Rob Lester

IT WON’T LAST FIVE YEARS, BUT IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO (THE RELATIONSHIP AND THE BROADWAY MUSICAL) Although the traditional wedding vow includes the pledge to stay together “‘til death do you part,” sometimes the love and compatibility die first. In some old stories of romance, where marriage is the be-all and end-all, it all…

MAKING THE IMPLAUSABLE APPLAUSEABLE, SMASH IS A WILD, WACKY, WONDERFUL WOW “S” is for “splashy”; “M” is for “Marilyn Monroe”; “A” is for “audience-pleasing”; “S” is for “snarky”; “H” is for “hilarious.” Put ’em all together and that’s Smash, the broad Broadway musical comedy and the story of the Broadway musical comedy within that Broadway…

GRINS, GOWNS, AND GRIT: A WINNING SMILE SASHAYS BACK ONSTAGE In the year 1919, the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway featured an ode to female finery as a bevy of beauties graced the stage to the strains of the Irving Berlin song “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody.” The next year, Congress ratified an amendment…

MR. GREENSPAN, PARTY OF FOUR Here’s a one-of-a-kind, one-person, one-act play in which one man plays four women—simultaneously—without ever leaving the stage. Three (sometimes all four) of these women are present in the same scene for a good chunk of the time. Our intrepid performer simply pivots his body as the women speak, often trading off…

HERE’S THE SCOOP ON BOOP! ENDEARINGLY CUTE, ASTUTE AND A HOOT Some things are meant to last. Cartoon character Betty Boop has been around for 95 years and has just been rejuvenated—as youthful, spirited, spunky, sprightly, spit-curled and curvy as ever. The new Broadway musical, simply called BOOP!—which opened last night at the Broadhurst Theatre—presents…

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…

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…