Glory Box
P.S. 122

 Tim Miller states in the first five minutes that a "glory box" isn't what you're thinking. It's not just the object which sets up the riveting story Miller relays to us, but the show itself, more a cause for the celebration of gay voices in the theater since maybe Tony Kushner's Angels In America.

Jason Clark
Date Reviewed:
December 1999
God Hates the Irish
Rattlestick Theater

 God Hates The Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny, by Sean Cunningham, with music by Michael Frears, is a very black, absurdist musical comedy about the tribulations of an armless Irish man, played by the very engaging Bill Thompson, a good singer, comedian and actor with very elastic legs. The cast are all strong personas, including the bright, shiny Broadway-level Ann Bobby, Remy Auberjonois, the lovely Anna Camp, Lisa Altomare and James A. Stephens. It's all non-PC jokes, full of sexual outrageousness.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2005
Godfadda Workout, The
American Place Theater

 The Godfadda Workout brings a new star performer to New York. Okay, he's 43 and has been a performer for many years, but he's new to us. Seth Isler is an actor, comedian and impressionist, flexible in body and character, with great charm and athleticism.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Godspell
Theater at St. Peter's - Citicorp Center

 I think it might be safe to say that never in my life before have I encountered two tasteless, punishing religious rock musicals in one theatergoing year.

Jason Clark
Date Reviewed:
August 2000
Golda's Balcony
Manhattan Ensemble Theater

Perhaps my strong pro-Israel, pro-Zionist bias predisposes me to like William Gibson's drama on the life of Israel's most beloved Prime Minister. But political leanings aside, Gibson has crafted one of the more tautly constructed and dramatic solos in recent memory.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
April 2003
Golda's Balcony
Manhattan Ensemble Theater

 The dynamic Tovah Feldshuh - who certainly can do glamour - avoids it in her recreation of an aging Golda Meier. But she wonderfully evokes the courage and revolutionary career of this powerful and earthy woman who fought for the creation of the State of Israel and, as Prime Minister, guided it through very dark times.

Glenn Loney
Date Reviewed:
March 2003
Golda's Balcony
Manhattan Ensemble Theater

 Theater lovers are in luck. One of New York's great actresses is on stage again. Tovah Feldshuh plays Golda Meir in Golda's Balcony, a powerful, moving tour-de-force performance of the life of the leader of Israel, a woman both strong and vulnerable, beginning as a young Zionist and leading up to the fateful critical events when she is Premier in a time of war.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
March 2003
Golf
Sofia's

 Golf: The Musical by Michael Roberts, now playing Wednesday matinees and evenings at Sofia's on West 46th Street, is not only for golfers. Yes, it's full of golf jokes and inside references, but give performers as talented as the five in this show anything, and it would be entertaining. Add material like "The Lord is my caddy; I shall not slice," a Tiger Woods gospel song, Iraq - "Let's Bring Golf to the Gulf," Florida in summer, and, high point: Bob Hope (Joel Blum) and Bing Crosby (Christopher Sutton) on the road to heaven, and you've got fun for anyone.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Good Thief, The
45 Bleecker

 Generally absorbing, downbeat hostage story of an Irish hoodlum (a convincing Brian d'Arcy James) in over his head.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
April 2001
Gorey Details, The
Century Theater

 The fantastical illustrator and writer Edward Gorey's love of the macabre is so satisfyingly conceptualized and immortalized in print, it doesn't surprise me that most of the drolly dramatized skits compiled from the Gorey canon that make up the show The Gorey Details, left me cold rather than chilled. Peppered with songs by Peter Matz that curdle more than they creep, the "musicale," as it is billed, will, nevertheless be enjoyed by those who appreciate whimsy at its most capricious.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
October 2000
Grapes Of Ralph, The
St. Mark's Theater

 Dubbed "sketch comedy that doesn't suck," the comedy troupe known as Ralph don't suck by any means but could benefit a bit by watching some of their influences, which they cite as including "Mr. Show" and "South Park." Basically "The Grapes Of Ralph" is a sketch show, not unlike "Saturday Night Live" except grosser and usually funnier, and the comedy has a refreshingly un-PC bend to it.

