Buena Vista Leads Chita Rivera Noms

Buena Vista Social Club
leads nominations for the Chita Rivera Awards.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Buena Vista Social Club leads the Chita Rivera Awards nominations for outstanding dancing and choreography on stage and in film with citations for choreography, ensemble, and five of its dancers. The nominations were announced on April 29 and the awards will be presented on May 19 at NYU Skirball. 

The Awarding Committee consists of Sylviane Gold, chair, Gary Chryst, Robert LaFosse, Donna McKechnie, Wendy Perron, Stephanie Pope, and Lee Roy Reams.

Broadway Nominating Committee: Melinda Atwood, Caitlin Carter, Gary Chryst, Don Correia, Sandy Duncan, Peter Filichia, Dr. Louis Galli, Sylviane Gold, Jonathan Herzog, Robert La Fosse, Joe Lanteri, Donna McKechnie, Michael Milton, Mary Beth O’Connor, Wendy Perron, Stephanie Pope, Lee Roy Reams, Desmond Richardson, Andy Sandberg, and Randy Skinner

Film Nominating Committee: Chair: Jonathan C. Herzog, Steven Caras, Wilhelmina Frankfurt, Mary Beth O’Connor, and Andy Sandberg.

A complete list of the nominees follows:

B'way/Off-B'way Reviews: Stranger Things: The First Shadow; Real Women Have Curves; Becoming Eve

Louis McCartney in
Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

If you’ve been waiting for the must-see production of the Broadway season to justify plunking down your hard-earned bucks, wait no more. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, now at the Marquis after an Olivier-winning run in London, is the most spectacular, fun show on the Main Stem in many years and will scare the crap out of you. A working knowledge of the cult-status Netflix series upon which it is based is not necessary. The plot takes place before the streaming TV show begins and Kate Trefry’s intricate script stands on its own. (The original story is credited to Trefry, a writer and co-executive producer for the series; the Duffer Brothers who created the show and directed many of its episodes; and Jack Thorne, author of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, another London and Broadway smash based on a successful fantasy/sci-fi franchise.) 

Stephen Daldry and his co-director Justin Martin have staged the complex, absorbing story like a film with smoothly flowing scenes imparting vital information and thrills. But the real stars are the other-worldly special effects and illusions created by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, which rival anything you’ll see on Broadway including a horrifying invasion from another dimension. My theatergoing companion called this specific effect the new and better chandelier from Phantom of the Opera or the helicopter from Miss Saigon. I’m not going to list the more nerve-rattling and spine-shaking moments so as not to spoil your fun, but suffice it to say, look out for crashing battleships, monsters with no faces, and be prepared to scream if you’re afraid of spiders.

Louis McCartney in
Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Credit: Matthew Murphy and 
Evan Zimmerman

Loyal viewers of the show will recognize the basic narrative template. (Full disclosure: in preparation for reviewing Stranger Things, I attempted to binge the series in a few weeks, but I only got through the first two seasons and half of the third.) The seemingly humdrum little town of Hawkins, Indiana is beset with weird occurrences. In the series, it started with the disappearance of a young boy. In the play, pets turn up dead. Gradually, we discover that a dark, ominous parallel universe is bleeding into the bucolic hamlet and a newly arrived, introverted teen holds the key to the mystery. The series commences in Reagan’s 1980s America and, in each season, whatever calamity rises up is defeated by a gang of plucky, outsider adolescents with a few token grown-ups helping out. The play skips back a generation to 1959 and the familiar adults are now the adventurous teens. Both timelines are dominated by the menacing Dr. Brenner who heads a shadowy Deep State lab which is mixed up in every cuckoo conspiracy besetting Hawkins.

Norm Lewis to Announce DD Noms; Debra Messing, Titus Burgess to Host

Norm Lewis

Tony and Drama Desk nominee Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess), currently starring in an Off-Broadway revival of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, will announce the nominees for the 2024-25 Drama Desk Awards on NY-1 News on Wed. April 30 at 12:50PM with NY-1 anchor Rocco Vertuccio. The Tony nominations will be announced the next day on May 1. The DD awards will be presented on June 1 at NYU Skirball in a ceremony hosted by Debra Messing (Will and Grace, Shit. Meet. Fan.) and Titus Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Oh, Mary!).

Unlike the Tonys, the Drama Desks consider on, Off and Off-Off-Broadway productions in each of its multiple categories. (The Outer Critics Awards also combine on and Off, but not in all categories. They have separate categories for Best Play, Musical and performers.) Note: The nominees for the Chita Rivera Awards will be announced on April 29.

