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Tony Frankel
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Theater Review: A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach)
AMERICA’S BEST NOTES Beginning its first season since the COVID shutdown, Musical Theater West has, true to its name, celebrated musical theatre with A Grand Night for Singing, a heartfelt, if sometimes overwrought, salute which happily honors and delightfully reprises the glorious, all-American (in the best sense) Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals and their inexhaustible legacy…
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Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS STRAUSS (LA Phil)
CONSIDER YOURSELF TRANSFIGURED Americans are weary. We remain as divisive as ever, a situation fueled by social media, news, and other white noise. We are working harder and longer yet struggle to pay bills — at the same time quitting jobs in record numbers. Instead of being inspired to do more to combat the speed…
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Broadway Reopening: AIN’T TOO PROUD –” THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS (Imperial Theatre)
MAGIC IN THE MUSIC Sometimes jukebox bio-musicals get so caught up in the fame and fortune of the journey that they miss the creative passion that is the true force driving most artists forward. Happily, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations — which returns to Broadway tomorrow, October 16, 2021 — puts…
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Theater Review: MY FAIR LADY (National Tour)
STILL THE FAIREST I’m rather certain one cannot visit enough productions of My Fair Lady. The 1956 musical, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, tells the tale of Professor Henry Higgins, a puffed-up upper-class grammarian, and Eliza Doolittle, his lower-class, flower girl protégé whom Higgins turns into a lady by changing her speech. With one of the most…
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Off-Broadway Reopening: JERSEY BOYS (New World Stages)
THEY’RE FRIGGIN’ BACK By now, the world knows about the musical Jersey Boys, the story of pop sensation Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. It’s a triumph, and the NY production leaves all others at the shore. It returns to New York City’s New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) on November 15, 2021. Tickets…
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Album Review: SILVER LINING SUITE (Hiromi)
Hiromi’s Silver Lining Suite is astounding. This truly breathtaking and ferocious blend of jazz invention and classical composition is love at first listen. Highly, highly recommended by Stage and Cinema. (Click HERE for teaser video) Ever since the 2003 release of her debut, Another Mind, Hiromi has electrified uss with a creative energy that encompasses and eclipses…
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Theater Opening: POOR CLARE (Echo Theater Company)
The Echo Theater Company’s world premiere production of Poor Clare will open in October, 19 months after the originally scheduled March, 2020 opening that was shuttered by the pandemic. Echo associate artistic director Alana Dietze (Dry Land) is back at the helm of Chiara Atik’s powerful and very funny modern spin on the medieval story of Saint Clare of Assisi. Poor Clare will open…
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Theater Opening: CELIA AND FIDEL (Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C.)
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is opening Eduardo Machado’s Celia and Fidel on October 8, 2021. It’s 1980 and Cuba is dealing with a failing economy. As Fidel Castro ponders on how to move his country forward, his political partner, Celia Sánchez, is never far from his side. Imbued with magical…
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NYC Dance: ALEJANDRO CERRUDO’S “IT STARTS NOW” (World Premiere at The Joyce in Chelsea)
ALEJANDRO CERRUDO’S IT STARTS NOW OPENS SEPTEMBER 28 AT THE JOYCE “Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am…
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Album Review: WHAT WOULD PETULA DO? (Maxine Linehan)
WHAT WOULD PETULA DO? SURPRISINGLY MORE THAN “DO-DO-DOODLEDY DO” From sunny, optimistic, and ebullient to kittenish to a grande dame chanteuse, Irish singer and performer Maxine Linehan offers a true homage to the great Petula Clark. While know best for her enduring mid-60s upbeat classic pop song (many written or co-written by Tony Hatch and…
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Theater Review: THE SECRET WORLD OF DANNY LOPEZ (Two Roads Theater in Studio City)
WELCOME TO HIS SECRET WORLD OK, mini caveat: I am friends with Samuel Garza Bernstein, whose new one-man 70-minute show, The Secret World of Danny Lopez, opened last week at Two Roads Theater in Studio City. While I never tire of the ever fascinating Mr. Bernstein, the thought of another solo show written by and…
