Howard 6211

See it if you are interested in Judy Holliday or just want to see a top-notch actress/singer get inside the truth of a historical person

Don't see it if you don't like show-biz bio-plays

Also Andréa Burns has been doing fine work for years on and off Broadway, mostly as Latina characters. (She is Jewish/Puerto-Rican.) But she is not as well-known as she deserves. This may be her long-awaited breakout role and you should not miss it.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see the great Elaine May back onstage with a great cast

Don't see it if you are not ready to vicariously experience the hellish spiral of caring for an Alzheimers patient

Also There is much humor here, but the play can ultimately seem slow and long as you get stuck with the characters in the endless and hopeless repetitions of dealing with their afflicted loved one. Ironically, the prodigious feat Elaine May accomplishes in having memorized the motormouth but repetitious dialogue of her demented character is astonishing. She is completely believable in this heartbreaking role.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to hear the work of a younger theater writer who has really learned his craft - and be charmed by 4 excellent performers.

Don't see it if a skillful, charming but lightweight sung-through show is not enough to grab your attention.

See it if you are fascinated by the sexual and socializing issues and angst of adolescent girls

Don't see it if you are annoyed by having the same points hammered at you repeatedly

Also I couldn't help thinking of skits I've seen long ago sending up super-serious groups of fierce feminist "womyn" celebrating their femaleness and chanting about their genitals. I'm sure that the adolescents here are making new discoveries, but it's old news to those who have lived longer.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see Shaw in a serious vein, excellent character actors on top of their game and a leading actress who is something special,

Don't see it if you think Shaw means "funny", you can't handle a long and serious play about faith vs the Catholic Church.

See it if you want to have top-quality musical comedy FUN.

Don't see it if the idea of people appearing and launching into a big production number for very little reason makes you crazy.

Also I didn't realize how lightweight DOLLY was; these days we expect musicals to be ABOUT stuff. But the sheer quality of this particular fluff - performances, direction, choreo, orchestra - made for great entertainment. Bernadette once more excels in a role one wouldn't immediately think of her performing. Charley Stemp as Barnaby is a real find, new to NYC from the UK. I hope to see a lot more of him in the future!... Read more Read less

See it if You like GUYS AND DOLLS and want to see another theatrical take on Damon Runyon's quirky stories.

Don't see it if You want something meaty or hate period pieces. Or hate GUYS AND DOLLS!

Also I found this charming from beginning to end. But if you are unfamiliar with Runyon's language and style it may be a bit confusing until you relax into it. The way great swaths of exposition are presented is brilliant (but no spoiler here)!... Read more Read less

See it if you are intrigued by the idea of lowlifes using trashy language while singing like angels

Don't see it if you can't get past trashy language and very irreverent humor

Also This show is unique. Not really an opera, but an hommage to opera (and oratorio) juxtaposed with the sort of characters and language you'd expect on the Jerry Springer show. It is both hilarious and strangely moving. Don't miss it.... Read more Read less

See it if you are interested in a debate about Jesus by historical personalities.

Don't see it if you are not interested in a debate about Jesus by historical personalities.

Also I had high hopes, but once the gimmick was played out, I was bored by the meat of the discussion.... Read more Read less

See it if you are ok with dated period pieces

Don't see it if you expect to be quickly hooked by a play's ideas and actions and characters.

Also The original idea in this play doesn't become clear until you are 2/3 through it. And these days, that idea isn't so remarkable anymore.... Read more Read less

See it if You are curious to see an very original take on family drama.

Don't see it if Gay characters or chickens upset you.

Also Here is a chance to see creative, original theater with heart and humor. It's not pretentiously "avant-garde" or all about its process. But you've never seen a story told just this way before.... Read more Read less

See it if you are curious to see the oft-told immigrant family story from a Korean-Canadian POV.

Don't see it if you want something deep and artsy.

Also This reminds me of the later Neil Simon memory plays - if he had been Korean-Canadian. The production and performances are excellent.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to laugh your head off

Don't see it if silly, yet brilliant, comedy doesn't appeal to you

Also Who knew that 19th-century Russian comedy could be gut-bustlingly funny? Here is a top-notch group of comic actors in a great modern English adaptation of a classic comedy. It is brilliantly directed to go all the way to the edge of lunacy without falling over. And if you didn't yet know Michael Urie to be a true master of comic acting, you'll learn it here.... Read more Read less

See it if you want a black feminist tall tale. Paul Bunyan here becomes more like Paula Buns-yan. :-)

Don't see it if you aren't interested in an upbeat, imaginative musical about a black woman's issues.

