Broadway

Three heavy hitters have teamed up on Broadway to give audiences an evening of kinship wrapped in contention with Relatively Speaking: three one-act comedies which cover various forms of familial remedy, rivalry and racket.  Four-time Oscar winner Ethan Coen, two-time Oscar nominee Elaine May and multiple award winner Woody Allen each offer up their views [...]

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My parents spent a great deal of money on my education. First they chose a strict parochial grammar school for 8 years, then I was sent off to an exclusive prep school for 4 years, and finally my education was capped off with a fancy private college. All this was done to ensure that I [...]

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For those of us who were there last night, either as fans of Green Day, Broadway, or their rock opera American Idiot- it was a legendary moment.  Billie Joe Armstrong- lead singer of Green Day, main lyricist, and guitarist of the band for the past 20 years made his Broadway debut appropriately as the character  [...]

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“American Idiot – The Musical”: An Incredible Rock and Roll Broadway Musical

by Anne Jordanova May 1, 2010 Broadway

So this evening, I had the pleasure of finally seeing American Idiot The Musical on Broadway at the gorgeous St. John’s Theater, and I am without words on where to begin. This musical truly is a brilliant, creative masterpiece, and stands alone in a genre of its own originality and style. Certainly a ROCK OPERA, [...]

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Once Upon A Time … An Evening With Charles Strouse

by Karen Tortora-Lee October 30, 2009 Books

Charles Strouse isn’t a name that immediately rings a bell with most people the way, say, Andrew Lloyd Webber does.  If you say “the great musical composer, Charles Strouse”  people don’t go “Ahhhh, right, of course”.  But mention some of his iconic songs and right away the “wow, I didn’t know he wrote that“s and [...]

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Reasons Why “reasons to be pretty” Couldn’t Survive

by Karen Tortora-Lee June 15, 2009 Broadway

This was supposed to be a review for reasons to be pretty (written by Neil LaBute, directed by Terry Kinney, starring  Thomas Sadoski,  Marin Ireland, Steven Pasquale and Piper Perabo).  A very late review, no doubt, but not every reviewer has the luxury of seeing a Broadway show while it’s still in previews.  Sometimes a reviewer needs [...]

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August: Osage County — This Ain’t The Huxtable Family

by Karen Tortora-Lee June 3, 2009 Broadway

I’m here to set the record straight. I’ve spent years thinking that Phylicia Rashad‘s career was based on giving life to characters that sprung forth from Bill Cosby‘s head, the straight (wo)man standing patiently by as William Henry Cosby, Jr. Ed.D. gave in to one of his patented Cosby-eque tirades.  After all, she played his [...]

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Good Ole Fashioned Happy Musicals

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 27, 2009 Broadway

The other day a friend of mine went to see Sessions.  I asked her how she liked it and she said, “I didn’t expect it to be so heavy.  I guess when I saw “musical” I expected “light”.  Huh.   As a life long devotee to Sondheim, who’s every musical (even the deceptively named Follies) is [...]

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Bea Flies Home – Remembering A Broadway Legend

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 7, 2009 Broadway

My first encounter with Bea Arthur wasn’t in her role as Dorothy Zbornak on Golden Girls, or even as Maude Findlay in Maude.  I was first introduced to Bea Arthur’s disembodied baritone as it came seeping through my bedroom floor boards. Picture it – Brooklyn, early seventies.  A young six year old is trying to get her beauty [...]

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I Can Get It for You Wholesale

by Karen Tortora-Lee February 3, 2009 Broadway

For those who know their Broadway Show history, I Can Get It for You Wholesale is the 1962 musical responsible for bringing a teen-aged Barbra Streisand to the New York stage; she not only debuted to critical acclaim, but she sang her way into a Tony Nomination as well for her role as Miss Marmelstein.  [...]

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American Buffalo

by Karen Tortora-Lee November 17, 2008 Broadway

You know you’re at a David Mamet play when, before the show even starts, you’re asked to turn off your fucking cell phones. While the play was first produced in the seventies, the subject matter is hardly dated; nothing gives away the time period (except for John Leguizamo’s crazy-patterned shirt — which could easily be [...]

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Wicked: Not in Kansas Anymore …

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 25, 2008 Broadway

Years ago I got the Gregory McGuire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and it immediately became one of my top favorites of all time. I’m a big fan of stories that tell the other side of the story (see: Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead). Moral of Wicked: [...]

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Damn Yankees: You Gotta Have Heart

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 3, 2008 Broadway

When I was a little girl I was shocked to discover that you could check records out of the library just like you checked out books. It almost seemed like stealing … stealing with your EARS. Since my dad’s collection of records was extensive but sadly lacking a few staples I immediately headed over to [...]

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Dueling Evitas ~OR~ Shut up, Patti LuPone!

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 20, 2007 Broadway

There’s an episode of Will & Grace where Jack tries to ignore Patti LuPone as she chatters, crawls around on the floor, and just generally makes herself un-ingnorable. At one point he screams “Shut up Patti LuPone! Shut your brassy, magnificent trap!!!” She turns around and deadpans … “They either love me or they hate [...]

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