‘LIBERATION’: Audrey Corsa, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio & Adina Verson. Photo: Little Fang.

LIBERATION
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Whitney White
Through February 1, 2026
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
https://liberationbway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Stories about feminism and the women’s movement more than 50 years ago might seem anachronistic to some. However, Bess Wohl’s Liberation, set in Ohio in 1970, is quite relevant and topical today. It’s disturbing to think that the same rights and freedoms feminists fought for back then are all issues women still face in 2025 America. Women must still fight for the right to choose and equal pay. They battle sexism and grapple with double standards in a male-dominated society. This production (which premiered off-Broadway this past winter at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre) features one of the best ensemble casts on the New York stage in years.

‘Consciousness raising’ in an Ohio town

Lizzie (Susannah Flood) is a journalist in a small Ohio town and decides to start a “consciousness-raising” group. They meet weekly in a rec center’s basketball court to talk about women’s issues and ongoing struggles with men. She acts as narrator for the tale.

The story of young Lizzie is interspersed with that of her daughter in the 2020s. Ms. Flood also portrays Lizzie’s daughter in the present day, interviewing original group members years after her mother’s death. Her daughter wants to discover why her mother went from being a feminist activist to a more traditional woman later in life. Lizzie’s daughter wants to find out what happened to the group’s idealism over the years.

…And ladies of the club

One of the unique aspects of Liberation is the way it shows a microcosm of women from diverse backgrounds, races and socioeconomic levels, all facing similar oppression simply because of their gender. The only other women’s group that meets at the venue is a knitting circle.

Members of the sisterhood

The sisterhood of Lizzie’s group includes Margie (Betsy Aidem), the oldest member who has been married for decades to the same man. Joanne (Kayla Davion) is the group’s first Black member. She’s an author and feels slightly out of place because, as an African American, her level of oppression is far worse as a female woman of color.

Dora (Audrey Corsa) stumbles into the group unexpectedly, thinking it was a knitting club, but she’s frustrated as a beautiful woman working for a wine company, forced to grapple with sexism and objectification by the men at her job.

In addition, Isidora (Irene Sofia Lucio) is from Italy and the only immigrant. She has a unique perspective on women’s issues that differs from the American women. Susan (Adina Verson) is a radical feminist, while Celeste (Kristolyn Lloyd) is a Black woman who joins the group later in the story. Bill (Charlie Thurston) plays a key role in young Lizzie’s past.

A memory play from a woman’s perspective

Lizzie tells the audience at the beginning of the show that Liberation is a memory play. The show’s full title is Liberation: A Memory Play About Things I Don’t Remember. Memory plays often feature a main character recalling past events. Prime examples include The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and Betrayal by Harold Pinter.  Lizzie uses this method as present-day narrator to examine her mother’s past.

Women’s struggles remain consistent over decades

Playwright Bess Wohl captures the essence of intergenerational conflicts and the thorny issues related to activism. Ms. Wohl also shows how feminism and the ongoing fight for women’s equality are both different for every woman based on her circumstances and identity. However, the need for women to be heard, taken seriously by men, be paid a fair wage and also appreciated is something that has not changed much since the dawn of the women’s movement. Women today still are expected to have and raise children, work, manage a household and also live up to overwhelming expectations created by men and society in general.

Razor-sharp direction of an excellent ensemble

Director Whitney White does an outstanding job of directing this excellent ensemble. There are so many fine performances here that it’s difficult to single out any as standouts because each actress is so great in her own right. Susannah Flood does a remarkable job as narrator, young Lizzie and her daughter. Betsy Aidem is sensational as Margie, the eldest group member who has struggled living the only life she knows as wife to man who can do little for himself. Audrey Corsa is often poignant as the beautiful, naïve yet powerful career woman Dora. Kayla Davion as the intellectual Joanne is always entertaining with her nonstop wit, and Kristolyn Lloyd as Celeste, Irene Sofia Lucio as Isidora and Adina Verson as the militant feminist Susan are equally superb.