The awards will be voted on by members of the Drama Desk, about 100 theatre critics, editors, and reporters. The nominations are determined by the Nominating Committee which consists of Martha Wade Steketee, UrbanExcavations.com, chair; Linda Armstrong (Amsterdam News), Daniel Dinero (TheaterIsEasy), Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), Kenji Fujishima (freelance: Theatermania), Raven Snook (TDF Stages) and Charles Wright (ex officio). Wright and David Barbour are co-presidents of the Drama Desk. 

Debra Messing and Titus Burgess
will host the Drama Desk Awards.

The 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards are Executive Produced by Staci Levine and Jessica R. Jenen. For the first time, 100% of net proceeds from the Drama Desk Awards benefits the Entertainment Community Fund. Charles Wright and David Barbour are the co-Presidents of the Drama Desk.

As has been the case, all performance categories will be gender-free. The updated gender-free categories are: Outstanding Leading Performance in a Play, Outstanding Leading Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical. 

Each of these categories will have twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories and voters will cast two votes for each category. These categories will also have two winners each. If there is a tie, there may be more than two winners in a category. These rules were changed with the 2023 Awards. Additional details will be announced shortly.

Book Review: D.V.

(Bought with a gift card at Barnes and Noble) A delightful romp through the worlds of fashion and celebrity as Diana Vreeland, editor at Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and director of the costume collection at the Metropolitan Museum, reviews her storied life. This slim memoir reads like a monologue since she often addresses the reader as if we were right there in her apartment with her. You can just see her gesturing and pointing to objects. I suspect that editors George Plimpton and Christopher Hemphill sat down with her and told her to just start talking. Then they edited what she said into chapters. It reminded me of the solo play Full Gallop from 1996 in which Mary Louise Wilson played Vreeland and spoke to the audience as if we were guests. Vreeland knew everyone from Buffalo Bill to Jack Nicholson and offers enchanting anecdotes on Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (she's a bit too nice to the Nazi-sympathizing Duke), Clark Gable, Gypsy Rose Lee, the Kennedys, her boss at Harper's William Randolph Hearst, etc. She claims to have been in the same hotel when the Night of the Long Knives took place, got out of Paris just before the Nazis invaded, punched Swifty Lazar in the nose, and saw Charles Lindbergh flying over head as she picnicked. Whether these are true or not, it makes for a good story and a good read. Also advice on what to wear, how to do your nails, hair, shoes, food, etc. Like a chat with a divinely mad aunt. 

Death Is Alive with OCC Noms

Cole Escola and Conrad Ricamora
at the Museum of Broadway
announcing the OCC nominations.
The bag is by Louis Vitton.

Death Becomes Her, the Broadway musical based on the 1992 film comedy about a pair of death-defying duelling divas, topped the list for the Outer Critic Circle Awards with 12 nominations. The nominees were announced by Cole Escola and Conrad Ricamora of Oh, Mary! on April 25 at the Museum of Broadway. Both performers received nominations for Oh, Mary! last season during its Off-Broadway run and Escola won two. Maybe Happy Ending came in second with 9 nominations and Stranger Things: The First Shadow received the most nominations for a play with 7. 

There were also some surprising snubs. The star-heavy revival of Othello with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, Smash, The Last Five Years, and Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends were skunked with no nominations. The winners, voted on by the OCC, a group of critics, reporters, and editors writing for national media, will be announced on May 12 and the awards will be presented in a ceremony at the Lincoln Center NY Public Library for the Performing Arts on May 22. 

The Outer Critics Awards honor both on and Off-Broadway productions, some in separate categories and some together. Two seasons ago, the OCC eliminated gender considerations in its performing categories.

This year's ceremony marks the 75th anniversary of the organization's founding, when the first-ever awards were presented to T.S. Elliot's The Cocktail Party (Play), Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul, and performers Sheila Guyse (Lost in the Stars) and Daniel Reed (Come Back, Little Sheba). The Outer Critics Circle will commemorate the milestone this spring, with a special 75th Anniversary Cocktail Reception to honor this year’s nominees, past winners, and its members. The reception will be held this Monday, April 28, at West Bank Café.