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Broadway Openings: IS THIS A ROOM and DANA H. (Lyceum)
YOU THINK BIGGER IS BETTER ON BROADWAY? THINK AGAIN. This is a fascinating year for Broadway. Not only are big-ticket plays and musicals coming back to life post-COVID, but we are also seeing proven experimental, smaller productions making the move to bigger houses. Case in point: Matt Ross and other like-minded producers are bringing Is…
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Music Review: BEETHOVEN/SCHUMANN (Marta Gardolińska and Hélène Grimaud with the LA Phil at The Hollywood Bowl)
GARDOLIŃSKA SCORES A TEN WITH BEETHOVEN SEVEN The highly accessible and gloriously melodic Piano Concerto by Robert Schumann was one of my very first intros to classical music (the Romantic period to be precise) as a youngster. I became completely immersed and addicted — memorizing every phrase, tempo shift and nuance. It remains a favorite…
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Virtual Theater: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG REUNION (Stars in the House Livestream)
“STARS IN THE HOUSE” “MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG” REUNION WITH JIM WALTON, LONNY PRICE, ANN MORRISSON, AND JASON ALEXANDER Playing tonight Thursday, September 9 at 8pmET live, hosts Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley present a special reunion episode of “Stars In The House” featuring the original cast of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Merrily We Roll Along” to…
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Theater Opening: it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE! (Odyssey Theatre)
Odyssey Theatre presents 4 performances of John Fleck’s it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE! a musical cabaret special event-in-progress We’re deconstructing again. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents an entertaining and provoking musical cabaret-style special event, conceived and performed by legendary performance artist John Fleck (Blacktop Highway, Mad Women, NEA Four). it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE! gets four work-in-progress performances on Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 in advance of a full-fledged opening…
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Upcoming Theater Season: PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE (2021-22 Live)
Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre’s 27th season has been announced. Single tickets and a variety of subscription options for the Mainstage and Porchlight Revisits are on sale now at Porchlight or by phone at 773.777.9884. Along with Mainstage productions, Porchlight Revisits celebrates the lost musical gems of Broadway and Off-Broadway and is your ticket to go…
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Concert Hall: THE SORAYA’S 2021-22 SEASON (Northridge, CA)
Handily one of our greatest performance venues, The Soraya just keeps getting better with its programming. And as a 10th Anniversary Gift to the Community, there will be Five Free Events to kick off a spectacular season. Members at any level secure guaranteed seating to all Free concerts. Non-member reservations (limit 4 per household) will be taken…
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Album Review: GET YOURSELF SOME HAPPY (Lillias White)
HAPPINESS IS JUST A THING CALLED LILLIAS So, which Lillias White is your favorite? Is it the bluesy, searching, achy soul singer? The sassy sweetheart of standards? The darling diva of Broadway showtunes? The infectious raging gospel optimism? Well, you get all that and more on her new CD, Get Yourself Some Happy!, out now…
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Theater Event: STEPHEN SONDHEIM & JAMES LAPINE (with Christine Baranski, Bernadette Peters & Mandy Patinkin)
On August 3, Christine Baranski, who was in the original off-Broadway production of Sunday In the Park with George at Playwrights Horizons, moderated an intimate digital conversation event with playwright and director James Lapine and composer Stephen Sondheim to celebrate the release of Lapine’s new book Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I created…
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Film Review: THE MEANING OF HITLER (directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein)
THE MEANING OF TRUMP VIA HITLER I’ve heard the term “fascist” floating about for years in America to describe both sides of the political aisle, even as the term used to apply only to the far right. The original term comes from “Fascisti”, the members of an Italian political organization that seized power and controlled…
Theater Review: MEN OF SOUL (Black Ensemble Theater / Chicago)
by Mitchell Oldham | July 1, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterWHY A BOX OFFICE HIT CAN STILL LOSE MONEY
by Leslie Rosenberg | July 1, 2026
in Extras, FilmTheater Preview: PROOF (El Portal Theatre / North Hollywood)
by pwsadmin | June 30, 2026
in Los Angeles, Theater
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