Jason Clark
Date Reviewed:
March 2000
Greenland Y2K
HERE - Dorothy B. Williams Theater

 To ring in the new millennium at the North Pole is the ambitious goal of an intrepid explorer (Susanna Speier as the Explornographer), but her determination is outflanked by a pesky Y2K Bug (Ian McCulloch). The Bug must be placated at all costs or the electronic tools in Speier's survival kit will go kaput one by one. A tricky negotiation ensues, with each vying for the upper hand. Their complex and ultimately perverse relationship exacts a physical toll on the weary, white-clad Speier.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
October 1999
Grey Gardens
Playwrights Horizons

 Based on the brilliant documentary film about two decayed Bouvier cousins of Jackie Kennedy, Grey Gardens (book by Doug Wright) gives us a vocal glimpse into a South-Shore Long Island past in 1941 and the life of a wealthy mother (Christine Ebersole) and her daughter (Sara Gettlefinger) who is courted by Joe Kennedy. The voices are excellent, and the lyrics by Michael Korie and music by Scott Frankel give us the real flavor of the forties while being clever and pleasurable. But although I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the songs so well performed, I wasn't really engaged.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2006
Tammy Grimes
Metropolitan Room

 Tammy Grimes at the Metropolitan Room: it's a pleasure to visit with and spend time with one of our all-time great performers. Okay, she can't really sustain a note any more, but that doesn't matter; it's the real Tammy Grimes up there, and her long-acknowledged comic timing is still active. She still radiates, still entertains every corner of the room.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2007
Gutenberg!
Actors' Playhouse

 Gutenberg! The Musical! by Scott Brown and Anthony King gives us two wonderful comedians, Jeremy Shamos and David Turner, in a hilarious, absurdist interpretation of the adventures of the inventor of the printing press in 1450. Turner is a comedy star who can sing, dance and has the clean movements of a mime. Shamos is a perfect foil for him.
The songs and patter are clever, and it's directed and choreographed with flair and great comic timing by Alex Timbers. Innovative costumes by Emily Rebholz expand the concept of the two men playing multiple characters.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
March 2007
Guys, The
Flea Theater

 The Guys employs a simple but very effective premise: a woman penning eulogies for firemen killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks asks their captain for details about his lost men. Also, to break up the solemn q&a, the interviewer breaks into the occasional poignant, personal solilquy. Even a year after the bombings, Anne Nelson's chamber drama has the feeling of theater-as-therapy, an act not of political questioning or outrage (as was Reno's recent solo), but of communal mourning.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
September 2002
Gypsy
City Center

 Thank God Patti LuPone decided not to spend the summer at her South Carolina beach house. She's right here in New York City at City Center, and wow!, does she entertain.

Ellis Nassour
Date Reviewed:
Juy 2007
Ghosts
Stratford Festival - Tom Patterson Theater

 Beautifully directed by Diana Leblanc with a compelling sense of foreboding atmosphere and absolute realism, and translated by J. Basil Cowlishaw to give the most specific and unmistakable references to Ibsen's theme of venereal disease (without ever mentioning its name), this is perhaps the most effective and affecting production of Ghosts I've seen. Too often the play seems both stuffy and dated, but here it is clearly neither.

Herbert Simpson
Date Reviewed:
September 2006
Giorni felici
Galleria Toledo

 Naples was the latest stop for experimental theater Krypton's production of Samuel Beckett's 1961 Happy Days. The offering was part of the successful joint subscription Mercadante 2, uniting the most interesting productions here at Galleria Toledo with others at Teatro Nuovo and the Mercadante in an effort to expand the audience for serious theater in Naples. As is customary, Carlo Frutteto's classic Italian translation, made directly from Beckett's original French, was used.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
December 1996
Giulio Cesare

 See review(s) in Criticopia - Regional (U.S. tour)

Glass Menagerie, The
Stratford Festival - Avon Theatre

 If you have never seen a good production of Tennessee Williams' signature play, this workmanlike version is an excellent introduction: nicely mounted, sensibly directed, and expertly played. Except, however, for some few inspired moments in Steven Sutcliffe's sensitive and subtly suggestive portrayal of Tom, Williams' semi-autobiographical narrator, this Glass Menagerie is not a particularly memorable or extraordinary version of this perhaps overly familiar American masterwork.