Jennifer Simard and Christoper Seiber
received OCC noms for Death Becomes Her,
the OCC's most nominated show.
Credit: Evan Zimmerman and Matthew Murphy

Led by its current President David Gordon, the OCC Board of Directors and Nominating Committee also includes Vice President Richard Ridge, Recording Secretary Joseph Cervelli, Corresponding Secretary Patrick Hoffman, Treasurer David Roberts, Cynthia Allen, Harry Haun, Dan Rubins, Janice Simpson and Doug Strassler. Simon Saltzman is President Emeritus & Board Member (Non-nominating) and Stanley L. Cohen serves as Financial Consultant & Board Member (Non-nominating). Lauren Yarger serves as the Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony executive producer.

2025 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

 
Outstanding New Broadway Play
Cult of Love
The Hills of California
John Proctor Is the Villain
Purpose
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
 
Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Boop! The Musical
Death Becomes Her
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves
 

B'way Review: Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Nicholas Barasch, Ramin Karimloo, and
Jinkx Monsoon in Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Credit: Joan Marcus

The beloved, whimsical operettas of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, composed between 1871 and 1896, have had their share of updating and transpositions. There has been a Hot Mikado and a Swing Mikado in 1939 and a Hollywood Pinafore in 1945. So it should come as no surprise that there would eventually be a reworking of one of G&S’s most popular pieces, The Pirates of Penzance, particularly after Wilford Leach’s smash hit revival played Central Park in 1980 and then transferred to Broadway in ’81. For Roundabout Theater Company, Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood) has changed the setting from the British coast to New Orleans, cut a few numbers, added others from the G&S canon, rewritten some of Gilbert’s book and lyrics, jazzed up Sullivan’s score, and we now have Pirates! The Penzance Musical. Never mind that the title doesn’t make any sense because all references to Penzance, a seaside town in Cornwall, have been excised. This is a delightful reworking which is not an improvement on the original, but just as much fun.

Nicholas Barasch, Ramin Karimloo, and
David Hyde Pierce in Pirates!
The Penzance Musical.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Holmes’ premise is that Gilbert and Sullivan (played by David Hyde-Pierce and Preston Truman Boyd in a prologue) are presenting the American premiere of their latest work in the Big Easy because the area has such a rich history of piracy. Plus they want to establish a Yankee copyright and avoid the numerous pirated productions (get it?) of their previous big hit HMS Pinafore. (For the record, Pirates actually debuted in NYC for the latter reason in 1879.) What follows is a spicy musical jumbo with orchestrators Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters mixing Dixieland, the blues, jazz and r&b with G&S’s frothy original recipe (Joubert also capably serves as musical director.) Holmes’ new book sometimes condescends to the audience, explaining Gilbert’s wordplay and simplifying his lyrics here and there. 

Samantha Williams and Nicholas Barasch
in Pirates! The Penzance Musical.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Holmes does get a bit heavy-handed with the modern references. Major-General Stanley’s flighty daughters now sing of their quest for suffrage, and the pirates finally surrender, not out of loyalty to Queen Victoria as in the original, but after an appeal to unity in American diversity. The final number is a variation on “He Is an Englishman” from Pinafore. Rather than jingoistically praising the glories of England (“In spite of all temptations/To belong to other nations”), the chorus now harmonizes on a paen to the immigrant experience with “We all come from someplace else.”

However, these are minor caveats. Director Scott Ellis and choreographer Warren Carlyle have infused the proceedings with zany zest. The famous  “I Am the Model of a Modern Major-General,” delightfully and drily delivered by Hyde Pierce, is accompanied by the chorus madly waving signal flags. The first act concludes with everyone strumming washboards and ringing bells. The finale and curtain call are followed by cast members sashaying up the aisles, flinging beads as they go.

David Hyde Pierce (c.) and cast in
Pirates! The Penzance Musical.
Credit: Joan Marcus

As noted, Hyde Pierce is a deadpan delight as the marvelously muddled Major-General. In addition to the traditional tongue-twisting solo, he is given “The Nightmare Song” from Iolanthe, elaborately staged by Ellis and Carlyle. Hyde Pierce and the chorus act out each of Stanley’s bizarre dreams, make this a riotous descend into lunacy. Ramin Karimloo is swoon-worthy, virile Pirate King. Jinkx Monsoon (RuPaul’s Drag Race) is a riotous Ruth and delivers a surprisingly heartfelt and bluesy “Alone and Yet Alive,” Katisha’s lament from The Mikado. Nicholas Barasch and Samantha Williams display admirable pipes and gleefully satirize young-lovers tropes as the main amorous duo, Frederick and Mabel. Boyd doubles as the scaredy-cat Sergeant, hilariously shivering as he leads a quivering platoon of police against the pirates. 

