Areas We Cover
Categories
Rob Lester
-
Film Review: KENSUKE’S KINGDOM (directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry)
A KINGDOM OF RICHES If you think that a survivor story on film about a boy and his dog battling the odds and a myriad of dangers will only keep you interested and involved if it looks rugged and realistic, is fueled by a rarely stopping barrage of heart-stopping chills and thrills, tragedy and terror,…
-
Film Review HOME COURT (directed by Erica Tanamachi; NYC Premiere at the International Children’s Film Festival)
HOME COURT: HOOPS, HURDLES AND HEART The probable target audience for Home Court consists of those who find joy in playing basketball themselves or those who happily watch from the stands or on television. (Right now, college and professional games dominate TV schedules—it’s called March Madness.) But what if you’re not particularly thrilled by the…
-
Concert Review: 100 YEARS OF EPIC FILM SCORES (The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall)
NOW HEAR THIS! Film may be first and foremost a visual medium, but where would it be without music to bring out the emotions, heighten the drama, quicken the heart, create tension, and tie things together? At the cinema, while our brains are taking in the plot, and our sense of sight is absorbing all…
-
Special Event Coverage: VAPE! (The Town Hall in Manhattan; A Benefit for the Entertainment Community Fund)
A GRANDLY GREASE-Y SPOOF! Poking fun, flinging a pun, prizing satirizing — that’s the paradise that is parody and Vape!, blatantly billing itself as “The Grease Parody,” aims its playfully poisoned arrows at that popular pop musical about high school, with high spirits. It was presented as a one-night-only concert event at The Town Hall…
-
New York Cabaret Review: I’LL BE HERE TOMORROW: THE OPTIMISM OF JERRY HERMAN (54 Below)
Songs and gab at this swell cabaret Starting the party is Mame‘s “It’s Today.” Hear the cheer in the singer’s voice With this merry Jerry Herman choice. The room has no gloom. There’s joy. We feel jolly When they sing anything from the swell Hello, Dolly! A grand score, The Grand Tour, we all adore;…
-
Concert Review: BROADWAY’S LEADING LADIES (The Town Hall in New York & Filmed for PBS)
AN AMAZING NIGHT OF STARS GALORE –AND IT’S COMING TO PBS Filmed to be shown on PBS stations later this year, the concert cavalcade called Broadway’s Leading Ladies at The Town Hall on West 43rd Street in Manhattan on March 10 was received with some of the most ecstatic, enthusiastic, and fanatic cheering and applause…
-
Theater Review: MY FIRST EX-HUSBAND (MMAC Theater)
Marital Mayhem and Matrimonial Mishaps: My First Ex-Husband’s Second Cast Delivers Divorce Tales with Bite “Do you take this man — To have and to hold — from this day forward — for better, for worse — for richer, for poorer…?” Half the time, after a while, a woman will take a moment to reconsider,…
-
Off-Broadway Review: THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT (Orpheum Theatre)
TICK, TICK… ENCORE! LARSON’S TRUNK SONGS SHINE If you’re a fan of potent post-Golden Age theatre music, you should check out a show that just officially opened downtown last night. There’s a lot to see, a lot to hear, and a lot to like when it comes to The Jonathan Larson Project—so head to the…
-
Off-Broadway Review: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Literally Alive Family Theatre at The Players Theatre)
WHEN CHILDREN’S THEATER IS A BEAUTIFUL THING Two “P” words—“professional” and “pleasant”—describe the stage production in Greenwich Village with two “B” words in its title: Beauty and the Beast. One might also use two “E” words—“earnest” and “eager”—to characterize how its characters dive into the action and moral of the story. The genre of theatre…
-
Cabaret Review: THE KLEINBORT COLLECTION: THE SONGS OF BARRY KLEINBORT (Jamie deRoy & Friends at Birdland)
THINGS ARE O.K. WITH MR. K For decades, three words—“by Barry Kleinbort”—have often appeared in cabaret and theatre credits, typically preceded by “directed” or “written.” At Birdland, The Kleinbort Collection—a gratifying gathering of his material from past projects—put the bespectacled, merry, mustached man himself on stage to introduce guest singers and share the origins of…
-
Cabaret Review: LET’S NOT TALK ABOUT… (Kate Baldwin at 54 Below)
A DATE WITH KATE She looks and sounds radiant, and the audience knows it. Tonight, March 6, she was greeted with some of the most enthusiastic and sustained cheers I’ve heard in a long time. Accompanied by pianist/arranger Georgia Stitt, musical theatre actress and concert artist Kate Baldwin takes the stage at 54 Below for three nights…