Liberation is a brutally realistic, consistently funny “herstory” lesson that speaks volumes about the inequitable state of women in past and present America. The play shows why there should not be anything “radical” about treating women as equal to men and giving women the respect they deserve. Without question, Liberation is one of the best dramas of the year.

Published November 1, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on October 29, 2025

‘LIBERATION’: Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Betsy Aidem & Audrey Corsa. Photo: White Fang.

‘LIBERATION’: Susannah Flood & Betsy Aidem. Photo: Little Fang.

‘LIBERATION’: The cast. Photo: White Fang.

The post ‘Liberation’: ‘Herstory’ lesson is a must-see appeared first on StageZine.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: Florencia Cuenca & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES: THE MUSICAL
Music & lyrics by Joy Huerta & Benjamin Velez
Book by Lisa Loomer & Nell Benjamin
Based on the play by Josefina Lopez
and HBO’s Real Women Have Curves,
screenplay by Josefina Lopez & George LaVoo
Directed & choreographed by Sergio Trujillo
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
https://www.realwomenhavecurvesbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Musical stage adaptations of films and plays can be tricky indeed. On paper, a musical adaptation of Real Women Have Curves—the 1990 play by Josefina Lopez about an 18-year-old Mexican American woman in Los Angeles and her immigrant family’s struggles that was adapted into a hit 2002 HBO film starring America Ferrera—might have seemed like a hard sell. However, the finished product is sensational and one of the spring 2025 Broadway season’s most delightful surprises.

Tony nominations

The Broadway musical received two 2025 Tony Award nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Justina Machado) and Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) for Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez. Some might argue, including this reviewer, that the show deserved even more Tony nominations because it is such a beautiful and poignant musical on many levels.

From play & film to musical

When the film came out 23 years ago, it turned then-unknown America Ferrera into a star. She went on to play opposite co-star Vanessa Williams in the hit ABC TV comedy “Ugly Betty” for four seasons. The film was primarily known as a vehicle for female empowerment for plus-sized women. In 2025, however, the story of undocumented Mexican and Latina immigrants working in a women’s dress factory mirrors the current struggles of hard-working migrants in fear of being deported.

Tatianna Córdoba stars as Ana, an 18-year-old living in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles in 1987. Her family is from Mexico, but Ana is the only one who is a U.S. citizen. She has recently graduated from high school and wants to become a journalist. She obtains a full-ride scholarship to prestigious Columbia University in New York, but her mother, Carmen (Ms. Machado) wants Ana to stay in L.A. and help out with the garment-making business because the family is struggling. Carmen expects Ana to assume a traditional woman’s role and also follow in the footsteps of her older sister, Estela (Florencia Cuenca).

The family is working hard to meet a deadline for an order of 200 dresses. Each dress must be handmade, in a factory room without air-conditioning. Everyone in the factory is undocumented, but in the Reagan era, a law granted amnesty to non-citizens who had been in the USA since 1982. Although this law existed, many immigrants still felt unsafe because employers who knowingly hired “illegal” foreign nationals faced large fines and possible imprisonment.

Family decisions & the plight of Latina women

Ana faces a dilemma that is common when one is part of any family business: She’s independent, has her own dreams and wants her own life and career. In addition, she is grappling with the cultural expectations of her family as well as body-image issues. She wants to spend the summer working as an intern at a local newspaper instead of working in the factory, and this does not please her mother. What’s more, Ana meets a nice guy, Henry (Mason Reeves),  at the newspaper and starts dating him.

Real Women Have Curves is both the story of an immigrant family and also the collected stories of Latina women. All of the women are just trying to make an honest living in bleak conditions, in a city and country that is not exactly kind to them.

Itzel (Aline Mayagoitia) has one of the most moving stories. She is a refugee from Guatemala working in the factory with the others. When Itzel is arrested by immigration police, the other women fear they will be next.  Itzel and Ana have one of the show’s most powerful duets, “If I Were a Bird.”

Show-stopping ‘Curves’

Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez’s musical score is high-spirited and uplifting, with many great songs. The muscal’s showstopper is Act Two’s “Curves,” a song that follows a scene in which Ana and the factory women strip down to their undergarments in the stifling heat and sing about rejecting the social limitations placed on them. It’s a feel-good moment that has the audience cheering and erupting into thunderous applause.

