Once Upon a One More Time Based on the music performed and recorded by Britney Spears Book by Jon Hartmere Directed and Choreographed by Keone & Mari Madrid Marquis Theatre May 25, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
Act 1 is a marvelous thrill ride for any fan of Britney Spears! The premise of story-time female characters getting a bit fed up with their role and treatment in their story – and starting a revolution is set up – and then the fun begins. We get to essentially match the best of Britney Spears to the stories we have known since childhood. Cinderella provides the best connections between pop music and story possible. Cinderella working away on the hearth to please her wicked mother becomes, “You Better Work Bitch.” Prince Charming becomes a “Womanizer” and certainly “Toxic”. THE moment that the Britney Springs song begins the audience is blown away by the connection. It is electric! AND the dancing is easily some of the best on the street!
The Collaboration Written by Anthony McCarten Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah Manhattan Theatre Club/Samuel J. Friedman Theatre January 6, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
This play is a somewhat fictionalized meeting between two famous painters, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. BUT before the play begins we are treated to a post show, live DJ mixing hits from the 70’s and it is loud. So loud that the young set of the audience was dancing in the aisles and the older set were cringed in their seats covering their ears – a risky move given the age of the audience; Now to the play
Leopoldstadt Written by Tom Stoppard Directed by Patrick Barber Longacre Theatre January 4, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
This was one tough tough chew. This was one play that I wished I could have read or, ideally, seen twice. There were just so many story lines; so many years covered; so many characters, with such rich; so many mathematic illusions, Zionist history, and commentary on modern art , AND poetic language that I was treading water trying to gather as much as I could. Leopoldstadt is a late career masterpiece likely Tom Stoppard’s plays as he is well in his 80’s ,and he spends so much time in making his plays. But this is one great exit play! The play is much like a kaleidoscope – taking us through a boisterous Christmas party in 1899, a Passover in 1990, and a farcical circumcision in 1924.
Ohio State Murders Written by Adrienne Kennedy Directed by Jenny Leon James Earl Jones Theatre December 29, 2022 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
I could watch Audra McDonald read the phone book and likely be moved by the whole experience. Everything she touches is full of humanity and such care. There is no wonder that she has racked up so many Tony awards. She really is that good. This play is tailored for emotional depth and vocal powers. The story is fictional and placed on the segregated campus of Ohio State University in the late 1940s. Adrienne Kennedy, the gifted playwright attended the school then, and her use of detail, from campus geography, the dorm-life racism, the day-in-day-out bias and outright hate experience makes this play one of the richest explorations of racism that Broadway has seen for awhile.
A Christmas Carol From Charles Dickens Adapted by Jefferson Mays, Susan Lyons, and Michael Arden Directed by Michael Arden Nederlander Theatre December 23, 2022 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
There is no better prep for the holidays than a good ‘ol go with Christmas Carol – and this is the best you will see in a good long time. Jefferson Mays rules the stage as the only actor for this 90 minute tour de forte. It is no wonder that he can hold the story and all of its moments and all of its characters. He proved that previously in his Tony awarded I Am My Own Wife. What was great here was to see Jefferson’s ability to snap and slide into all of the characters – – often holding conversations with himself – – each with a different vocal and physical choice.
