Latest Reviews & Features
New York
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings --On Line Since 1996
Wicked Broadway, Wicked San Francisco, or any Wicked tickets for the 2009 tour
|
Ticket broker Vivid Seats offers great theater tickets like Wicked tickets, Jersey Boys tickets, Celine Dion tickets and Legally Blonde tickets for all shows!
HOME PAGE SITE GUIDE SEARCH CURTAINUP ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP REVIEWS REVIEW ARCHIVES FEATURES NEWS Etcetera and Short Term Listings LISTINGS Broadway Off-Broadway Cabaret NYC Restaurants BOOKS and CDs OTHER PLACES Berkshires London California Chicago DC Connecticut Philadelphia New Jersey Elsewhere QUOTES TKTS PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS LETTERS TO EDITOR FILM LINKS updated 9/09 MISCELLANEOUS Free Updates Masthead Writing for Us Broadway Tickets Top Musicals |
NEWS:
The Lady With All The Answers gets an extension to Dec.20th, but it's an early (January 3rd) closing for Oleana. . . January 3rd will see another musical biting the dust: Toxic Avenger will, like .Shrek, end its run. . .Check out the nominees for London's Evening Standard Theatre Awards in our London Main Page — New and Noteworthy . . .According to our DC critic It's NOT one Streetcar too many with Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois. . . to preview the epic Orphans' Home Cycle, via our Connecticut reviews. . . A Little Night Music likely to be a big Broadway winner with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury (for details, see Broadway listings. . . Geoffrey Nauffts's several times extended Off-Broadway hit Next Fall is headed for Broadway's Helen Hayes theater. . .
The 6th Annual Broadway Unplugged Concert Post No Bills- The title of Mando Alvarado's new play is a location, a performance space, and a way of life-- a delicately balanced hub of creativity . . . My Wonderful Day- a a wonderful play about a less than wonderful day for one very unique character and a group of typical Ayckbournians . . . Ragtime-the restage musical adaptation of E. L. Doctorow's novel is better than ever! . . . The Brother/Sister Plays- Though Terrell Alvin McCraney's unique style affords a director ample opportunity to create powerful stage images and for the actors to shine in multiple roles. . .Extended to Dec. 20th! What Once We Felt- With tickets at $20, this is a great way to not only discover a new and talented writer but also a play that covers new and uncharted territory.. . . Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears-Theodore Bikel's loving tribute at the Folksbiene . . . Twelfth Night- Compliments to the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre for demonstating that puppets can deliverShakespeare's work with charming inventivenes. . . Wintuk- Until snow falls on New York there is a veritable storm of the fake variety ready to fall from the rafters upon the audience at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden . . . The Late Christopher Bean- The Actors Company Theater is to be commended for taking Sidney Howard's 1932 comedy out of mothballs and give it a well-acted and handsomely staged production. . . . Or,-the stuffy English seminars where I first heard about Aphra Behn should have been as much fun as this sexy, witty and irreverent take on history. . . . The Understudy- The message Theresa Rebeck has squeezed in between the chucklesof her backstage comedy is that life in the theater and the big bucks movie world can be more than a little Kafkaesque Extended to Jan 17th! . . . Nightingale—Paulanne Simmons updates Lynn Redgrave's latest family memoir . . The Lily's Revenge-it's dazzling and weird and a daunting 5 hours, but you won't soon forget it. . . . Finian's Rainbow- a family friendly show with one hummable song on top of another, eye-popping choreography and a book that mixes Irish blarney, fairy tale charm and political satire that's surprisingly timely, keeps this sixty-two year old musical remarkably young and enjoyable. . . . Ordinary Days- this pleasant little musical earns Curtainup's piggy bank icon for live theater bargains . . . Memphis- Just as in Memphis in the 50s, you may want to shout "Hockadoo" as you leave the Shubert Theater. That word has as much meaning as the show, and that may just be enough. . . After Miss Julie- Patrick Marber's moving Strindberg's Swedes to an English country house on the eve of the Labor party's historic win in 1945 works quite well; but the name recognition casting of Sienna Miller is this production's Achilles heel. . . Bye Bye Birdie- To call this revival hopelessly cute and relentlessly wholesome may sound like faint praise, but it is exactly that. . . The Royal Family- this A-cast revival of the 1927 Ferber/Kaufman hit is sure to thrill anyone yearning to re-experience a by-gone era. Those less smitten with antiques will find it only intermittently funny and wonderful and rather ho-hum. Extended to 12/17/09 . . . London
