"The White Snake" at the McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ

"The White Snake" (through November 3, 2013)

(l-r) Tanya Thai McBride and Amy Kim Waschke (Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson)

Even as McCarter audiences recall such memorable Zimmerman's forays into myths, fairy tales, fables and legends, as The Odyssey (2000), The Secret in the Wings (2005), and Argonautika (2008), they are also undoubtedly aware of her fantastical 2002 Tony Award-winning homage to Ovid Metamorphoses. As evidenced by this ravishing production written and directed by Mary Zimmerman, The White Snake is likely to be placed high on the list of favorites, as it is already on mine. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp.com  http://curtainup.com/whitesnakenj.html. 

Kansas City Swing at the Crossroads Theater, New Brunswick, NJ

"Kansas City Swing" (through October 27, 2013


Robert Karma Robinson as Satchel Paige

Don't let the title fool you. There's very little Kansas City Jazz in the snappily written new play Kansas City Swing co-written by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan (who also directed) now having its world premiere at the Crossroads Theatre Company. But there are swinging bats as well as fists in this entertaining and enlightening trip back to 1947 in Kansas City. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp.com  http://curtainup.com/kansascityswingnj.html

A Night with Janis Joplin at the Lyceum Theatre

"A Night with Janis Joplin"




Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin
Photo: Joan Marcus


The flashing lights and the crisscrossing lazar beams that streak around the Lyceum Theatre are meant to dazzle as well as blind the audience. It's all in anticipation of Mary Bridget Davies's entrance as Janis Joplin, the legendary "queen of rock n' roll" whose life was tragically ended at the age of twenty-seven by an overdose of drugs.

The good news is that Davies is sensational and transcends the obligatory razzle-dazzle. The applause, screams, shouts and whistles that welcome the singer will be heard again and again during this searing biographical concert, earnestly written and smartly directed by Randy Johnson. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp.com. http://curtainup.com/janisjoplin13.html

Big Fish

"Big Fish" at the Neil Simon Theatre

 Norbert Leo Butz, Zachary Unger, Sarah Strimel

Big Fish is a warm-hearted and melodic new musical that may be also the most sentimental that will come along this season. A winner in its visual artistry and a delight in its choreographic turns, it is also daring in having a tragic undercurrent to its story of reconciliation. The closure in the conflicted relationship between a father who insists his tall tales are the truth and his son who doesn't believe them, is charmingly embraced by Andrew Lippa's splendid score. As Big Fish takes off on its many flights of fancy, it is wonderfully grounded by the terrific performance of Norbert Leo Butz. Behind and generously surrounding everything is director-choreographer Susan Stroman. She has imaginatively tied the various ingredients into a wondrous theatrical experience, not the least of which is the production's scenic design by Julian Crouch, enhanced by often stunning projections by Benjamin Pearcy and magical lighting by Donald Holder. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp.com. http://curtainup.com/bigfish.html

Lady Day

Lady Day at the Shubert  Theatre (Ends March 16, 2014)

Dee Dee Bridgewater: Photo: Carol Rosegg


Known affectionately and familiarly as Lady Day, Billie Holiday is celebrated as one of the great, now legendary, jazz vocalists of the mid 20th century. Many performers have played Holiday in various screen and stage versions of her life and career, as well as specifically in Stephen  Stahl's play various revised revisions of which have been making the rounds for the past thirty years. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp. http://curtainup.com/ladyday13.html

"Honeymoon in Vegas"

"Honeymoon in Vegas" at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, N.J. (through October 27, 2013)

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Rob McClure surrounded by Elvises
(Photo: Jerry Dalia) 

 The new musical Honeymoon in Vegas, now in its world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse, could be heading for a divorce in Millburn unless some serious tinkering is done. What was an improbable, inane but also modestly successful 1992 romantic film comedy (with Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan) is still all that and more, except that it has landed on the stage. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp. http://curtainup.com/honeymoonnj.html

Gettin' the Band Back Together

Gettin' the Band Back Together at the George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick, NJ (through October 27, 2013.

Alison Fraser and Mitchell Jarvis (Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson)

This new musical takes pride, and without prejudice, in embracing well-worn cliches and in incorporating as many stereotypical aspects of human behavior as possible. It also empowers the kind of trite plot situation that would normally send shivers down your back. Actually, it has no right being as funny and as entertaining as it is. To read the complete review on CurtainUp please go to http://curtainup.com/gettingthebandbacknj.html.