Also The production design, visual and aural, is top-notch as is choreography and the cast. But the piece is currently overstuffed with too much redundancy for a story with such a light touch. I hope Childs makes serious cuts as the piece develops.... Read more Read less

See it if you'd like a fun chamber musical with hi-tech production design and music-making

Don't see it if you prefer your musicals dark and serious

Also An excellent example of using history, imagination, and hi-tech in both visual design and music making (and 2 fine performances) to tell a story that is unpretentious and yet plays with epic elements.... Read more Read less

See it if You are interested in an unfairly overlooked historical character and story

Don't see it if You don't like Brechtian and presentational theatrical styles

Also While the subject is intriguing, I felt the author was trying too hard to show off with the gimmicks used in the storytelling, including unnecessary songs... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see fine performers in a setting you'd never expect for a musical

Don't see it if you have an issue with gay relationships

See it if You like your TYA plays loud, fast-paced and including Greek mythology lessons and adolescent angst

Don't see it if You prefer lower-energy, medium-volume, thoughtful plays.

See it if you're ok with fine actors even if the play offers nothing new

Don't see it if you expect a serious play to show you a new side of some situation or issue

See it if you want to see some hugely talented and likeable performers on an uber-fabulous set (of a '70's gay dive bar).

Don't see it if you have no interest in a little-known event in gay history

Also The show is broadly written - no subtlety here - but it is brilliantly cast, designed, staged and choreographed. I and the rest of the audience were engaged by the characters and the story and got a lot of entertainment with our gay history lesson.... Read more Read less

See it if you're looking for something off the beaten path in a musical

Don't see it if you want a musical with a Serious Statement.

Also When Canadians write musicals, they always seem to look at things from a different angle. It's refreshing.

While the score is not meant to be for the ages, the story and songs give ample room for talented performers to really show their stuff. Add in the imaginative direction and you should prepare to be surprised throughout the evening.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see two fine actors bring a real sense of life to characters built in fragments

Don't see it if you have a hard time with very non-linear stories

Also While I thought Urie and deJesus did a extremely remarkable job, I got tired trying to follow the incessant jumps in time and felt the play ran on longer than it had to..... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see how a specific incident in the playwright's life becomes a universal statement

Don't see it if you have difficulty with strong foreign accents (South African, in this case)

See it if you want to see a master impersonate many real people in order to illuminate a current societal problem

Don't see it if a one-person show about real-world problems doesn't interest you

See it if You want a sassy social satire about the life experience of a black female striver in America.

Don't see it if You really don’t want the above.

See it if you want to be absorbed into two different but related experiences of very intimate theatricality.

Don't see it if you want your theater to be BIG and ELABORATE or don't have the patience to sit through two intimately emotional 1.5-hour plays.

Also Up-close-and-personal experience of fine actors inhabiting finely-written and completely relatable characters. A hugely satisfying evening of theater.... Read more Read less

See it if you appreciate excellent writing, top-notch acting and sensitive direction

Don't see it if you aren't interested in dramas by black writers about a black community, or you have no feeling at all for jazz.

Also This show is immensely satisfying. Meaty writing for the actors to dig into. Characters you can empathize with played by actors who find the music in the realistic dialogue, making it match the tone of the jazz that is the emotional spine of the story. Direction that lets each moment have the time it needs to really sink in. My first Morisseau play but not my last!... Read more Read less

See it if you like ensemble musicals and want to sample one with a Caribbean flavor

Don't see it if a love story in the mode of a Caribbean folk tale doesn't interest you

Also An excellent ensemble cast with big talent and big heart, imaginative design elements, a lovely score. My only beef was that between the heavy accents and the orchestra sometimes mixed too loud, I missed a lot of the lyrics.... Read more Read less

See it if you like farce, appreciate verse plays, appreciate both high and low comedy.

Don't see it if you can't deal with verse and rhyming dialogue, want a story with meat on its bones. Or you can't follow English extremely quickly.

Also I'm a big Ives fan. This play is more cotton candy and less social satire than he usually gives us, but it's the best cotton candy you'll ever get. Michael Kahn gives us dollops of low comedy when things get too frothy. And the cast keeps a whizzy fast pace going throughout. I had a great time.... Read more Read less

See it if You can commit 7 hours to a sprawling, glorious but imperfect melange of the personal, political and universal - funny, scary, moving.

Don't see it if You like your theater neat, elegant or compact. You have to work hard in experiencing this.

Also This is one of the great plays of the 20th century, really one-of-a-kind. And here you have in Nathan Lane a multidimensional Roy Cohn that eats HBO's screaming Pacino for breakfast. And in Andrew Garfield you have a Prior Walter who is not whiny most of the time, flawed but noble. And here is the best theatrical conception of an angel in existential crisis I've ever seen.

There can never be one right way to do a play as complex as this, but this is the 4th production I've seen (including the original) and it's my favorite so far.... Read more Read less

See it if you like theater made of endless static 2-person conversations

Don't see it if you don't like the above. Also if you expect a play about Heifetz. He's just the catalyst here.

See it if you want to see John Doyle's take on the play.

Don't see it if you want to understand what's going on.

Also I thought I knew something about the play, but this production confused me from the start. The text was greatly chopped-up, the characters were so oddly cast that I had problems figuring out who everyone was, and the set was so minimal that I kept forgetting where the action was taking place. The performers did a fine job under the circumstances. But this was "Great Moments from Shakespeare."... Read more Read less

See it if you're happy seeing fine performers doing numbers disconnected from their context.

Don't see it if you are already familiar with the shows and their excerpts.