Throw in David Rockwell’s cartoonish sets, Linda Cho’s eccentric costumes, and Donald Holder’s painterly lighting and this Pirates! is a jolly good time.

April 24—July 27. Roundabout Theater Company at the Todd Haimes Theater, 227 W. 42nd St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. roundabouttheatre.org.

B'way/Off-B'way Update: 10 Things, Jeffrey Ross, Pamela Anderson, etc.

Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in
10 Things I Hate About You.
Credit: Touchstone Pictures/Allstar

10 Things I Hate About You, the 1999 cult film update on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, will be adapted into a musical with a score by Grammy nominee Carly Rae Jepsen and Grammy nominee Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith, book by Emmy nominee Lena Durham (Girls) and Jessica Huang. Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon (MJ, An American in Paris) will direct and choreograph and Tony winner Tom Kitt will provide music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations. No word on projects dates or Broadway plans....

Tony winner Sarah Paulson (Appropriate) and Tony nominee Wendall Pierce (Death of a Salesman, Elsbeth) will announce the nominees for the 2024-25 Tony Awards on May 1. The event will be streamed live from Sofitel on the Tonys' YouTube channel at 9AM and portions of the announcement will be read on CBS Mornings at 830AM....

Emmy-nominated comedian Jeffrey Ross is planning an eight-city summer tour of his solo show Take a Banana for the Ride, culminating in a limited Broadway run....

Pamela Anderson and Nicholas Alexander Chavez

Pamela Anderson's career received a boost with her Golden Globe-nominated performance in The Last Showgirl. She will follow it up with a stage appearance in Tennessee Williams' bizarre 1953 fantasy play Camino Real at Williamstown Theater Festival, July 19-Aug. 3. Emmy winner Nicholas Alexander Chavez (General Hospital, Monsters) and Whitney Peak co-star....

Various sources including the New York Post and People Magazine report that an immersive version of The Phantom of the Opera, titled Masquerade, will open at the former Lee's Art Shop on W. 57th St., this summer...

B'way/Off-B'way Reviews: John Proctor Is the Villain; Grief Camp

Sadie Sink in John Proctor Is the Villain.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Two dramas on teen torment recently opened on and Off-Broadway, approaching their subjects through different lenses and both achieving dynamic theatrical results. Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain at the Booth offers a radical reinterpretation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as its starting point, but the play itself is rather conventionally structured. Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company, Eliya Smith’s Grief Camp takes what could have a Lifetime TV-movie plot—teens at camp dealing with the deaths of loved ones—and gives it an unconventional twist. Her play is a disturbing, puzzling, yet ultimately satisfying portrait of adolescent angst, as is Belflower’s work.

Set in 2018 at the height of the #MeToo movement, in a one-stoplight Georgia town, John Proctor follows the treacherous and tricky path trod by a group of high-school students as they study Miller’s classic play on the Salem witch trials and find parallels to their own situation. The girls in Mr. Smith’s Honors English class are wrestling with their burgeoning sexuality and an atmosphere of male repression. When they form a feminism club, it raises hackles in the conservative town as accusations of adult misconduct surface. Ivy’s dad has allegedly committed harassment with more than one woman, Raelynn is being pressured by her boyfriend Lee to have sex, and Shelby is returning to school after a mysterious absence. Shelby emerges as the main character as the shocking reason for her “sabbatical,” as she calls it, is revealed and she challenges the standard interpretation of John Proctor as the hero of The Crucible and his accuser Abigail as the villainess.   

Amalia Yoo, Morgan Scott, Sadie Sink,
Fina Stazza, Nihar Duvvuri, and Hagan Olveras
in John Proctor Is the Villain.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Additional plot strands involve straight-A student Beth whose faith in her favorite teacher Mr. Smith is severely tested; new counselor Ms. Gallagher, barely older than the kids, attempting to make her mark; recent Atlanta transplant Nell navigating her way through treacherous waters; and Mason, trying his best to be a male ally.

