Solitary Solidarity: Theatre Reviews from the Present to the Past

      On April 19th, 2023, I saw the 2pm performance of the play "Life of Pi" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City after winning the Telecharge ticket lottery.  "Life of Pi" is based on the novel by Yann Martel (which I recently finished reading), and was adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti.  The play made its World Premiere debut at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, where it ran from June 28th through July 20th, 2019.  The West-End Production ran at the Wyndham's Theatre from November 15th, 2021 through January 15th, 2023.  The North American Premiere of "Life of Pi" ran from December 6th, 2022 through January 29th, 2023 at the Loeb Drama Center (of the American Repertory Theater) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Previews for the Broadway Production began on March 9th, 2023.  The Broadway Production of "Life of Pi" officially opened on March 30th, 2023.       The cast of "Life of Pi" included, but w...

      On the afternoon of March 12th of 2023, I saw the 3pm performance of "A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical" at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.  The jukebox musical began previews on November 2nd, 2022.  The production officially premiered on December 4th of that year.  I won the ticket lottery for the March 12th performance of this show.  While my theatre ticket for "The Phantom of the Opera" wasn't won through the ticket lottery, my ticket for "Some Like It Hot" was.  What sets this theatre ticket apart from the past two excursions was that my seat was in the orchestra level, and not in the mezzanine or the balcony level.  Don't get me wrong.  Those were great vantage points for "Some Like it Hot" and "Phantom."  But an orchestra level seat for "A Beautiful Noise" was great too--maybe even better.  Although, the mezzanine was the ideal place to sit when seeing "Phantom"--particularly wh...

      On January 8th, 2023, I saw the 3pm performance of the musical "Some Like it Hot" at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre in New York City.  "Some Like it Hot" features a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, with music by Marc Shaiman.  The musical features lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.  "Some Like it Hot" was directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.  The production features scenic design by Scott Pask.  He also designed the scenery for "The Book of Mormon," "The Band's Visit," and "Finding Neverland," which I've also seen.  I was critical of the scenic design during the show.  But, looking back, it was actually kind of neat.        "Some Like it Hot" was supposed to have its World Premiere engagement in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre from March 2nd through April 4th, 2021, but the theatres were still unexpectedly shut down due to the pandemic by that time.  I am not sure if there was...

      Back in 2001, Grannie and I saw the revival of the Austin Pendleton play "Uncle Bob" at the SoHo Playhouse in Manhattan.  The SoHo Playhouse is a venue for Off-Broadway productions, and is located at 15 Vandam Street.  "Uncle Bob" ran from April 23rd through July 1st of 2001 (preview performances began on April 11th).  The production originally starred Gale Harold (Josh) and George Morfogen (Bob).  But on May 20th, 2001, Gale Harold was replaced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  Grannie and I saw "Uncle Bob" after the May 20th cast change.  So we saw the show during a trip I took to visit Grannie in New York in early summer of 2001.     This production of "Uncle Bob" was produced by the Rebellion Theatre Company, under the direction of Courtney Moorhead.  In 1995, a production of the play was produced by the Mint Theatre, also in Manhattan.  George Morfogen starred as Bob in that production too.  The character of Uncle ...

     On the evening of May 24th, 2019, I saw the first preview performance of Phil Timberlake's stage adaptation "Emma," which was based on the book by Jane Austin.  I saw this stage play at the Lifeline Theatre in Chicago, IL.  The play officially opened on June 6th, 2019 and ran until July 14th of that year.  At the time, I still lived within walking distance from the Lifeline Theatre, bought my ticket on the day of the performance, and walked over there again to see the show when evening rolled around.  While it was great to be able to walk to a theatre from my apartment, I was yet again at a point where I needed to get my life together.  Unfortunately, this affected how I felt while watching the play, and I left during intermission.       The cast of this production of "Emma" included Peter Gertas (Mr. Elton, Frank Churchill, others), Jeri Marshall (Jane Fairfax, others), Madeline Pell (Harriet Smith, others), Emma Sipora T...

      During the summer of 2005, my grandma and I went to see the off-Broadway musical comedy "Altar Boyz" at Dodger Stages in New York City.  The venue is known as New World Stages today.  Doger Stages became New World Stages in 2006, the year after my grandma and I saw "Altar Boyz."  But the show didn't close then.  Rather, it continued to run until January 10th, 2010.  It had been running since March 1st, 2005 (preview performances began February 15th of that year).  Dodger Stages opened in September of 2004.  With "Altar Boyz" having just opened a few months before Grannie and I saw it, it goes without saying that we saw the original cast.      The cast of "Altar Boyz," when Grannie and I saw the show, included Ryan Duncan (Juan), David Josefsberg (Abraham), Andy Karl (Luke), Tyler Maynard (Mark), Scott Porter (Matthew), and Shadoe Stevens (Voice of G.O.D).  Kevin Kern and Daniel Torres were the two understudies o...

      In August of 2012, I went to see the Al Kaplan / Jon Kaplan musical, or unauthorized musical parody of "Silence of the Lambs," called "SILENCE! The Musical."  We saw the production at the Elektra Theatre.  "SILENCE! The Musical" began previews at Theater 80 St. Marks on June 24th, 2011.  It officially opened on July 9th of that year and ran until July 15th, 2012.  On July 18th, 2012, "SILENCE! The Musical" reopened at the Elektra Theatre and ran until July 7th, 2013.  When I saw the show, the cast included David Garrison (Hannibal Lecter), Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling), Stephen Bienskie (Buffalo Bill), and Randy Harrison (Dr. Chilton).  The cast was funny and so was the show.  Some of the songs were pretty explicit and inappropriate.        This cast of "SILENCE! The Musical" also featured Ashlee Dupré, Annie Funke, Howard Kaye, Nick McGough, Topher Nuccio, Ronica V. Reddick, Pamela Bob, and Doug Trapp....