Trujillo’s triumph

Director and choreographer Sergio Trujillo has worked on many great shows in recent years, but Real Women Have Curves: The Musical is one of his best. He has directed the cast skillfully, and the performances all coalesce well.

A solid cast

The show’s standouts include Ms. Córdoba (making her Broadway debut) as Ana. Ms. Córdoba brings all the grit, charm and determination needed for such a complicated character. The magnificent Justina Machado is a complete natural as Carmen, the traditional, no-nonsense mother of Ana and Estela. Her scenes with her family and also in the factory are all exquisitely performed.

The supporting cast members are all adept and each give their character a true-to-life quality that is often inspiring. Aline Mayagoitia’s portrayal of young Itzel is especially heartwarming. There’s just so much to enjoy in Real Women Have Curves: The Musical, from the clever dialogue to the down-to-earth production numbers and the overall message of hope when faced with the harsh realities of pursuing the American dream.

Published May 9, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on April 30, 2025

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: (left to right) Florencia Cuenca, Tatianna Córdoba & Justina Machado. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: Justina Machado. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: Mason Reeves & Tatianna Córdoba. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: Tatianna Córdoba & Aline Mayagoitia. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: Mauricio Mendoza & Justina Machado. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES’: Tatianna Córdoba & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

The post ‘Real Women Have Curves’ is surprise of season appeared first on StageZine.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Peter Gallagher & Julianna Margulies. Photo: Joan Marcus.

LEFT ON TENTH
By Delia Ephron
Based on her book Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir
Directed by Susan Stroman
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
https://leftontenthbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Playwright, author and screenwriter Delia Ephron certainly knows all about romantic comedies. She wrote the screenplays for such “rom-com” hits as You’ve Got Mail (co-written with her late sister, Nora) and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Ms. Ephron’s new Broadway play Left on Tenth is an adaptation of her best-selling 2022 memoir Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir. Like the book, the play is based on Ms. Ephron’s real-life story of losing her sister, writer Nora Ephron, to cancer and the untimely death of her husband Jerry shortly afterward. Not exactly a winning formula for a “rom-com,” but romance is only part of the story here.

Before the curtain even rises, the audience hears a repetitive recording from Verizon’s customer service department: The annoying, robotic-sounding call-center menu anyone who ever has to call about service on a cell phone, internet or the like has experienced. We see Delia (Julianna Margulies) in her Manhattan apartment, waiting on hold on the phone with Verizon, hoping to speak to someone about her lost internet connection. She recently disconnected the landline of her husband of 33 years, Jerry, who died just six months ago.

Overcome by frustration with the phone carrier and the grief of her husband’s passing, Delia writes an essay about Verizon and it gets published in the New York Times. Shortly afterward, she gets a fan letter from Peter (Peter Gallagher), a Jungian psychiatrist in California. They start emailing each other and then telephoning and she learns he is also single, he’s also Jewish and originally from New York and he wants to come visit her in person. Delia soon learns that she supposedly dated him years ago, but she does not remember him.  Sounds like your typical formulaic Lifetime or Hallmark made-for-TV romantic comedy, right? Not exactly.

When Peter comes to New York, he and Delia hit it off immediately. They fall in love, but things don’t go as planned. Delia is soon diagnosed with AML, the same type of leukemia that killed her sister. Delia has only been dating Peter for four months.

The story takes a sharp turn as Delia starts an experimental treatment for AML and Peter stays lovingly by her side. There’s a lot of sincerity and heartbreak in this sentimental tale, but much of the dialogue is wooden and strained. Something is definitely off as the story segues from a romantic comedy to a serious drama, and the hospitals scenes in which Delia grapples with the agony of chemotherapy come across as mawkish and contrived. Part of the problem is Susan Stroman’s uneven direction. Ms. Stroman is great at directing musical theater, but this is definitely not a musical.