I Found My Horn- the fascinating story of how a man faced a midlife crisis by setting himself the challenge to play a Mozart horn solo in front of a paying crowd of horn enthusiasts. . .Gilbert is Dead- Robin French's new play gets a perfectly, detailed site specific production in the authentic Victorian venue of Hoxton Hall. . . Seize the Day-The joyous thing about -Kwame Kwei-Armah's dramatic writing is the minutely observed detail, a delicious comedic warmth and the way he tempers serious political points with gentle amusement . . . Pains of Youth- this production is true to Ferdinand Bruckner's intention: a grim, dark portrait of harrowing emptiness. . . . Mrs Klein-Thea Sharrock's tense production is excellent at bringing out the volatility of the cross-over professional-personal relationships of Nicholas Wright's play. . . Arturo Brachetti Change-Brachetti amazes with his many elaborate costumes. . . . The Rise and Fall of Little Voice-Jim Cartwright's 17-year-old play comes back to London's West End with outstanding performances from Lesley Sharp and Diana Vickers . . . If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet-The effects of bullying, neglect and even global warming are explored in Nick Payne's latest play at the Bush . . . Annie Get Your Gun- If you are expecting a vastly staged West End musical this is not your show but with Young Vic prices half those in the West End, you'll get more bang for your buck! . . . The Power of Yes- David Hare on the financial crisis is informative and didactic but there is no drama other than the events themselves . . . . Life is a Dream- Dominic West stars in the Donmar's production of Pedro Calder?n de la Barca?s Golden Age play . . . Endgame- this fascinating production is both amusing and at time rather touching: two unexpected emotions in this orgy of existentialism. . . . Category B- Roy Williams kicks off the Tricycle Theatre's season of 3 plays that look at what life is like in Britain today, with a prison drama . . .
California Equivocation-a slyly drawn picture of Shakespeare’s London and a cautionary tale for our time. . . Post-while definitely showing signs of forward advancement, could definitely use another round of basic training. . . . Baby It's You!- Possibly intriguing story, pitiful execution.. . . Mary Poppins-P. L. Travers would be twirling in her grave at the Disneyesque version of her Mary now at the Ahmanson though stage book writer Julian Fellowes can be commended for shrewdly choosing the best of the three novels and adding a family story . . . Just 45 Minutes from Broadway-acting family drama by Henry Jaglom at Edgmar Center for the Arts . . . Shining City- Conor McPherson's ghost story at the Fountain Theater. . . Philadelphia Coming Home- an old activist's fond reminiscence, worried rumination, and hope. . . The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity- Playwright Kristoffer Diaz's creation is an allegory dressed up in non-stop, hilarious, tasteless, brilliant commentary . . . The History Boys- a new production of Bennett's hit play at the Arden . . .
Connecticut
Song and Dance Man- one of the don't-miss shows of the season.. . !--closing 11/29/09-->Mistakes Were Made- For theater industry insiders there are a lot of funny situations to appreciate in a producer's zany monologue conversations of a producer with his secretary, his pet fish and his clients. . . . A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum- this revival is atypical for the usually family friendly Godspeed . . . The Orphans' Home Cycle: Part II and Part III-the final part of Horton Foots Epic . . . The Orphans' Home Cycle: Part One- Hartford Stage's first installment of Horton Foote's epic. . .
DC
Showboat- can't help lovin' those songs in the Signature Theatre's revival of Jerome Kern, Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II . . .Full Circle- Charles Mee's latest at Woolly Mammoth. . . Lost In Yonkers-Maybe this Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner is the one that should have been revived on Broadway instead of the ill-fated Brighton Beach Memoirs . . . A Streetcar Named Desire- Cate Blanchett is a magnificent Blanche DuBois at the Kennedy Center, and soon at BAM . . . The Alchemist - Director Michael Kahn has chosen to adjust Ben Jonson's satire to 21st century farce at the Shakespeare Theatre Company . . .
Back to Top of Review List Elsewhere
High Holidays- a bittersweet remembrance of a clan on the skids, finally together in order to fall apart forever. . . .Sleep No More- the most astonishing production to come to Boston in a decade is a treat for the adventurous and the patient . . . New Jersey
On The Town- For the sheer number of belly laughs and for simply having a helluva good time, you can't beat the jovial and rambunctious carrying on by the three sailors on a 24-hour shore leave . . .Blood - David Lee Whiter, has concocted a raucously philosophical farce, one that I concede, must be seen to be believed . . .
Berkshires
|
gotickets.com premium tickets for Billy Elliot A Steady Rain on Broadway Wicked Musical and more Broadway tickets
You can put a click-through image about your show here for a week or a year.
Write for details.
TIMELY QUOTES This mornng I was a peaceful country doctor filled with gentle thoughts of a medical description and I coveted nothing, not even my collections. Look at me now. . . if a patient came in with an appendix now I'd miss it so far I'd put his eye out!.— Dr. Haggetty expressing the effect of discovering that the paintings given to him by his deceased former patient and boarder were not as worthless as he had thought, The Late Christopher Bean. |
©Copyright 2009, Elyse Sommer.