Herbert Simpson
Date Reviewed:
June 2006
Golden Boy
Greenwich Theatre

 In Clifford Odets' original 1937 play, Golden Boy, the protagonist was an Italian American torn between playing the violin and boxing. When turning the work into a musical (1964), Odets threw out the violin plot and changed the title character into a black Harlemite, Joe Wellington, just out to make a fast buck. When Odets died during the writing, his friend William Gibson took up the pen and finished the adaptation. London has not seen the musical since 1968, so a new production is welcome.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
July 2003
Guys and Dolls

 If there is a musical comedy masterpiece, it is Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, and Jo Swerling's Guys and Dolls. Swerling and Burrows' book adapts Damon Runyon's stories of funny, flavorful lowlifes with wit and zest.

Herbert Simpson
Date Reviewed:
August 2004
La Boheme
Broadway Theater

The only thing "radical" (and, to my mind, objectionable) about Baz Luhrmann's production of La Boheme, which is re-set in mid-1950s Paris, is that he gets a little cute with the subtitles, both in modernizing the slang and in using kooky fonts for emphasis. Otherwise, it's a tasteful and emotionally faithful mounting of Puccini's opera, boasting a ravishingly beautiful mise-en-scene for the cafe scene and a group of appealing performers.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
La Boheme
Broadway Theater

 Those expecting more of the brilliantly colored, feverishly paced phantasmagoria that Australian director Baz Luhrmann and his designer wife Catherine Martin created for their movie musical, "Moulin Rouge," are in for a big let down. This bare-bones, shadowy production, far from glitzy, is downright gloomy. A huge neon sign, L'Amour, embellishing a Parisian rooftop is the only element Moulin Rouge-ish. The rest of the set, as designed by Ms. Martin and barely lit by Nigel Levings, is subdued and depressingly colorless.

Jeannie Lieberman
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
La Boheme
Broadway Theater

 Baz Luhrmann's brilliant production of La Boheme by Puccini, set in 1967, is a truly spectacular spectacle. The inspired design by Catherine Martin and lighting by Nigel Levings take the physical production of opera into a new, flashy, eye-filling dimension. The beautiful young people in the show, with their magnificent voices, make this powerfully-directed opera, with exciting, imaginative physical action in the staging, a great theatrical experience.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
La Boheme
Broadway Theater

 Well, it's better than Rent. That's about the best thing this reviewer can say about the current Broadway version of Puccini's La Boheme, which in this production is set in 1950s Paris. Director Baz Luhrmann is largely successful in achieving his mission, which is to make a great opera more accessible to the masses. He is especially canny in selecting very handsome and beautiful young actors for the leads. He also gives them some freedom in substituting American slang for parts of the libretto (although all the singing is in Italian, with subtitles).

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2003
La Cage aux Folles
Marquis Theater

 Critics gave this glitzy revival a lukewarm reception when it opened in early December, saying that Gary Beach's Albin/ZaZa was bland and that the Harvey Fierstein/Jerry Herman 1983 musical had devolved into a crossdressing tribute to family values. Hardly two weeks later, Beach was breathing fire into his Act 1 closer, "I Am What I Am," transforming the entire evening into a fervid affirmation of individualism. Quite frankly, I was trembling at intermission after what I'd just seen.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
January 2005
La Cage aux Folles
Marquis Theater

 I caught the current edition of La Cage aux Folles, and it's easy to see why the revival won awards for the sparkling costumes (William Ivey Long) and choreography (Jerry Mitchell) - - it's spectacular: marvelous gymnastic flipping, flying, twirling, legs flying, bodies twirling, with a magnificent set by Scott Pask and brilliant direction by Jerry Zaks.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2005
Laugh Whore
Cort Theater

Mario Cantone's Laugh Whore gives us the hyperkinetic whirlwind spouting observational humor at full blast - he sings, he dances, he jests. His absurd impressions of Shelley Winters, Cher, Tina Turner, Kate Smith (who remembers her?), LL Cool J, Carol Channing, Katharine Hepburn, Elvis, Ann Margaret, Liza, and others keep the audience laughing. And that's only Act One. Act Two is his takeoff on his family, and he is vivid as he portrays relatives and their foibles and mannerisms. Plus Judy Garland!

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
December 2004
Legally Blonde
Palace Theater

There is more youthful exuberance and bounce in Legally Blonde (book by Heather Hach, music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin) than in a Beverly Hills High School pool party. As directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, it's nothing but fun.