Despite the jagged narrative, most of the cast member transcend the flimsy material.  Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife”) does a nice job portraying Delia. She has the right mix of vulnerability and emotional strength, and the audience definitely roots for her. She also has great chemistry with Peter Gallagher (“Grace and Frankie”) as Peter. Mr. Gallagher is always charming and charismatic as Peter.

Kate McCluggage and Peter Francis James portray multiple roles in the show. Ms. McCluggage plays Delia’s oncologist, a friend in Wales, and another friend in California, while Mr. Francis James plays Delia’s middle-aged gay neighbor and other characters.

So much happens in the 100-minute play with no intermission, but there is little substance or nuance in the story, and the play is, thus, unsatisfying. There is definitely a great story here to tell, but as is, the true subtext is never made clear in this production. Perhaps Left on Tenth was much better as a book than it is as a play.

Published October 29, 2024
Reviewed at October 26, 2024 press performance

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Julianna Margulies & Kate MacCluggage. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: (left to right) Peter Francis James, Peter Gallagher, Julianna Margulies & Kate MacCluggage. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Julianna Margulies & Peter Francis James. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘LEFT ON TENTH’: Julianna Margulies. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Left on Tenth’: Dramedy misses the mark appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL’: Corey Cott & McKenzie Kurtz. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL
An original stage musical inspired by the songs of Huey Lewis and the News
Book by Jonathan A. Abrams
Story by Tyler Mitchell & Jonathan A. Abrams
Music supervised, arranged & orchestrated by Brian Usifer
Choreography by Lorin Latarro
Directed by Gordon Greenberg
The James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
https://heartofrocknrollbway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Jukebox musicals are a gamble. When they actually use the songs of an artist to tell a biographical story, as in Tina or Jersey Boys, they can be amazing musicals. Using the songs of an established pop or rock artist to weave through a narrative that has nothing to do with the artist or his or her story can be risky and tricky. However, sometimes Broadway surprises us with this type of jukebox musical—one that actually works. The Heart of Rock and Roll, “inspired” by the songbook of Huey Lewis and the News, is this type of rare exception. It works in so many ways, from the seamless replication of “golden oldie” Huey Lewis songs from the 1980s to the great performances, nostalgic set and costumes to the colorful, lively choreography.

Set in a Midwest factory in 1987, the story focuses on Bobby (Corey Cott), a factory worker at a cardboard plant who has a rock band called The Loop on the side. He is trying to move up in the company. He tries to break out into corporate sales without the approval of owner Mr. Stone (John Dossett) but ends up getting fired. Mr. Stone’s daughter Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz) likes Bobby and she tries to get his job back.

Bobby follows Cassandra and his pal and HR director Roz (Tamika Lawrence) to a big meeting in Chicago and attempts to get his job back by obtaining the account of eccentric Swedish furniture store mogul Fjord (Orville Mendoza). Meanwhile, Cassandra’s preppy ex-boyfriend Tucker (Billy Harrigan Tighe) is trying to win her back, and Bobby realizes he wants to go back to his band.

The plot is light and silly, but there is nothing wrong with that for a show that simply exists to entertain. Bobby wants his band to make it big, and Cassandra has designs on becoming the CEO of her father’s company. The real star of the show is, of course, the music, and there are plenty of great opportunities for the cast to sing such Huey Lewis classics as “Hip to Be Square,” “Workin’ for a Livin’,” “Do You Believe in Love?,” “I Want a New Drug,” and many more.

One of the show’s strongest assets is Lorin Latarro’s energetic, visually appealing and complex choreography. Ms. Latarro uses props brilliantly, from having dancers portraying employees sliding on cardboard sheets to one production number in which the cast jumps on Bubble Wrap, and this brings down the house with thunderous applause. Ms. Latarro demonstrates here that she is fast becoming one of Broadway’s most innovative choreographers, right up there in the modern Broadway pantheon with such superb contemporaries as Jerry Mitchell,  Jennifer Weber and Casey Nicholaw.

