Curtainup Founder & Editor Elyse Sommer's Epilogue -- I've passed the torch for reviewing and editing new theater productions on and off-Broadway and elsewhere. However, I'll continue to sound off here with my take on Live and Onscreen Entertainment. As for Curtainup's extensive content since 1996-- it's all sill available at www.curtainup.com

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A beautifully staged revival of Lanford Wilson's early play


Lemon Sky - The Keen Company revival of Lanford Wilson's early play . . .

An entertaining if not always comfortable to watch new play


The Submission - a young playwrights submission of his play under a more attention getting by-line turns into a case of "oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive" .

A Disney flop now a musical hit in NJ

Newsies
Jeremy Jordan (center) and company membersin Newsies
Newsies- There is nothing quite like the excitement that accompanies the world premiere of a new musical, especially one that, like this Papermill Playhouse premiere, is the result of work by some of the most creative and lauded talents in the theater.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

a fun take on a nce hot ticket melodrama. . .


From Rags to Riches- Under Alex Roe’s intelligent direction, this old melodrama about economic stagnation is right on the money. . . .

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Invested: good theater for a small investment



The Invested- the actors and the smart script make this behind the financial headlines play fun to watch. And at $18 a ticket, affordable even if your portfolio has taken a beating.. . .

Friday, September 16, 2011

Stagestruck filmmaker strikes out as playwright

The Wood- Dan Klores's docu-drama about the late journalist Mike McAlary is too jumpy and maudlin . .

Monday, September 12, 2011

No folly to see this Follies at the Marquis



Follies- To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, "When you're tired of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, you're tired of musical theater" .

It's got Bernadette Peters and Ron Raines  and that  slinky blonde at the right none other than  the  very proper  mother-in-law from hell in the Good Wife Mary Beth Peil 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Ralph Fieenes is a riveting Prospero

The Tempest
Ralph Fiennes as Prospero
The Tempest- Ralph Fiennes draws the audience into Prospero’s world and we are almost complicit in his wizardry . . .

The inventive Elevetar Repair grou tackles Hemingway


The Select (The Sun Also Rises)- Less time consuming than Elevator Repair Service's Gatz, but still a hefty theatrical meal but its one that's nourishing and enjoyably brings Hemingway's novel to life. . . . .
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A financial thriller touching on the entire zeitgeist


Other People's Money - theater buffs will love this terrific and timely comedy of manners that's all about a London bank scandal -- but also a backwater town's dying newspaper and local theater producer and playwright. .

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Audra McDonald is a Bess for tee ages


The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess - no matter what Stephen Sondheim may say this Porgy and Bess is most timely when it isn’t as worried about the running time, the times, or The Times. .