Also The whole was not more than the sum of its parts. Some of the parts were pretty terrific, notably Tony Yazbeck's "The Right Girl," Emily Skinner's "Now You Know" and "Ladies Who Lunch" and Karen Ziemba's "So What". But I think people who didn't already know the shows from which the numbers came remained rather lost.... Read more Read less

See it if You are interested in a discussion about art vs. commerce. You are curious about the personalities of Stravinsky and Disney.

Don't see it if You need more than a two-person talkfest when you see a show.

Also While the play stayed with rather obvious matters and didn't dig very deeply, the actors gave excellent portrayals of Stravinsky and Disney, as far as the play would allow. One nit to pick - Stravinsky's French pronunciation would have been better than this actor's.... Read more Read less

See it if You appreciate an original take on a story you thought had been thoroughly dealt with, a take both brilliant and entertaining.

Don't see it if You just like musicals. Or you don't want to think at the theater. Or anything involving women's issues turns you off.

Also Hnath is emerging as a great, original voice in the theater without being at all off-putting or pretentious. I've now seen three of his plays and will try to see whatever he writes. Theater lovers would do well to sample his work.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see what theater can do that a novel cannot.

Don't see it if you are not in the mood for a great deal of unhappiness.

Also I have not read the novel or seen film adaptations. But this play made me think of Dickens without the humor. That said, the set/lighting/music/sound design was extremely creative and the actors were first rate.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see Asian female characters and their concerns onstage

Don't see it if You expect to get new insight about these characters and concerns

Also A very mixed bag. The theme is worthy and the language is refreshing and believable. The play kept my interest throughout. But everything being said here is obvious, every character behaves exactly as expected. No surprises, nothing new learned. The women overact and seem artificial. A directing problem, perhaps? The young men, however, manage to make likable and believable characters out of what they are given to work with. The father is given very little and works too hard with it. My general sense is that the playwright, director and many actors were just pushing too hard to say something obvious.... Read more Read less

See it if you are curious about Milne's work as a playwright

Don't see it if you expect something more than a period piece

Also While the third act confrontation finally gave off some sparks, it was a long journey to get there. Call it a drama of manners.... Read more Read less

See it if You are already a Gionfriddo fan

Don't see it if You want your comedy to be more than a little funny

Also Frank Wood doesn't show up, well-cast as a very quirky character, until the last part of the show, but he raised my interest level.... Read more Read less

See it if -you are a Sondhead - goes without saying. -you want a Japanese perspective on "globalization" -you want a musical history lesson

Don't see it if -you aren't willing to try a minimalistic production of a large show -you don't care about Japan or international relations

Also On balance, Doyle's minimalistic and shortened production loses more than it gains for me. But there ARE gains and the experiment was worthwhile.... Read more Read less

See it if You like modern classic plays in top-notch productions

Don't see it if Low-key character studies aren't your thing.

Also BTW, my first chance to see Emily Skinner in a non-musical, dramatic role. Terrific!... Read more Read less

See it if You are interested/curious about gay intergenerational relationships, gay history, Harvey Fierstein in a meaty role he didn't write himself

Don't see it if None of the above interest you.

Also Also, older male actors looking for kickass dramatic monologues of gay interest should run to see this.... Read more Read less

See it if you are curious about how an ancient morality play can work in the 21st century

Don't see it if you aren't interested in a meta-theatrical variation on an old theme

Also It's an experiment, but an audience-friendly one. Very much worth a try. Marylouise Burke is wonderful as always, this time in a role you'd never expect.... Read more Read less

See it if You want to see a brilliant adaptation of a 17th century comedy combining period forms with modern vernacular language and wit.

Don't see it if You can't be convinced that rhyming iambic pentameter can be flat-out funny.

Also This may be the best yet of David Ives' comedic adaptations, given a sparkling production.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see the stripped-down John Doyle style applied to an adaptation of a realistic film

Don't see it if you've seen the film. It's not an improvement.

Also Robin Williams, in the film, still owns the role of Keating. His intensity and unpredictability lifted this story far above what it was on paper. This adaptation (by the original screenwriter) simply asks the audience to imagine all the elements that cinema provided by its nature. An appropriate exercise given the story, but there is not enough payoff.... Read more Read less

See it if you'd like a chamber version of a classic whimsical musical

Don't see it if "whimsical" is too tame for your taste

Also FINIAN is a problematic musical to produce in this day and age. You have to cut and adjust the book to avoid being tasteless. But I felt that too much was cut, leaving plot points and some numbers unexplained and unearned. It felt a bit like "The Best Moments From FINIAN." You may want to read a plot summary before attending. But by all means enjoy what this fine cast does with this terrific score and charming story.... Read more Read less

See it if you are an Anglophile baby boomer

Don't see it if you want your comedy to be seriously funny

See it if you are curious about this play, an early yank into the reality of post-WWII society for the British stage

Don't see it if you expect it to feel as revolutionary now as it did in the 1950's

See it if you want a sense of how those great Gershwin songs fit into the original paper-thin structure

Don't see it if you need your musicals to tell a meaningful tale