Director Gordon Greenberg gets great performances from the cast. Corey Cott is the perfect leading man and “jukebox hero” for this show, and his take on Bobby has the audience rooting for him at all times. McKenzie Kurtz is equally endearing as Cassandra, and she is in fine voice here. Also worth noting is the spunky Tamika Lawrence, and her portrayal of no-nonsense Roz is outstanding. Ms. Lawrence has great comic timing and gets many laughs from her delivery of some of the show’s best lines. The Heart of Rock and Roll beats with vivacious life and is one of the nicest surprises of the spring 2024 season.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 14, 2024
Reviewed at May 2, 2024 press  performance

‘THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL’: (center, left to right) Billy Harrigan Tighe, McKenzie Kurtz & Zoe Jensen. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL’: Corey Cott. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL’: Corey Cott, Raymond J. Lee, John-Michael Lyles & F. Michael Haynie. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL’: John Dossett & McKenzie Kurtz. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

The post ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’: Jukebox hero appeared first on StageZine.

‘GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!’: Andrew Rannells & Josh Gad. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!
Book, music & lyrics by Scott Brown & Anthony King
Directed by Alex Timbers
Through January 28, 2024
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48th Street
(212) 239-6200, www.gutenbergbway.com

By David NouNou

Absurdity at its best.

The movies gave us the mismatched pairings of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the theatre gave us Lane and Broderick, and now the musical theatre has blessed us with Gad and Rannells. The mismatched pair of the 2011 heavenly musical The Book of Mormon have joined forces again to give us Gutenberg! The Musical! The title and the concept screams absurdity.

Bud Davenport (Josh Gad) and Doug Simon (Andrew Rannells) from Nutley, New Jersey have seen one too many Broadway musicals. They are now on a mission to write their own musical. They did a quick Google search on Johannes Gutenberg and couldn’t find much on him, so they decided to take an “historical fiction” approach. This means making things up to construct a musical. The setting is the medieval town of Schlimmer, Germany. Gutenberg had a wine press, which he converted to a printing press, so the masses could be educated. The possibilities for this new musical are endless. After all, isn’t this how musical comedy works?

Bud and Doug both sold all the possessions they owned to rent out a theatre to audition the musical they wrote for backers. This would enable backers to see the show and give them a contract to put this musical on Broadway. Bud wrote the music, Doug wrote the book, and they both wrote the lyrics. In addition, they are also going to play all the parts. Their idea of saving costs for this audition is to wear different hats that has the name of each character they are portraying.

The merriment is in their excitement of telling us, the “potential backers,” how they constructed their musical and how we should envision it. Schlimer is a rat-infested town which sounds absolutely abysmal, hence the set being sparse. The two play a multitude of characters which is customary for a musical to have a huge cast. It is the breakdown of the scenes and the “theatrical jargon” they use makes it all absolutely priceless.

All this might and should sound absurd to you, but in the hands of this dynamic duo, Gad and Rannells, you are with them every step of this ridiculous journey. Thanks in large part to Scott Brown and Anthony King who wrote the book, music, and lyrics to Gutenberg! The Musical! which seems like a page out of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, in this case taking a horrible idea for a musical and turning it into a gold mine. They are brilliant in showcasing how, in many cases, musicals can go so horribly wrong and still end up on Broadway.

Back to Gad and Rannells—what a terrific duo.  Years of working together on The Book of Mormon has given them expert timing in clowning and finishing each other’s thoughts and sentences. Their energy is boundless and their timing is better than that of a Rolex watch.

Director Alex Timbers has once again shown what a genius he is. From complex musicals like Moulin Rouge and Beetlejuice to comedian Alex Edelman’s one-man show Just for Us earlier this year or David Byrne’s American Utopia, Mr. Timbers keeps a watchful eye on everything. From sets and costumes, to dialogue, to score, to editing the material, which most directors nowadays forget to do, he is a perfectionist. He has tapped into Gad’s and Rannells’ chemistry, which shoots off fireworks.

For these troubled times, Gutenberg! The Musical! is the perfect antidote, to forget the world outside, and be happy in the world of musical absurdity.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 18, 2023
Reviewed at October 17, 2023 press performance.