Belflower captures the roiling ambivalent emotions of the students and teachers, combining raucous humor with raw pathos. Danya Taymor’s direction is fast-paced and pulsing with tension just beneath the day-to-day schoolroom surface. Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, The Whale) has a dynamic, captivating, jittery energy as Shelby. She covers her secret vulnerability with a rush of snarky observations, and gradually peels back Shelby’s tough exterior to reveal a shaky, confused kid. Amalia Yoo’s questioning Raelynn and Maggie Kuntz’s rattled Ivy are movingly insecure. Morgan Scott as Nell has several funny moments as does Fina Strazza as the overeager Beth. Hagan Oliveras and Nihar Duvvuri make the boys Lee and Mason more than adolescent stereotypes. Gabriel Ebert displays layers of deceit as the seemingly model teacher Mr. Smith and Molly Griggs shows Ms. Gallagher’s hidden strength.

Drama League Nominations

Cats: The Jellicle Ball is among the
Drama League Award nominees.
Credit: Evan Zimmerman

Theater award season continues with the nominations for the Drama League Awards, announced on April 22 at the Lincoln Center's New York Public Library for the Performing Arts by Sarah Hyland (The Great Gatsby, Modern Family) and country music star Orville Peck (Cabaret). The awards will be presented on May 18 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. 

The Drama League previously announced the 2025 Special Recognition Award Recipients: Tony and Olivier Award winner Lea Salonga will receive the Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater; Director Whitney White (and multiple 2025 Drama League Award Nominee) will be honored with the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; Kate Navin and Audible Theater will receive the Contribution to the Theater Award; and The Gratitude Award will be presented to acclaimed producers Robert Greenblatt and Neil Meron, whose groundbreaking work across television, film, and theatre has garnered numerous accolades, including Tonys, Emmys, Golden Globes, and a Best Picture Oscar. This season they are the lead producers of the new musical Smash.

Founded in 1922, and formalized in 1935, the Drama League Award is the oldest theatrical honor in America, and is voted on by a cross-section of industry professionals, producers, artists, audiences, and critics.

Orville Peck and Sarah Hyland
announced the Drama League nominees.
Credit: Catalin Stelian

A complete list of the nominees follows:

Book Review: The Burning House

I know I had read this collection of Ann Beattie stories a long time ago, but I found a copy in the basement of our co-op building, began it again, then put it down for a couple of years and recently picked it up again after reading a later Beattie collection. Except for striking details, I did not remember the stories. The only one I could recall was The Cinderella Waltz about a woman whose husband leaves her for another man. Rereading that one, I found themes deeper than just the novelty of a gay angle. The husband is now thinking of moving to San Francisco for a new job. In an interesting detail, the wife recalls the husband not being satisfied with any of the Christmas gifts, and being disappointed with a six-slice toaster when he wanted a eight-slice model. This seemingly insignificant piece of information shows us the husband always wants more, whether it's a present or a relationship. You have to look hard at what Beattie includes and why she includes it.

Reading these stories again now that I'm older and lived through situations similar to those of the characters gives me a better understanding of Beattie's craft. She offers pieces of a person's life, like flashes, and imparts why they do what they do. I liked Greenwich Time with the divorced husband killing time in Manhattan until he forces himself to drive to Connecticut and ask his remarried ex-wife for custody of their little boy.

Off-B'way Reviews: Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.; Wine in the Wilderness

Adelind Horan, Ayana Workman, Sathya Sridharan,
and Japeth Balaban in Glass.
Credit: Joan Marcus

You never know what you’re going to get with a Caryl Churchill play, but it’s sure to be something unique, thought-provoking, and convention-breaking. After exploring gender and racial barriers in Cloud 9, the clash of capitalism and feminism in Top Girls, financial turmoil in Serious Money, magic and demons in The Skirker, cloning in A Number, and numerous other topics in bizarre and weird ways, she tackles the power of legends, myths, and metaphor in a quartet of odd but affecting one-acts, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. at the Public Theater. 

The first three playlets are short and explosive, detonating like miniature bombs. Director James MacDonald has separated them with entertaining circus acts, performed with winning charm by balancing whiz Junru Wang and expert juggler Maddox Morfit-Tighe. These fun interludes act as palate cleansers between Churchill’s short unusual dramatic courses. Glass concerns a girl made of glass (played with appropriate delicacy and yearning by Ayana Workman). She is easily breakable and transparent, not just physically but emotionally. MacDonald stages the play on a narrow ledge, emphasizing the precarious space the girl occupies. There is no special costume or effect to convey her crystalline condition, MacDonald and Churchill ask us to use our imagination as she converses with the family clock, a ceramic dog and a vase on the need to remain still on a shelf. She falls for an equally vulnerable boy (tender Japhet Balaban), who is victimized by an abusive father. The climax of this bitter fairy tale is shattering, literally and figuratively. 

