
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
My Fair Lady
Lincoln Center - Vivian Beaumont Theater

No doubt about it, Lauren Ambrose is the fairest of them all. The new production of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center sparkles with a warmth and vivacity that make this beloved classic seem fresh again. As Eliza Doolittle, Ambrose is the dynamic center of the piece, her peaches and cream complexion and bright ginger hair the outward manifestation of her passion and verve. The stage seems to light up with her presence, and in her caramel ball gown, she is positively dazzling. Long admired for her acting, her singing voice is a pure delight.

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
My Son the Waiter
Colony Theater

Brad Zimmerman’s My Son the Waiter is stand-up comedy, not a proper play. But it’s being presented in a theatre, not a nightclub or auditorium, so I suppose it qualifies for review in these pages.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Songs for a New World
Redeemer Lutheran Church

As director Tim Backes so aptly notes in the program for Songs for a New World, “the unknown can be frightening.” Thankfully, those who braved the unknown to see this latest production by newish theater company All-In Production were in for a rare experience.

Songs for a New World is somewhat of a revue by Jason Robert Brown. This was Brown’s first show; it debuted in 1995 at the Off-Broadway WPA Theater. The show is a loosely knit assemblage of about 15 songs that Brown had composed for other shows and projects.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Sting, The
Paper Mill Playhouse

Brace yourself Broadway! A Big Brawny Musical may be heading your way.

Jeannie Lieberman
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Much Ado About Nothing
Selby Botanical Gardens

Deceit and deception, rather than “much ado about nothing” are, as scholar Bertrand Evans wrote, at the core of Shakespeare’s comedy. Their effects, though, are overwhelmed by Asolo Conservatory students getting down to extensive comic business in an outdoor, in-the-round production. Director Jonathan Epstein has seen to it that as much as possible feels contemporary yet textually true. Not bad.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Our Town
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Quadracci Powerhouse

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater is no stranger to the classic Our Town, written in the 1930s by Madison, Wis.-born Thornton Wilder. This production is the fourth that the Milwaukee Rep has staged in its 64-year history.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Ghosts of War
The Den

At the very outset, our narrator warns us, "I am G.I. Joe Schmo. They will not make movies about me. There will be no video games revolving around my involvement in the war. When people write nonfiction books about the Iraq war, I will not be in them."

He's probably right, too. SPC Schmo, you see, is a United States Army reservist (a "weekend warrior" to his active-duty counterparts).

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Doubt
Milwaukee Chamber Theater - Cabot Theater

Milwaukee Chamber Theater ends its current season by entering the uncertain world of John Patrick Stanley’s Doubt: A Parable. While the shock factor of priests abusing children has somewhat subsided in the more recent wake of school shootings, there is still much to appreciate in Shanley’s well-crafted play.

Doubt premiered at the Manhattan Theater Club in New York in 2004 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2005. It takes a hard-hitting look at the Catholic Church, American society, sexism, racism, and education.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Mean Girls
August Wilson Theater

Mean Girls is big, loud, splashy, and fun. I sat next to a high school principal from Palm Springs, and he informed me that not only had he seen the movie dozens of times, but also that the kids at his school knew the dialogue by heart. So, it’s best that the play faithfully follows the film. Cady Heron (Erika Henningsen) has been home schooled all her life. She and her parents have just relocated from Africa to Illinois.

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Lobby Hero
Helen Hayes Theater

Wrapped in hard-boiled dialogue and more laughs than you'd expect, Lobby Hero, Kenneth Lonergan's exploration of sexual and racial discrimination, the legal system, and pondering ideals versus rules are as relevant today as it was in its 2001 premiere. In Second Stage's Broadway inauguration at the Hayes Theater, a snappy, first-rate cast play flawed people coping with the pressures of real life and intersecting in the lobby of a grade-D apartment building.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Carousel
Imperial Theater

There is nothing like live theater. And every once in a while, we get to experience an unforgettable moment. Last night, near the very end of the performance of Carousel, there was a disturbance in the house. The actors left the stage, the curtain came down, and everyone in the audience wondered what had happened and how the actors would react. Renee Fleming was just about to sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” one of the most challenging and beloved songs in musical history.

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Significant Other
Geffen Playhouse - Gil Cates Theater

Significant Other is a group portrait of four friends, all in their twenties, who are looking for love in this, the second decade of the 21st century. Sounds like the setup for a sitcom—and that’s just what much of the play seemed to be, what with its kooky characters, gag-filled dialogue, and fast-paced action in a variety of upscale, urban settings.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Down the Rocky Road and All the Way to Bedlam
Nox Arca Studio

Whether exemplifying the technological utopias of the 1890s, the space operas of the 1930s, the social commentaries of the 1960s or the cyberpunk nihilism of the 1990s, all science fiction must mirror its own cultural context or risk its viewers wasting valuable time orienting themselves within its dramatic universe, instead of heeding its author's lesson.

The premise for D.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
I and You
Next Act Theater

A pair of teens find friendship while completing a school assignment in I and You, an award-winning play by Lauren Gunderson. The production is by Milwaukee’s Next Act Theater, which has a long association with Gunderson. In fact, is a way of closing the circle that began with the start of this season. Next Act won critical acclaim last fall for producing another Gunderson play: Silent Sky. Both productions were directed by David Cescarini, Next Act’s producing artistic director.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Hamlet
The Broad Stage

Bedlam is a New York-based company specializing in speed-read versions of the classics. Having won plaudits a few years ago for its go-go production of Hamlet (done on alternate nights with Shaw’s Saint Joan), the company has taken to the road with it, including a two-week run in Santa Monica at The Broad Stage.

Not only does Bedlam race through Shakespeare’s classic text, it does it with a stripped-down cast of four, Aubie Merrylees, Aundria Brown, Kahil Garcia and Sam Massaro.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Children of a Lesser God
Studio 54

Lauren Ridloff is a mime, a dancer, an enchanted being who is impossible not to watch at all times. When she signs as Sarah, the deaf woman who refuses to speak like those in the hearing world, she reveals a language full of animation, emotion, and grace. Her face, hands, and entire body vividly describe what she wants to get across. Enter James Leeds, who has been hired to teach verbal speech at the school for the deaf where Sarah is employed as a maid. As played by former “Dawson’s Creek” matinee idol Joshua Jackson, he’s charming, handsome, and driven.

Michall Jeffers
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Honor Killing
Florida Studio Theater - Gompertz

For the world premiere of Honor Killing, Florida Studio Theatre has brought a universal cause to the stage via globe spanning technology. Through videos, projections, cell phone and skype transmissions, the audience can even expand to examine a mortal incident in Pakistan the like of which affects too many worldwide. Since mainly women suffer such ritual deaths, a feminist journalist takes on professional and personal risks to break a story that might help her get the custom buried.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Top Girls
Studio Theater

Renaissance Theaterworks is indeed “Top Girl” among Milwaukee’s professional theater companies. It is a woman-founded, woman-run group that is celebrating its 25th season. Over the years, Renaissance has won numerous awards and grants. Renaissance has saved the best for the end of its current season, closing with Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls.

Seen by this reviewer almost 30 years ago at New York’s Public Theater, Top Girls hasn’t lost its punch – or its humor. During the current #metoo movement, the play seems timelier than ever.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
April 2018
Gloria
Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts - Cook Theater

In a Manhattan magazine office in the 2010s, a group of Millennials are anything but the editorial assistants they’ve been hired to be. They banter more than they write. They flippingly or antagonistically cut into each other’s conversation more than anything they edit for their precarious publication. They obviously hate their lives and maybe each other. Gloria’s different. She actually does something about both office and inhabitants.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2018

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