‘GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!’: Andrew Rannells & Josh Gad. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!’: Andrews Rannells & Josh Gad. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!’: Andrew Rannells & Josh Gad. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!’ Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!’: Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Gutenberg! The Musical!’ a musical comedy gem appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Rachel Brosnahan & Oscar Issac. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW
By Lorraine Hansberry
Directed by Anne Kauffman
Through July 2, 2023
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48th Street,
212-239-6210, https://thesignonbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window recently transferred to Broadway after a successful run at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The play was the second work by Lorraine Hansberry after A Raisin in the Sun and never found an audience when it was originally produced in 1964. This is an old-fashioned three-act drama that’s far from perfect and certainly dated, but it’s worth seeing simply to witness amazing performances and experience the long-gone era of epic three-act stage dramas that petered out by the early 1970s. In addition, the show stars Rachel Brosnahan from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” as well as film star Oscar Isaac.

While A Raisin in the Sun remains a timeless, simplistic saga of African Americans in the 1960, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window is a complex story primarily focusing on a white family in Greenwich Village, with many subplots and characters, including a gay male neighbor, a corrupt politician, a Black artist and others.

Ms. Hansberry’s second play is the saga of Jewish bohemian Sidney Brustein (Oscar Isaac) and the disintegration of his marriage to Iris (Rachel Brosnahan), a young woman from Oklahoma who works as a waitress but yearns to be an actress. Sidney’s wife Iris (Brosnahan) is the ambitious, progressive sister who feels trapped in her marriage. She is nothing like her older sister Mavis (Miriam Silverman), described as “the Mother of Middle Class itself,” who married well, is always impeccably dressed but is racist and antisemitic and initially has much contempt for her brother-in-law, but warms up to him later in the show. The youngest sister Gloria (Gus Birney) is a beautiful young woman who claims to be an “international model.”

Sidney is a struggling artist/writer who has just bought the Village Crier, an alternative weekly newspaper he cannot afford.  Wife Iris is tired of slinging hash as a waitress and her marriage to Sidney hangs tenuously by a proverbial thread as she longs to break into acting. Their marital clashes are quite intense throughout the first act. Meanwhile, Sidney has reluctantly decided to have the newspaper endorse local politician Wally O’Hara (Andy Grotelueschen). In addition, Sidney and Iris are nervous about their friend Alton Scales (Julian De Niro), an African American young man who wants to marry Iris’s younger sister Gloria. Initially, Alton has no idea what Gloria’s real job is.

The first two acts before the intermission are full of tension and politics and are often riveting with lots of dialogue and multiple monologues tying everything together but the third final act unravels with melodramatic twists and scenes that are not fully explained, making the outcome ultimately unsatisfying. If Ms. Hansberry had taken the narrative on a more traditional path, it could easily have been the story of a man who married into a family with three troubled sisters, but hardly the type Chekhov wrote about.  The Parodus sisters all come from Oklahoma, of supposedly Greek and Cherokee extraction. However, with all the various characters and subplots happening simultaneously, the narrative is choppy, uneven and mired with confusion. It is indeed understandable why this show is rarely revived, but it remains a thought-provoking play and depicts the political turmoil of the 1960s quite well. Many will see the show because “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star Rachel Brosnahan is the leading lady, and she is consistently great throughout the show but in reality, the character of Iris is not a huge role.  Regardless, the whole cast works well together under the direction of Anne Kauffman. Oscar Isaac as Sidney and Miriam Silverman as Mavis are especially noteworthy and both give natural, outstanding performances.

Editor’s Note: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window received two 2023 Tony Award nominations, one for Best Revival of a Play and one for Miriam Silverman for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 3, 2023
Reviewed at April 30, 2023 press performance.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Rachel Brosnahan. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Miriam Silverman (Mavis), Tony Award nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Julian De Niro & Miriam Silverman. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Oscar Isaac. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Oscar Isaac & Glenn Fitzgerald. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Gus Birney & Oscar Isaac. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW’: Raphael Nash Thompson. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

The post ‘The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window’ revival appeared first on StageZine.