-
Off-Off-Broadway Review: A EULOGY FOR ROMAN (Multiple Venues: Churches & Community Centers, Manhattan & Brooklyn)
HOW TO URN AUDIENCE SYMPATHY This one-man show is described as an “immersive” experience, and the immersiveness begins right at the entrance of the particularly fitting venue, the oh-so-appropriate First Reformed Church in the cozy neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Audiences are invited to play along with the premise that they have gathered not to…
-
Cabaret Review: THE BRYCE EDWARDS FRIVOLITY HOUR (Birdland Jazz Club)
BRIGHT, BROMIDIC BRYCE AND HIS FREEWHEELING FRABJOUS FRIVOLITY Take note, nightclub-goers: Attending an edition of the spiffy soiree The Bryce Edwards Frivolity Hour might just make you believe in reincarnation. How else can you explain a young entertainer delivering old, old, old pop songs with the nasal croon and slick panache of a band vocalist…
-
Off-Broadway Review: CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS (The New Group at Pershing Square Signature Center)
SINCE THE FRIDGE IS EMPTY, HOW ABOUT A GIANT BOWL OF GRIT? There’s no place like home. Mom calls the cops, convinced Dad is going to kill her—he’s drunker than usual and literally breaks down the door. The next morning, she yells at her son for sweeping up the shattered pieces. He yells back. Daughter…
-
Off-Broadway Review: STILL (Loreto Theatre, The Sheen Center)
IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT, WILL EX-LOVERS REUNITE OR FIGHT? After decades apart, can the passion of once-young lovers sizzle again, like leftover pizza zapped in the microwave? Picking up an old relationship isn’t as easy as picking up takeout—food doesn’t come with the “Can we be a couple again?” dilemma. Still, playing at…
-
Cabaret Review: BEYOND THE WALLS OF JOE ALLEN (Backstage Babble at 54 Below)
BACKSTAGE BABBLE AT STUDIO 54: TOPS WITH FLOPS Not every musical is a hit, and some barely get a chance to stumble before vanishing into obscurity. The midtown Manhattan nightclub 54 Below has an ongoing concert series that explores Broadway’s Greatest Hits—but what about Broadway’s greatest flops? Last night on February 19, Beyond the Walls of…
-
Event Review: BroadwayCon 2025 (Days 2 & 3, Marriott Marquis)
BroadwayCon Continues & Concludes with Conversations & Connections Part II of a Look & Listen to the 3-Day Theatre Event (Part I reviewed here) There are Broadway stars and Broadway fans with stars in their eyes. The latter is present in droves—devotees of theatre, eager to gain information and insights inside interview rooms and to…
-
Cabaret Review: DIANNE REEVES: WITH LOVE (Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater)
DIANNE REEVES’ WITH LOVE RECEIVED WITH LOVE If Grammy-winning singer Dianne Reeves’ suitcase could talk (and I’m guessing that it can’t), it would tell tales of trekking all over the world for her engagements, packed with flowing stage garb and memories. Recent and upcoming months include gigs in such exotic places as China, Germany, Japan,…
-
Cabaret Review: LOVE IS IN THE AIR (Davis Gaines, The Green Room 42 at YOTEL)
EVERYTHING TO GAINES AND NOTHING TO LOSE No, he doesn’t sing “My Funny Valentine” in his entertaining show called Love Is in the Air on the night before Valentine’s Day at Green Room 42 (repeated on the holiday itself). Nor does Davis Gaines revisit any numbers from The Phantom of the Opera, a musical in…
-
Off-Broadway Review: EMILIO’S A MILLION CHAMELEONS (SoHo Playhouse’s International Fringe Encore Theater Series)
A COLORFUL, KINETIC AND PUPPET-FILLED POW Emilio’s A Million Chameleons at Soho Playhouse offers family-friendly, fabulously frenzied fun. Like many offerings aimed at, or at least semi-targeted, to kids, it’s brief—just under an hour—but packed with energy. And that’s an understatement. But the frantic, almost unrelenting, race and pace is justified, not only catering to…
Music Review: NELLIE McKAY (City Vineyard)
by Rob Lester | April 29, 2026
in Cabaret, New YorkOff-Broadway Review: BROKEN SNOW (Theatre 71)
by Gregory Fletcher | April 28, 2026
in New York, TheaterTheater Review: THE SECRET SHARER (DNAWorks at Emerson Paramount Center)
by Lynne Weiss | April 27, 2026
in Boston, TheaterBroadway Review: JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE (Barrymore Theatre)
by Paola Bellu | April 25, 2026
in New York, Theater
Search Articles
Please help keep
Stage and Cinema going!