You know the plot: Bev. Hills supposed Ding Dong goes to Harvard Law School in pursuit of a Dumb Dumb. Beautiful Laura Bell Bundy is the girl, and the charm oozes, drips and splashes -- and she taps, too. This girl is hot!

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2007
Lennon
Broadhurst Theater

 Lennon, book, misconception and misdirection by Don Scardino (at least he's boldly willing to take all the blame) tries hard but misses badly. Sure, there are some great voices on the stage (Will Chase, Chuck Cooper, Julie Danao-Salkin, Marcy Harriell - the whole cast can really sing), but basically what is missing is John Lennon - his gentleness, his essence, his soul, except for one moment at the end when the real item appears on a screen. "Imagine" gets me. This show doesn't.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
August 2005
Les Miserables
Imperial Theater

 Among my other weaknesses as a reviewer, I have a blind spot for musicals. I usually enjoy musicals that other critics trash, while I underestimate shows that they, and audiences, thoroughly embrace.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
1997
Les Miserables
Imperial Theater

 Of Broadway's musical mega-blockbusters, two of the longest running -- Les Miserables and Miss Saigon -- share several things in common: poignant, heart-wrenching stories, gorgeous melodies, multi-million dollar budgets, awe-inspiring spectacle, numerous awards, Tony nominations and awards galore, and an executive producer who believes every performance should be a repeat of opening night.

Ellis Nassour
Date Reviewed:
1997
Les Miserables
Broadhurst Theater

 Les Miserables by Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schoenberg, is arguably the greatest musical ever created, and the powerful, moving, new production brings much needed theatrical life back to Broadway. Strongly but sensitively directed (John Caird and Trevor Nunn), brilliantly designed (John Napier) and lighted (David Hersey -- I've never seen better lighting in a theater in my life) by the originals, it has breathtaking moments of theatrical grandeur mixed with the gripping plot of the story of the pursued Jean Valjean. Playing him is Alexander Gemignani in a Brian Dennehy mold.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
November 2006
Lestat
Palace Theater

 I found the new vampire musical, Lestat, book by Linda Woolverton, music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin, to be visually interesting (set by Derek McKean, lighting by Kenneth Posner, costumes by Susan Hilferty) but not engaging. They didn't know whether to be campy or serious, so they went serious, and the few laughs show that it might have worked if it took a different tack.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2006
Life (x) 3
Circle in the Square

 Only one thing is missing from Yasmina Reza's otherwise dazzling acerbic comedy - but it's a biggie. Reza constructs a dinner party from hell, wherein a semi-happy couple (Helen Hunt and John Turturro) are surprised by the arrival of Hubert and Ines -- guests they didn't expect until the next evening. Henri bows and scrapes before Hubert (Brent Spiner), hoping the latter's connections will advance his scientific career, even as smarmy Hubert undermines his friend's emotional stability.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
April 2003
Life (X) 3
Circle in the Square

 As with Yasmina Reza's Art - in which there are three "takes" by three male friends on the extravagant purchase of an abstract artwork - her new piece re-plays the same awkward scene three times. Important guests arrive an evening too soon: not exactly a new idea in drama. And it requires an immense Suspension of Disbelief to equate the suppressed hysteria of John Turturro with the behavior of an insecure and very minor French Astrophysicist.

Glenn Loney
Date Reviewed:
April 2003
Life (X) 3
Circle in the Square

 Life (X) 3 starts as a light domestic comedy, long on a crying child for the first 30 minutes and short on brilliance as a couple comes to the home of another for dinner a day early. This leads to much domestic bickering and an occasional funny line. Then the same night is played again, with a different slant, and it becomes more interesting, and then, once again, a third time, with other mood, character and plot implications. This includes some French inter-couple flirtatious moofky-foofky, with pretentious scientific horseshit thrown in.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2003
Light in the Piazza, The
Lincoln Center - Vivian Beaumont Theater

 I did not find The Light in the Piazza, based on a novella by Elizabeth Spencer, with book by Craig Lucas, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, to be very engaging, except for the visuals and the voices of the performers. Director Bartlett Sher is very good at staging: keeping the principals and extras moving around the stage in interesting patterns. The set by Michael Yeargan gives us views of Italy that are a fascinating travelogue and a profound comment on the action in his wonderful visuals of space and light on Italian ruins, piazzas and buildings.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2005

Pages