NEW YORK – Producers Seaview, Sue Wagner, John Johnson, with Jeremy O. Harris and BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), are thrilled to announce that the sold-out and highly acclaimed BAM production of Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, starring Oscar Isaac (making his Broadway debut) and Rachel Brosnahan, will transfer to Broadway this season. Directed by Anne Kauffman, this strictly limited engagement will begin performances on Tuesday, April 25 for 80 performances only. Opening night – the final opening of this Broadway season – is set for Thursday, April 27, at the James Earl Jones Theatre.

To purchase tickets, please visit Telecharge.com.

Rachel Brosnahan. Photo: Courtesy of OMDKC.

Welcome to 1960s Greenwich Village, where loudly proclaimed progressive dreams wage war with reality. This razor-sharp tragicomical satire of “astonishing force” (The Chicago Tribune) invites us into the apartment of Sidney and Iris Brustein and the diverse and passionate social circle that inhabits it. As a rapidly changing world brings uninvited cynicism to their door, the Brusteins fight to keep their marriage – with all its crackling wit, passion, and casual cruelty – from being the final sacrifice to Sidney’s ideals. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window debuted on Broadway in 1964, on the heels of Hansberry’s meteoric debut with A Raisin in the Sun (1959) and shortly before her death at the age of 34. This will be its first time on Broadway in more than 50 years. Its run at BAM welcomed new audiences and broke every house record at the Harvey Theater. This is the first BAM-produced production to transfer to Broadway since The Gospel at Colonus, 35 years ago.

The late playwright Lorraine Hansberry. Photo: Courtesy of OMDKC.

“This production, directed by Anne Kauffman and originally produced and nurtured by David Binder and BAM, is a celebration of the radical artistic vision of Lorraine Hansberry at the zenith of her art making.” — Joi Gresham, Literary Trustee, Estate of Lorraine Hansberry Joining Isaac (Sidney Brustein) and Brosnahan (Iris Brustein) is the complete cast from the BAM production, including Gus Birney (Gloria Parodus), Julian De Niro (Alton Scales), Glenn Fitzgerald (David Ragin), Andy Grotelueschen (Wally O’Hara), Miriam Silverman (Mavis Parodus Bryson), Raphael Nash Thompson (Max).

The understudy company features Joey Auzenne, Katya Campbell, Gregory Connors, and Brontë England Nelson. Download headshots HERE. The creative team includes dots (Scenic Design), Brenda Abbandandolo (Costume Design), John Torres (Lighting Design), Bray Poor (Sound Design), Leah Loukas (Wig Design), Arminda Thomas (Dramaturg), Kate Wilson (Voice Coach), Sonya Tayeh (Movement Director), Ralph Stan Lee (Stage Management). Casting is by Taylor Williams.

For more information, please visit www.thesignonbroadway.com

The post Rachel Brosnahan in ‘Sidney Brustein’s Window’ 4-25-23 appeared first on StageZine.

NEW YORK—Due to a shortfall in capitalization and following the withdrawal of a Lead Producer, the Broadway production of ROOM, which was scheduled to begin performances on April 3, 2023 at the James Earl Jones Theatre, has been postponed indefinitely. The current production, which was in rehearsal, has shut down as of Thursday, March 16.“In the midst of our rehearsals we were informed by one of our Lead Producers that due to personal reasons, they did not intend to fulfill their obligations to the production. Since being notified, the rest of the producing team has exhausted all possible avenues to keep the show on track, but the narrow timeline and economic shortfall created by this series of events has proven to be insurmountable,” said producer Hunter Arnold. “We are incredibly disappointed not to be able to open this remarkable production at this time and are especially heartbroken for our incredibly talented cast and creative team who were hard at work in the rehearsal room.”

Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren. Photo: Chad Meyer.

The post ‘Room’ on Broadway postponed indefinitely appeared first on StageZine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald & Bryce Pinkham. Photo: Richard Termine.

