"Sylvia" Cort Theatre, 138 Wst 48th Street From 10/02/15 Opened 10/27/15; closing1/27/16

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Robert Sella, Annaleigh Ashford, Matthew Broderick


A Tony award-winner last season for You Can't Take It With You, Annaleigh Ashford is the prettiest, most cunning, cute, coquettish little flirt ever to be picked up in Central Park. She is no dog, but yes she is. . . actually a dog in A.R. Gurney's whimsical 1995 comedy Sylvia, a wonderful revival of which has opened at the Cort Theatre. As the abandoned mongrel affixed with the name Sylvia, Ashford uses her agility to twist, turn, leap and curl her body in more endearing and amusing ways than those she effected as the Sycamore family's klutzy ballerina in You Can't Take It With You.

Greg (Matthew Broderick) is the man who brings Sylvia back to his Manhattan apartment and where they develop instant crushes on each other. So starts a true and touching romance. It is easy to see why Sylvia has been a staple of regional and community theaters since its premiere. It is not only a delightful fantasy, but also a psychologically persuasive look at one man's mid-life crisis.

Sylvia's savior, the middle aged man that she thinks of as God, is played with an air of nebbish-like vulnerability by Broderick, a master of that facade. If this is a role that seems tailor-made for Broderick it is because Greg is also one of those susceptible-to-unqualified-affection characters with whom Broderick seems to be most in tune. We can certainly see in his face and unassuming demeanor how ripe he is for the attentions of an adoring, straggly-haired blonde who snuggles, sniffs and smooches with unstoppable vigor, Greg is easily seduced, and so are we.

Blinded by his immediate love for Sylvia, Greg brings her home to his New York apartment. Their romance is thwarted, or at least stunted, by his wife Kate, a woman whose apathy is immediately apparent. She is played by a terrific Julie White, whose talent and versatility have earned her a trunk load of awards and nominations.

Kate has an agenda that doesn't include Sylvia. Although she is attractive and intelligent, she is unwilling to compromise their carefully plotted now-that-the-children-are-gone middle years for a stray dog. . . that she calls Saliva.

Hardly a ménage-a-trois in the conventional sense, Gurney invests this unconventional love story with plenty of humorous dog-eared incidents and dialogue. Necessarily intrusive, but laugh-getting and certainly scene-stealing is the triple role-playing by Robert Sella. All four actors have been put through their paws and paces with a controlling leash by director Daniel Sullivan.To read the entire review please go to:

http://www.curtainup.com/sylviabway15.html

Dames at Sea The Helen Hayes Theatre, 240 West 42nd Street From 09/24/15 Opened 10/22/15

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John Bolton and Mara Davi

Let's pretend it is 1933 and you are sitting in your neighborhood theater or better yet in a grand old move palace. The house lights dim, the traveler curtains part and the movie begins flashing the Warner Brothers studio's logo. Then the credits appear on the screen with the names and faces of the film's stars, in black and white of course. But now we switch to color. That's the way the glorious, glittering and colorful revival of Dames at Sea begins. The classic all talking, all dancing, all singing, all sassy pastiche of the 1930 film musicals is back and worthy of a twenty-one gun salute.

This is the show that first catapulted Bernadette Peters to stardom Off-Broadway 47 years ago. It's been a long wait for those time-stepping dames and fleet-footed tars to get their act together. They have and are now back where they belong as they rehearse for a mini-spectacular (maxi in our minds) show on the deck of a battleship, actually on the stage of the wonderfully intimate Helen Hayes Theatre.

You may have fond memories of the original, the Off-Broadway revival in 1985, or perhaps have only heard about those legendary Dames at Sea . You only need to know that it is time for you to get in step with this terrific company for (as one of the many joyous numbers tells us) a "Choo Choo Honeymoon."

The principal creative force behind this revival, actually its first production on Broadway is Randy Skinner. He has beautifully and imaginatively recreated that delicate balance of parody and reverence that made these "dames" such a delight originally. But he has added just enough more exuberant dancing and production values to make it now the most irresistible musical in town.To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/damesatsea.html">curtainup.com </a>

"Old Times" Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street From 09/17/15 Opened 10/06/15 Ends 11/29/15

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Clive Owen, Kelly Reilly, Eve Best (Photo: Joan Marcus)

There is plenty of mystery, and it isn't just the plot, surrounding this revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times. Most mysterious is the need for the kind of pretentious, if also a bit distracting, production enhancements that envelope its second revival at the Roundabout.

