Tony Frankel

SCAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Casey Smith is an unedited, unexpurgated, nasty and playful little boy who delights in farting, defecating, vomiting and bouncing around the stage with so much hyperactive energy that you may be tempted to toss him some Ritalin and Handy-Wipes. Casey Smith is not a character in a play; this…

WHO SAYS I DON’T LIKE FLUFF? Some readers have taken umbrage with me when I criticize shows that are meant to be nothing more than entertaining light comedies, such as Rock Of Ages and The Catholic Girl’s Guide To Losing Your Virginity, insinuating that only intellectual stimulation will suffice for a satisfying theatrical experience. Well,…

WELL, NOT EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES Prior to the opening of Ethel Merman’s Broadway at the El Portal, Mitzi Gaynor, close friend to Merman, comes walking out to introduce the show (don’t expect Mitzi at subsequent performances). As Mitzi recalls what a larger-than-life character Ethel could be, an audience member said, “We can’t hear you. 

MASTERPIECE IN THE MAKING When an art curator X-rays a famous painting, they occasionally unmask the artist’s original painting underneath the masterpiece; often, it proves to be no less striking, but it illuminates why the artist altered hues, shifted brush strokes, or placed the arm of a sitter in a different position. Nick Salamone’s new…

PROMISING BOOMERS YIELD TOO MANY BUMMERS Six highly energetic triple-threat performers hit the ground running at the El Portal Theatre during the opening number of Boomermania. With a lacquered glee that one can only find in a cruise ship showroom (containing all the subtlety of a tidal wave), it serves as a warning of the…

MATH PROBLEM Consummate actress Annie Potts has an auspicious moment at the start of AfterMath: she plays Julie, whose husband has jumped into the Hudson River, leaving behind two grown children and a confoundingly simplistic suicide note. She relates to us, in a monologue that is funny, melancholic and touching, that her math-teaching spouse of…

THIS SONG IS WRONG, LONG, AND GETS THE GONG Prior to curtain up at Emily’s Song, Chet Holmes’ stultifying new musical at the Hudson Theatre, his daughter, co-composer and associate producer, Amanda, entertained us with original songs that brought to mind Norah Jones. When gorgeous, sweet-voiced Amanda finished her acoustic set and introduced the show…

YOU’LL WANT TO TIP THIS ROOM SERVICE Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Depression-era Broadway producer Gordon Miller (Derek Manson) discovers swell script by greenhorn scribe from Oswego (Dustin Eastman). Miller runs up huge hotel bill while rehearsing show on 19th floor. Hotel proprietor and brother-in-law (Phillip William Brock) in a panic – boss and…

YOU CAN GO BACK AGAIN The award-winning Musical Theatre Guild, a company of professional performers who present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals, will continue its 15th season with Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash’s rarely-produced classic One Touch of Venus (1943). I have been attending MTG for years and their one-night stands are more professional…

TO SAVE A MELODRAMATIC SCRIPT Harper Lee’s 1960 story about lawyer Atticus Finch, who defends Tom Robinson, a black man wrongfully accused of rape in 1935 Alabama, has lost none of its appeal. Although some have argued that many of the poor white Southerners and victimized black characters are one-dimensional (and that Atticus’ daughter, six-year-old…

MORE PHALLUS, PLEASE I don’t know about you, but if I were a 5th century Greek who had just witnessed three back-to-back tragedies at the Festival Dionysus, only one thing could lift my spirits: Party! The Greeks loved to party as much as they loved theatre, so why not combine the two? The “party†became…

EGGOLD SUNNY-SIDE UP Here’s a switch: in the ever-increasing saga of showcase-as-play in Los Angeles theatre, 90210 star Ryan Eggold has not only written Amy & Elliot, a genuinely funny play, but delivers a beguiling performance and manages to direct it with comical nuances that showcase the talent of his 3 co-stars. True, the sit-com…