OHIO STATE MURDERS
By Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by Kenny Leon
James Earl Jones Theatre
138 West 48^th Street
212-239-6200, https://ohiostatemurdersbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald brings Ohio State Murders—playwright Adrienne Kennedy’s 1992 one-act confessional play recalling a harrowing time in her college days at Ohio State University—to vivid life on Broadway. The show is a 75-minute monologue, with a few other characters added with minimal lines of dialogue popping in and out of Ms. Kennedy’s narrative, as if she’s reliving a nightmare—and indeed she is. Ms. McDonald keeps us spellbound with her consistently engaging performance in this haunting tale of a Black woman’s misfortune and heartbreak in the racially segregated, white world of a mid-20^th century Midwestern college town.

Ms. McDonald portrays Suzanne Alexander (based on playwright Adrienne Kennedy) in a book-filled library back at her alma mater, giving a lecture about her work and its “violent imagery,” with projections of African Americans being lynched and other disturbing scenes. She is telling the semi-autobiographical story of how the author, now 91, entered Ohio State University in 1949 as an undeclared freshman, hoping to major in English. Back then, Black students were not allowed to major in English without taking two prerequisite English courses as a trial to see if they could handle the curriculum. Later, they could apply to be accepted as an English major.

Suzanne took an English class and enjoyed reading Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. She was intrigued by the mysterious professor of the course, Robert Hampshire (Bryce Pinkham), a young British man who did not engage with his students and immediately came to each class, opened the book and started discussing the work. One day, after turning in a term paper about Hardy’s book, Suzanne receives a note from the professor, asking her to meet him in his office. He has little to say when they meet, other than asking her if she actually wrote the assigned essay about Hardy and if she used any reference materials. He is a true academic enigma, an intellectual who wears tweed suits and, as portrayed by Mr. Pinkham, is a taciturn guy and displays almost no emotion when he speaks.

Ohio State Murders is a story that one needs to follow closely while watching because the narrative isn’t always fully explained. We soon learn that Suzanne is pregnant. Suzanne is shunned by her family and forced to go live in New York with her understanding Aunt Louise (Lizan Mitchell).  She gives birth to twin girls and longs to return to Ohio to go back to her university. She becomes an elementary education major but yearns to be studying in the English department.

Instead of being a standard “whodunit”-style mystery, Ohio State Murders is mostly a collection of the character’s grim remembrances of a painful past filled with racism, broken dreams, gut-wrenching loss and misfortune.  Her memories are literally fleshed out by appearances of secondary characters, such as friend Iris Ann (Abigail Stephenson), boyfriend David Alexander (Mister Fitzgerald), and Lizan Mitchell portraying multiple roles such as landlady Mrs. Tyler and college administrative official/spinster Miss Dawson.

Ohio State Murders is a powerful yet flawed story. As directed by Kenny Leon, the narrative sometimes lacks dramatic tension and moves slow, but two aspects help the show transcend its shortcomings. First is Ms. Kennedy’s searing firsthand account of racism back in the days before conspiracy theorists and populist politicians muddied the waters of human rights. Her story will remind audiences of an era, just a few decades ago, when our nation was literally divided by race, before civil rights laws and legislation. The story also shows how, despite some progress, we have sadly made few real advances in modern-day America, with rampant racism, antisemitism and homophobia as everyday fodder for social media and 21^st century politics. Last but certainly not least is the incredible Audra McDonald. She brings this tale (last produced Off Broadway in 2007) to Broadway with verve, reverence for the material and the on-stage dynamics and electric stage presence for which she is known. For her many fans, it’s impossible to take one’s eyes off her as she reflects on Suzanne’s many years of pain and suffering. Ms. McDonald shines with conviction even when the material rambles and lacks focus. Audra McDonald, in her own way, brings a bit of justice and nuance to Adrienne Kennedy’s tragic past.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 8, 2022
Reviewed at December 7, 2022  press preview performance.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald & Abigail Stephenson. Photo: Richard Termine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald, Lizan Mitchell & Mister Fitzgerald. Photo: Richard Termine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald. Photo: Richard Termine.

‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’: Audra McDonald. Photo: Richard Termine.

The post ‘Ohio State Murders’: A haunting confessional appeared first on StageZine.