"Ever After" at the Paper Mill Playhouse through June 21, 2015

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Margot Seibert and James Snyder
Photo credit: Jerry Dalia

Up until that priceless episode on Sex and the City when someone absconded with a pair of very pricey Jimmy Choo shoes left by Sarah Jessica Parker, Cinderella held claim for a few hundred years to the most famous fairy tale. Don't recall if Ms Parker's shoes were ever recovered, but Cinderella and her glass slipper have returned in innumerable versions and variations.

Given the success of the recent witty Broadway reboot of the original 1957 TV musical (Rodgers and Hammerstein), it is a bit disappointing to see that Marcy Heisler (book and lyrics) and Zina Goldrich (music) have come up with a palatable but unexciting score. Although Heisler based her book on the screenplay of the moderately successful film, it is seriously deficient in wit, humor, and most of all, a really dynamic leading character.

The film's idea to give the heroine a brain and a knowledge of the great books including Thomas More's Utopia is a sound basis for her attempt to make the Prince respect her intelligence and as a way to see his role as a leader instead of as a despot. It makes sense to set the story in the Renaissance, an era recognized for its resurrection of classical antiquities. But the book unfortunately lacks muscle and drive, and the direction by the usually inventive Kathleen Marshall seems to be still an assignment in progress. To read the complete review and get more information about performances and tickets please go to http://curtainup.com/asevernj15.html

"The Royal Family" at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (through June 21, 2015)

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Edmond Genest, Elizabeth Shepherd, Allison Mackie


While we are appreciative of the visit to Broadway of a current member of the United Kingdom's royal family, specifically Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, as well as by the presence of the more historic King Henry VIII and entourage in Wolf Hall, we can also see how America once saw fit to anoint the Barrymore family of actors as its own Royal Family. This is the title given to them somewhat audaciously and/or sarcastically by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber in 1927 in their raucous comedy which has enjoyed numerous revivals over the years. It is the opening play of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey season, and you should go have yourself a grand time.

The play is said to have been summarily disowned by the Barrymores, the ennobled theater family whose lives appeared to have been satirized. With considerable tongue-in-cheek the authors, in turn, claimed they never heard of the Barrymores.

Perhaps the esteemed matriarch of the Barrymores didn't take kindly to criticism about her family, but the rest of us can hardly keep from laughing at the lines and many flippant bon mots that punctuate the fast and often funny, often over-lapping dialogue. Perhaps it is a moot point whether or not the Barrymores themselves inspired this delicious play about the Cavendishes, a family of indomitable actors with insufferable egos.

I can't honestly say that everything this observer saw on the stage was as celebratory of the "oldest profession" as its often dotty and only occasionally disciplined disciples would like us to believe. But here we have a splendid company, under the direction of Bonnie J. Monte, that has rambunctiously captured the extravagantly familial flavor at the core of the play. It will, however, take some patience and a bit of background for the younger generation to fully appreciate this dynasty of theatrical dinosaurs — unlike many of the audience members at the well-attended mid-week performance I saw who might well have seen the original production.To read the complete review, please go to http://curtainup.com/royalfamilynj15.html

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Avenue (at Lancaster Road) in Madison
For tickets ($32.00 - $62.00) call 973 - 408 - 5600