Standing Room Only

March 23, 2019 Stagebuddy Four women gather to drink wine and share confidences.  Meeting periodically, they share share films, personal triumphs and heartbreak.  Although women are independent and strong, they will always support one another. This clichéd premise epitomizes the Off- Broadway musical “Chick Flick.” The four performers are talented and some of the original […]

This Island Now   March 12, 2019 By Elyse Trevers There’s a poetic justice about the success of “Be More Chill,” the musical that recently moved to the Lyceum Theater. When the show originally opened on May 30, 2015 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, N.J., it got mixed reviews and ran only six […]

The Island Now – March 7, 2019 By Elyse Trevers By definition, a revival is an improvement, a revitalization, yet most of us attend theatrical revivals expecting to see the theater we loved the first time. We really don’t want them changed, and inevitably we compare the new interpretations to the originals. It takes “chutzpah” […]

  The Island Now – February 21, 2019   Every Father’s Day, sites publish lists of illustrious fathers. Almost without fail, Atticus Finch, the protagonist of Harper Lee’s 1960 novel “To Kill A Mockingbird,” is at the top of the list. Understanding, tolerant, intelligent and compassionate, Finch is the epitome of the parent we all […]

The Island Now – February 14, 2019   He appears rough and craggy, homespun, simply clad in a red and black plaid shirt and black jeans. However, as soon as Collin Quinn opens his mouth, it’s apparent how intelligent, insightful, and well-read he is. Speaking quickly like the New Yorker he is, Brooklyn native Quinn […]

– February 8, 2019 Good theater is replete with stories of dysfunctional families: couples squabbling, parents at odds with their children, warring siblings. One particularly volatile theatrical interaction is between brothers Lee and Austin in Sam Shepard’s 1980 play, “True West.” The revival, directed by James MacDonald and presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company, features […]

The Island Now – January 16, 2019 Review by Elyse Trevers Actor John Noble is familiar from network television, having starred in “Fringe,” “Sleepy Hollow” and “Elementary.” In the movies, he played Denethor in The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Now he is portraying “Maestro,” conductor Arturo Toscanini in the latter years of his life. […]

The Island Now – January 28, 2019 By Elyse Trevers Two stars shine brighter than the rest in the extravagant new bio-musical “The Cher Show” at the Neil Simon Theatre. In the role aptly named “Star,” Stephanie Block gives one of the best performances of her well-established career as one of three singers playing the […]

Stagebuddy January 13, 2019 Rotating casts with guest performers have become common in Off-Broadway theater.  Sometimes, actors appear for only few weeks, other times they stay for months and often appear in front of the audience with the script in hand. In a unique variation on that approach, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (“White Rabbit Red Rabbit”) […]

The Island Now – January 2, 2019   What better way to start off the New Year than with Long Island’s favorite son, Billy Joel? Appearing at Nassau Coliseum on New Year’s Eve for the first time in 25 years, Joel took the stage promptly at 10:30 p.m. and performed 26 songs for more than […]