Deirdre O'Connell in Kill.
Credit: Joan Marcus

The powerful Deirdre O’Connell represents “Gods” in the following piece Kill, a Beckett-like monologue. Costume designer Enver Chakartash has clad her in a silvery suit with the suggestion of wings and she is seated on a suspended cloud. After stating that the gods do not exist, she launches on an epic retelling of the numerous tragedies surrounding the House of Atreus. Phrases detailing the murders within Agamemnon’s family and the endless slaughters that followed are repeated emphasizing the senselessness of death in the name of the deities. (The repetitions and circular nature of the speech reminded me of Lucky’s monologue in Waiting for Godot.) O’Connell’s character is a symbol for the made-up supreme beings of mythologies used to explain humanity’s inhumanity. O’Connell delivers this tirade with a leavening of humor and growing passion which finally erupts in an explosion of anger at the useless killing.

B'way Review: Smash

Robyn Hurder (c.) and cast in Smash.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

During its two-season run on NBC (2012-13), I used to hate-watch Smash, the weekly series chronicling the making of a Broadway musical on screen legend Marilyn Monroe. While the musical numbers by Marc Shaiman and Scott Witman were often witty and tuneful, the melodramatic storyline was ridiculous and inaccurate in its depiction of the inner workings of show business. I always thought there was a kernel of a possibility of an exciting real Broadway show amidst the soapy excesses. Well, more than a decade later, the stage version of Smash has lived up to its name and banished all remnants of the TV show’s silly scripts. 

Book-writers Bob Martin and Rick Elice have washed away the sudsy, convoluted plots from the series and incorporated many of the sleek and fun musical numbers into a tighter, funnier libretto celebrating the joys and angst of putting on a musical. The only element that remains the same is the troubled backstage brouhaha while the Monroe musical undergoes rehearsals, previews, and opening night. Many of the character names are the same, but now their characteristics are totally different. Gone are the intricate on-again, off-again romances and the focus is much tighter, all staged with economy and efficiency by Susan Stroman. Choreographer Joshua Bergasse, who also staged the dances for TV, delivers peppy, exciting ensemble work. 

Robyn Hurder, Caroline Bowman, and
Bella Coppola in Smash.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

The main engine of the plot is now the conflict between star Ivy Lynn (a magnificent Robyn Hurder who switches admirably between devilish diva and delightful star) and the rest of the company when she commits the cardinal actor’s sin—reading a book. The tome in question is a history of Marilyn’s work with the Actors’ Studio which inspires Ivy to hire the author Susan Proctor (hilariously severe Kristine Nielsen) as an acting coach. The fanatical Susan encourages Ivy to “become” Marilyn 24/7 and replicate her impossible, pill-popping behavior off-stage. Ivy’s transformation from collaborative professional to temperamental monster is beautifully and effectively relayed in “The 20th Century Fox Mambo,” brilliantly staged by Stroman and Bergasse, interweaving Monroe’s objectification by the studio with Ivy’s descent into madness. This triggers chaos and provides an opportunity for understudy Karen (dynamic Caroline Bowman) to grab the spotlight. But wait, there’s more. Associate director Chloe (surprisingly super Bella Coppola) is also in the mix to take over the Marilyn role. 

Nicholas Matos, Jacqueline B. Arnold,
John Behlmann, Krysta Rodriguez,
Bella Coppola, Brooks Ashmanskas, and
Kristine Nielsen in Smash.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

There’s also warfare between the husband-and-wife authors of the show (sharp John Behlmann and Krysta Rodriguez, the only holdover from the TV show, but winning in an entirely different role), veteran director-choreographer Nigel (a brilliantly exasperated and funny Brooks Ashmanskas), the force-of-nature producer Anita (strong and elegant Jacqueline B. Arnold), and her annoyingly naive, but ultimately life-saving, tech-savvy assistant Scott (adorable Nicholas Matos).  

This sounds as goofy as the TV show, but Martin, Elice, Shaiman, Wittman, Stroman and Bergasse manage to make it work, demonstrating the powers of collaboration their onstage counterparts lack.   

Beowulf Boritt’s clever sets, Alejo Vietti’s gorgeous costumes, and Ken Billington’s veraatile lighting create a vibrant candy-box version of Broadway.

