juliaf

You thought you’d get away with no Tony recap post this year, did you? Fat chance! And plus, I’ve belatedly decided to write about the shows I saw this year, too. I composed half of it and then decided to split up the posts. This one’s just about the Tonys themselves. Yesterday I kept asking colleagues and friends if they had watched the Tonys. “Oh I forgot about them!” “I never watch the Tonys.”…

I've made a comeback -- I mean, return -- to theater blogging!

So I haven’t had much interest in blogging lately. Clearly! As it turns out there’s a (possibly fatal) flaw in having a theater blog: seeing a ton of shows and writing about them too (on top of job, social life, and an overwhelming number of ridiculous hobbies)… Well, it seems to burn me out. Since I have started this blog, I’ve lost interest in updating it after every Tony Awards. And for longer…

A recap of the Tonys is something of a Show Me Shows tradition, but it’s also a little dangerous. Truth is, I’m not generally very critical about the Tonys. You could even call me a Tony cheerleader. So, fair warning: You may be up for several paragraphs of Julia squealing about how much she likes Broadway. The other thing, of course, is that it feels a little wrong to post merry Tony ramblings…

First of all: Happy Tony day, everyone! I’ll be watching the show from my friend Cheryl’s house and playing Tony Bingo. (Aside: You wouldn’t believe the Hamilton-related prize I have for the bingo winner. ) I had been planning to do a full post on a few of the plays and musicals nominated for a Tony. And here it is, Tony Sunday already, so I’d better get something up before I run out of time! I’m…

Have I lost my critical faculties? Do I just like everything now? I wondered, as I walked away from the Schoenfeld theater after seeing American Psycho on Broadway. Because the truth is that I had a great time, and found the new musical daring, dynamic, funny, and memorable. I felt a little embarrassed, because I wasn’t totally sure that it was a good show. But then as my friend Christine said:…

not one but TWO fabulous retro Playbills This might surprise you, but I’ve never really been a tap dance person. (And this coming from a swing dancer!) It wasn’t necessarily in vogue when I fell in love with Broadway (the dominant shows at that time were, of course, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, etc.) and musicals that spoke to me most weren’t likely to use tap much…

Movies turned into Broadway musicals. We are in the midst of an onslaught, and there’s no end in sight. I tend to roll my eyes whenever I hear of a new one. I mean, they can bring out the worst of Broadway’s qualities, right? It can force a weird, hilarious, original piece of film into a standard Broadway template: “I Want” song followed by comic relief followed by conditional love song followed…

I tried to write about YOUARENOWHERE and mostly failed.

The playbill was the least satisfying thing about the show Here’s what I knew about YOUARENOWHERE before I saw it: Team Maxamoo praised it to the heavens. (I knew they absolutely loved it, but I didn’t actually listen to the episode in which they discussed it, so I didn’t know why.) It’s a one man show that involves a physics lecture somehow I love the Maxamoo folks, so I went ahead and bought a…

Review: The Rap Guide to Climate Chaos

I doubt I would have had any interest in seeing The Rap Guide to Climate Chaos had it not been for Hamilton. As I said last year, I had never realized the dramatic possibilities of hip hop until seeing the Founding Fathers rap. So when I was offered press tickets (Hey, press tickets! A first for Show Me Shows!), I thought “Hey, why not? I love theater rap! And free tickets!” The Rap Guide to…

There’s a shocking contrast between the gorgeous interior of the Belasco and the scenery onstage. The recently-refurbished Belasco is dark and ornate, with lush stained glass lighting. Onstage, we see a harsh, cold office setting, with gray walls, fluorescent lighting and frosted windows. I took one look at the set for Blackbird and thought “Ugh. A work play.” But that’s ridiculous. Blackbird is…

“I don’t want to see this show,” I suddenly realized as the curtain went up at Allegiance. I’d had a long and tumultuous day, and seeing (what I assumed would be) a heavy-but-ultimately-uplifting story about the Japanese internment camps of World War II sounded like a dreadful idea. This is not the way you want to feel at a Broadway show, and if any other critic admitted such a thing at the…

Review: A View From the Bridge

Fabulous Retro Playbill This may be a little briefer than usual. I’m going for a no-frills review of a no-frills show. Director Ivo Van Hove’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, direct from London’s Young Vic, strips the play down to its essentials: actors walk around barefoot, in costumes that don’t look particularly period-specific, without props, without furniture, in a…

Thérèse Raquin was compelling, haunting, and overall a very entertaining evening:

Boy was I deflated when the usher at Thérèse Raquin told me the show was a solid 2 hours and 45 minutes with a 20 minute intermission. Say what? My first thought: Ugh, I won’t be getting home until midnight. My second thought: This is a very good excuse for buying myself and my friend Jessica drinks at intermission. If I’m going to sit through a long, dark, heavy play, at least I could do it with…

Review: King Charles III

Obviously I was going to buy a ticket for King Charles III. London’s 2015 Best Play winner? About the Royals? IN BLANK VERSE? Yes please! A show with stature! Playwright Mike Bartlett has written “a future history play” about what could happen after the death of Queen Elizabeth. Prince Charles is now King Charles, and the plot hinges on his refusal to sign a law that has already been approved by…

Back to blogging with a few thoughts on the new Spring Awakening.

Hello again after an unexpected summer off blogging and theater. There were several reasons why I didn’t see much of anything since the Tonys, and why I didn’t post about the few shows I did see. But who needs excuses? (OK, for those of you who do need excuses: I broke my foot, spent two months on crutches, and had to take cabs everywhere. I felt too poor and immobile to want to go see any…

My thoughts on the 2015 Tonys:

Just like last year, I went to my friend Vanessa’s to watch the Tonys, dish on the nominees, and nosh on some lovely vegan food. And just like last year, I’m writing up a few of my post-Tony musings for you. The Hosts Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth were cheesy, they mugged too frequently, they worked some pretty lame jokes, and they were given lousy song and dance material. Kristin could…