All tagged Oklahoma!

"West Side Story" will now open on February 20th; "To Kill a Mockingbird" will play a special free performance at Madison Square Garden on February 26th for 18,000 students; Daniel Fish will premiere a new production of Frank Loesser's 1956 musical "The Most Happy Fella" at the Bard SummerScape Festival; 2019 Broadway grosses were 3.7% below the record set in 2018, but attendance reached a record 90.51%; Greta Gerwig is writing a new musical that will feature tap dance; RIP composer Allee Willis, playwright Pamela Payton-Wright, composer Jerry Herman, and production designer Peter Larkin

FEATURE: Top 10 of 2019

By my count, I’ve attended 234 performances of theatre, dance, music, opera, and cabaret during 2019.  Out of a field that large, it’s hard to pick just ten, but nevertheless, here are my top ten (ok, eleven) favorite shows I saw in 2019.

REVIEW: “Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation”

After a five year hiatus, the Broadway parody revue “Forbidden Broadway” is back with a new edition that makes fun of Broadway shows, actors, and personalities through sketches that satirize the form.  Mostly funny, this iteration is undercut by a tinge of bitterness and resentment toward shifting cultural mores and trends on Broadway.  But, in the end, it’s still the same scrappy, low-budget comedy revue that’s been playing, off and on, since 1982. 

REVIEW: Ross Golan’s “The Wrong Man” at MCC Theater

Joshua Henry stars in “The Wrong Man”, a buoyantly rendered original new noir musical about a man falsely accused of murder that is the brain child of multi-platinum pop music singer, songwriter, and producer Ross Golan.  A narrative song-cycle set in an intimate, concert-like atmosphere, this musical gets rhythmically rote, and suffers for a lack of specificity, but is nevertheless saved by a great score, fluid choreography, and Mr. Henry’s titanic performance.

"Frankie and Johnny" closing a month early; "Beautiful" will close on October 27th and "Waitress" will close on January 5th; Jeremy O. Harris' "Slave Play" will play a 17 week run at the Golden Theatre; Robert Schenkkan's "The Great Society" will play a 12 week run at Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theatre; starry productions of "Little Shop of Horrors" slated for Off-Broadway and Pasadena Playhouse; cast announced for Ivo van Hove's upcoming "West Side Story"; "Fairview" extends to August 11th; "What the Constitution Means to Me" recoups; Jack Viertel will retire as artistic director of the annual Encores! at City Center; Paul McCartney has written a musical adaptation of "It's a Wonderful Life"; RIPHugh Southern, former executive director of TDF and co-conceiver of the TKTS booth in 1973

"Hadestown" tops the Outer Critics Circle Awards; David Bryne headed to Broadway with "American Utopia"; "My Fair Lady" to close July 7th; "Oklahoma!" and "Tootsie" to tour; City Center Encores! Off Center's "Working" cast announced; "Back to the Future" musical coming to the West End; Andrew Lloyd Webber previews his “Cinderella”; Elton John and Jake Shears working on a Tammy Faye Bakker bio-musical; "The Lion King" welcomes its one hundred millionth audience member; "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the highest grossing American play ever

Tony nominations and Drama Desk nominations; Laura Linney to star in "My Name is Lucy Barton"; "Oklahoma!", "What the Constitution Means to Me", and "Ink" extend; "To Kill a Mockingbird" recoups; "Bandstand" and "The Ferryman" to tour; "Rock of Ages" will return to New World Stages; New York Theatre Workshop season to include a stage version of the film "Sing Street"; "Beetlejuice" and “The Hello Girls” to record cast albums; Moliere in the Park; Rick Lyon's puppets from "Avenue Q" donated to the Smithsonian; Sarah Silverman's memoir "The Bedwetter" is being adapted as a stage musical; RIP Mark Medoff and Jo Loesser