Megan Kane, Brooks Ashmanskas, Robyn Hurder,
Kristine Nielsen, Krysta Rodriguez,
and John Behlmann in Smash.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

You don’t have to be a theater nerd to enjoy Smash, but it does help. This is probably the only show with references to Mandy Patinkin in The Knife, Julie Andrews on Tik Tiok, and just about every movie Monroe ever made. But if you don’t get these allusions, it’s okay. There are plenty of laughs, songs and dance to enthrall the casual musical fan.  Smash is a smashing celebration of the joy of theater.

Opened April 10 for an open run. Imperial Theater, 249 W. 45th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. telecharge.com.

Stream of Consciousness III: Amazing NY Day

Wed. Feb. 16

2PM: Matinee of Smash at the Imperial. Wonderful show.

Anna Wintour, Calvin Klein and
Tyne Daly

5PM: Dinner at Orso. As I was enjoyed my pork chop and delicious wafer-thin pizza bread, who should walk into the restaurant but Vogue editor Anna Wintour. She sat down at a table with Calvin Klein. I texted a friend who advised me to subtly take a picture of the famous fashion duo. I decided against it.

6:15PM: Hopped on the R train downtown to Union Square.

6:30PM: Checked out the new comics at Forbidden Planet (didn't buy anything.)

7PM: Evening performance at Alice Childress' Wine in the Wilderness at CSC. Excellent revival.

8:30PM: Took the R train back home to Jackson Heights, Queens. Two guys were doing acrobatics on the poles. I moved to another part of the car next to a woman with a baby. I figured they'd stay away from me if I were next to a baby. I don't mind performers trying to make a few dollars, but I feel so unsafe when I see these guys bouncing around on a moving subway train. I always think, "Do this in the street where you don't endanger people."

9:15PM: Took the bus from the subway station to home. The bus was fully packed but I got a seat. The woman next to me was listening to some kind of podcast or video on her phone with two women talking about blueberries or blackberries. Have you noticed that more people are listening to the audio on their phones on public transportation without headphones or buds? It's like they have no regard for their fellow passengers. What if I don't want to hear about blueberries or if it's interfering with my reading an actual physical book (in this case, a book of short stories by Ann Beattie.) I've gotten used to it and become able to tune it out. Earlier in the day, at the Smash matinee a woman on the aisle two rows in front of me had her phone out twice and was texting. It was distracting, but I didn't say anything.

10PM: Watched the last episode of Season One and the first episode of Season Two of Stranger Things and in preparation for seeing Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway next week. Also to see Sadie Sink since I'm seeing her in John Proctor Is the Villain. And then since I was on Netflix, I continued watching a few minutes of  Culinary Class Wars, a Korean cooking competition show which I've kinda gotten into.

Stream of Consciousness II

The cast of Stranger Things.
Credit: Tina Rowden/Netflix

The defroster on my Kia Soul was not working right as we drove home from one of two Passover ceders. The windshield was all blurry and it made it hard to see as we crossed the Goethals Bridge from New Jersey to Staten Island. Plus we got a letter from Kia stating we might be subject to a recall. I suspected this was just a means of pulling in customers for an expensive check-up. But the next Monday (the second ceder, this one in Manhattan among friends, was Sunday night), I was sitting in the Northstar Service Center, watching the local Fox News channel on a giant screen. It was Channel 5, not the Fox News cable channel or I would have requested they change it.

An elderly woman a few seats away was trying to arrange a medical appointment on her cell phone. She had a receptionist on speaker and was telling her the whole history.

“They found blood in my urine and my platelets are low,” she related in a voice I could distinctly hear for several yards away. “I want to see my urologist about it but the first available slot isn’t until the first week of May and I’m a nervous wreck.” It was early April. 

I was finishing a novel about the Civil War on my phone and the news was covering the heinous reports that the president of El Salvador was lining up with Trump about refusing to return a mistaken deportee despite the Supreme Court’s orders. Thankfully, they eventually switched to live coverage of a murder trial. 

I was planning my TV viewing. This week I binged the first season of Stranger Things on Netflix in preparation of seeing the Broadway show based on the series. The stage play takes place before the series and was a huge hit in London. What bothered me about the series was the parents of the kids. All, except for Winona Ryder, were so oblivious. If a girl with supernatural powers were living in my basement, I’d know it! And any daughter of mine who stayed out after ten PM when people in my town were mysteriously missing would be grounded for a month. Plus how did David Harbour as a small town cop, get to be such a skilled fighter he can take down multiple security guards and CIA agents?

My car was fine, but they told me I needed new wiper blades, even though I’d replaced them just a few weeks ago. Morale: Don’t buy anything from Auto Zone.

