Posted by admin on May 25, 2008 under Reviews | 
Review by John Delamar
In came to the Great White Way in 1965 and became a classic. Now it’s come to Brooklyn.
To close out their 41st Season, the Gallery Players, have put on one of Broadway’s most beloved Classics, THE MAN OF LA MANCHA, and once again they have done commendable things to such a well known show.
MAN OF LA MANCHA, based on the Du Pont Show of the Month original dram, I, DON QUIXOTE, is the story of Miguel de Cervantes’ imprisonment by the inquisition. With a book by Dale Wasserman the audience is thrown into the Spanish Inquisition and a jail cell with the author of one of literature’s most loved fools.
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Posted by admin on April 9, 2008 under Reviews |
Review by John Delamar
A CROSS DRESSER, THE Queen, the Bard, and a merry band of actor’s… No this is not the opening to a very bad Elizabethan joke. What it is is the set up for a very well done play by Timothy findley at Nicu’s Spoon Theatre.
The setting is an old barn, the time is the eve of the execution of Sir Robert, Earl of Essex. queen Elizabeth I has chosen to spend the hours before the death of her beloved “Robin” in the company of her favorite playwright. What ensues is one man teaching royalty how to be feminine and royalty teaching one man how to be masculine.
The script, penned beautifully by Timothy Findley, is deft and witty. We go from one liner to one liner in and out of metaphor and metaphysics. And in the end what Mr Findley has given us is a play that is so well tailored it fits the company of actors performing it like a fine Italian suit.
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Posted by admin on March 17, 2008 under Reviews |
Review by John Delamar
LYSISTRATA
Gallery Players
A war that will never end, a political climate fraught with change, the seat of authority under siege from the inside out. No, we’re not talking about the current state of affairs in America (although we could be, couldn’t we?) but Ancient Greece and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, now plying at the Gallery Players in Brooklyn. Now more than ever seems like the best time for what is being billed as “A Piece for Peace”, and it’s hard not to talk politics when talking Lysistrata (so forgive me my political digressions).
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Posted by admin on March 6, 2008 under Reviews |
Review by John Delamar
“There are worse things than staring at a river on a Sunday,” chirps Dot in in the Sondheim/Lapine masterpiece, Sunday in the Park with George, and she hit the nail right on the head. What’s worse? You could be staring at a very none too revived revival.
Roundabout Theatre Company is known for it’s innovations in the musical revival, but their most recent foray falls sadly and painfully short. The revival of Sunday in the Park with George at Studio 54 is nothing but an overtly stylized update of the original 1984 production, similar to the revival of A Chorus Line. A revival should add to a piece, make it speak to a modern audience, bring an old message to new ears, not bore the audience to tears.
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Posted by admin on March 1, 2008 under Reviews |
Review by John Delamar
Broadway has been waiting and preparing for the arrival of Passing Strange since Hair first swirled and jigged its way into the musical theatre cannon. Shows like Spring Awakening and Rent have both paved the way and prepped Broadway audiences for the musical experience of this season and of seasons to come.
Following the journey of an expatriated youth from South Central, LA to Amsterdam then onto Berlin, Passing Strange, the brain child of award winning songwriter Stew and his collaborator, Heidi Rodewald, is a rocking raucus musical concert. That’s the only way that the show can really be described, a musical concert. From the moment Stew and his band take the stage the audience is welcomed into the world of Passing Strange the way that concert goers are welcomed to a jam session. And the great thing is that it works on so many levels. You leave the Belasco feeling enlivened, entertained, educated, and encouraged to pursue the things in life that make you feel love gain and live. Like all great storytelling there is the moral lesson to be taken from the experience, but not without a feeling of growth and learning.
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Posted by admin on February 15, 2008 under Reviews |
THE BLUE FLOWER
West End Theatre
Review by John Delamar
IT’S A LITTLE BIT country… It’s a little bit Kurt Weil?
It’s not the famous country song, but it had elements of the Grand Ole Opery in it. What I’m talking about is the new (but not so new, it debuted at the New York Musical Theatre Festival back in 2004) musical, The Blue Flower, by Jim and Ruth Bauer. It’s hard to explain what exactly the show is about, without seeing the piece as a whole. But, here is the low down: Three friends, one is an artist, the other a ladies man, and the other a female scientist. They embark on a journey of Dadaesque proportions across the Weimar controlled country of Eastern Europe. So there you go. It’s a post World War I, Pre World War II, Dada inspired performance piece.
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Posted by admin on February 3, 2008 under Reviews |
Review by John Delamar
Welcome to the roaring twenties. Kander and Ebb said, “There’s booze everywhere, jazz everywhere, men everywhere…” And Andrew Lippa said it was a “Wild, wild party”, and it was. Brooklyn’s own Gallery Players, making great theatre Off Broadway for forty-one years, have brought Lippa’s wild and crazy twenties back to life in a production of The Wild Party to write home about. The Gallery Players have never been one to shy away from issues that verge on the profane, and this indulgent musical about the golden age of American prohibition is no exception.
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Posted by admin on November 13, 2007 under Reviews |
THE RUNNER STUMBLES
The Beckett Theatre
Review by John Delamar
It’s been more than three decades since the Milan Stitt drama, The Runner Stumbles, has been seen on Broadway, even on a professional New York Stage, but thanks to our dear friends at The Actor’s Company Theatre, dedicated to reviving lesser known theatre works, we now have the opportunity to see this amazing play, again.
A priest lusts after a fellow sister of the collar, can that original sin make him attempt the greatest sin of all, murder?
It’s intrigue from the get go with Milan Stitt and The Runner Stumbles, and a show like this one is still relevant in our modern day, which is a nice change from dated theatre works that seem to roll along endlessly, pondering the meanings of meaningless lives. Read more of this article »
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Posted by admin on August 15, 2007 under Reviews |
Book Review by John Delamar
Ever wonder what it takes to put on a successful Broadway production, or are you just interested in what can happen if you tried to mount your own production in your community? Well, have we got a book for you. Broadway Bullet’s John R DeLamar jr reviews the new book by Tony Award winning producer Stewart F Lane, “Let’s Put on a Show”. He’ll let you know whether its worth its salt, and what it could do to help you with your production.
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