The 1984 revival starred Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins and Jane Alexander. This one heralds the Broadway debuts of film and stage actor Clive Owen and of Kelly Reilly and also boasts the return of Tony-nominated Eve Best. All appear to have their work cut out competing with this production's overwhelming aural and visual effects.

Once the audience gets used to the pre-curtain bombardment of eerie, pulsating sound/music contributions of Clive Goodwin and Thom Yorke, the curtain rises on a set that is as surreal as it is suspiciously in an abstracted location Amid the flashing of blinding strobe lights, a huge backdrop of concentric circles appears that will blink periodically on a loop. Impressive, as far as it goes...and it does go on. Then there is the spacious very open interior part of the setting designed by Christine Jones in which an opaque monolithic figure resembling a large vertical ice cube stands as its center piece— make that a portal —in an otherwise smartly/minimally furnished living room.

It's good to report, however, that all that high-tech framing doesn't reduce the glow from the actors. Neither does it significantly diminish the suspense in a play that has intrigued audiences since it first opened on Broadway in 1971.To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/oldtimes.html">curtainup.com </a>

"Before Your Very Eyes" at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street From 10/17/15 Opened 10/26/15 Ends 11/29/15

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Before Your Very Eyes--Gob Squad & Campo (Phile Deprez)

A mixture of joy, sorrow, laughter and tears is an almost assured response from the audience as seven child actors ages 9 to 14, pretend to see themselves maturing through progressive stages of life from the present to old age and death. We see them as they encounter accidents, relationships, illness, and even the experience of dying in the remarkably affecting theatrical project Before Your Very Eyes now at the Public Theater.

We first encounter the young actors enjoying each other's company and playing games in a cheerful playroom. Blind Man's Bluff has them chasing each other around the room, then playing jacks on the floor and cards at a table, while a boy shows how expert he is with a hula hoop. Their activities take place behind large one-sided mirrors. Framing the room are two huge video screens. A female voice is heard and we see her instructions projected above. The group, as well as each child, responds to her precise directions and gentle commands.

During the course of their fast-forward trip through life, they apply their own makeup and wigs, and dress up in sometimes ghoulish and sometimes funnily appropriate attire as they affect behavior and mannerisms that they imagine will be them in the future. We also get to see them on the screens as their current selves, friends to the end, ask their future selves questions. This is in realistic child-speak, the result of the young actors' improvisational rehearsal/workshops. To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/beforeyourveryeyes.html">curtainup.com </a>

Boogie Stomp! The Electra Theatre, 300 West 43rd Street From 09/25/15 Opened 10/16/15 Ends 11/28/15

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L. to R. Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza (photo credit: Rebecca Scheckman)

Two extraordinary pianists, Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza, provide all the jivey music, the snappy commentary and the wonderfully playful fun in their hugely entertaining concert Boogie Stomp! Masters of their brand of keyboard artistry, namely playing/interpreting of Boogie Woogie, the Blues, and Ragtime, they notably bring two lifetimes of love and dedication to this totally American genre. Their love for this music is evident in every note they play, every song they sing and every comment they make.

Baldori could use a little help picking out some nice looking clothes to wear (that Hawaiian shirt and skin tight jeans are pathetic), but once he gets to tickling those keys and on occasion playing his harmonica with awesome virtuosity, our attention is strictly on the music. He's been playing the piano since he was 3, and also wrote and directed an award winning documentary, also titled Boogie Stomp!

Baldori's amazing career recording and performing with such jazz and blues luminaries as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley among many others can be summed up simply by saying he is a truly terrific one-of-a-kind musician. He not only serves as primary narrator (the excellent text is credited to John Campana) of the history of the blues with which has been so closely identified, but fills the room with his enthusiasm and exuberant playing. To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/boogiestomp">curtainup.com </a>