B'way Update: Godot Dates and Theater Confirmed; Etc.

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter

The upcoming revival of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot to star Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter (co-stars of three Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure films) has announced dates and a theater. The production to be directed by Jamie Lloyd (Sunset Blvd.) will begin previews Sept. 13 at the Hudson Theater, open on Sept. 28 for a limited run through Jan. 4, 2026. This will be the fifth Broadway production of Beckett's classic existential comedy-drama. Previous Broadway stagings have starred Bert Lahr and EG Marhsall (1956); Earl Hyman and Mantan Moreland (1957); Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin (2009); Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart (2013). Major Off-Broadway revivals have starred Robin Williams and Steve Martin (1988); Jon Turturro and Tony Shalhoub (1998); and Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks (2023). Additional casting for this production will be announced at a later date.

Additional news: Leslie Odom, Jr. will return to the Broadway company of Hamilton in his Tony-winning role of Aaron Burr, Sept. 9--Nov. 23.

Signature Theater Company has announced three productions for its 2025-26 Off-Broadway season: Oratorio for Living Things, Heather Christian's musical-theater piece which won several awards during a 2022 Off-Broadway run (fall); Lauren Yee's Mother Russia, a dark comedy set in 1992 St. Petersburg (winter); and Christian's Animal Wisdom, a musical blending of storytelling, mythology, blues, folk, and gospel (spring 2026).

Book Review: Night Watch

(Borrowed and read on the Libby app on my phone) Jayne Anne Philips' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel reminded me of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. The tale of a young girl and her mother seeking refuge in an insane asylum in post-Civil War West Virginia is told from multiple perspectives and exhibits flowery language to describe the hardscrabble, backwoods journeys of the characters from before, during an after the Late Unpleasantness Between the States. Philips' uses the story to develop her theme of the trauma inflicted by the war. Soldiers, parents, wives and children lose their identities and struggle to forge new ones by feigning madness or burying their memories. The mother, called Miss Janet, loses one husband to the war (he fights for the Union) and is later oppressed by a Southern deserter. The setting is also representative since West Virginia split from Virginia over the war and many WV residents still sympathized with the Confederacy. The conflict between Miss Janet and her two men reflects the national divide and comes to a tragic conclusion when they all meet in the asylum, along with Janet's daughter ConaLee who poses as her maidservant. All of the characters who also include Dearbhla, Miss Janet's neighbor and guardian angel, Dr. Story, head of the asylum, Miss Hexum, the motherly kitchen supervisor, and Weed, an orphan living at the asylum, are exceptionally well drawn.

B'way Review: The Last Five Years

Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas in
The Last Five Years.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

The Broadway premiere of The Last Five Years at the Hudson, Jason Robert Brown’s two-character tuner chronicling the romance, marriage and break-up of novelist Jamie and actress Cathy, is a mixed affair. (The intimate musical debuted Off-Broadway in 2002, was revived by Second Stage in 2013, and was made into a movie in 2014.) Boy-band heartthrob Nick Jonas gives an uneven performance, his co-star Adrienne Warren is on point throughout, and director Whitney White’s staging is mostly smooth but at times muddies the show’s central conceit. 

Adrienne Warren and Nick Jonas
in The Last Five Years.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Brown’s clever structure underlines the central theme of missed connections. The show is mostly sung-through with each character expressing their emotions in alternating solos. Cathy starts by reading Jamie’s break-up letter and moves backwards in time while Jamie opens with his excitement at their first meeting and proceeds forwards over the half-decade of their union. In the original, the only time they appear onstage together is in the middle when they marry. For this production, the leads silently appear in each other’s scenes. Whether this was White’s or Brown’s decision, it confuses the dual timeline and lessens the impact of their one duet, the only moment in the show when their affections overlap. Otherwise, White’s direction flows freely from song to song with the aide of David Zinn’s suggestive, mobile sets and Stacey Derosier’s mood-focusing lighting.

The stars are both talented, capable performers, but Warren consistently conveys the varying emotions beneath her songs while Jonas doesn’t come up to full subtextual strength until half-way through the score. There’s no excuse for Jonas’ half-baked performance. He’s not just some lightweight pop teen idol. He’s been on Broadway since he was a child, appearing in Annie Get Your Gun, Beauty and the Beast and Les Miserables, as well as replacing Daniel Radcliffe in the 2011 How to Succeed revival. So he should know what he’s doing.