Theater criticism, news and views at Sketchy Details
Last January, I wrote a post about the in development stage version of Once. The Academy Award-winning film of Guy and Girl working together to fulfill their musical needs in modern Dublin featured a strong score and touching story. The characters in the film were unaware that the songs they sang reflected their innermost...
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On this edition of Bizarre, but True, we look at perhaps the strangest, musical inspired by reality TV. No, not Jersey Shore: The Musical. Susan Boyle became an international sensation thanks to her run on the British reality TV show Britain’s Got Talent. Her selection by the producers was a stroke of genius. Here...
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Last season on Broadway, Stephen Adly Guirgis opened a high energy comedy play on Broadway abbreviated to The Mother with the Hat. Starring Chris Rock, Bobby Canavale, Yul Vasquez, and Elizabeth Rodriguez, the production went on to be nominated for six Tony awards and run for 112 performances. That’s fantastic for a show that...
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Gypsy of the Year is an annual fundraising event for Broadway Cares: Equity Fights Aids. Broadway companies are invited to put on performances for a paying audience. They don’t do selections from the show they’re in, though; they write new material. Some casts show off variety acts while others go for parodies. Follies went...
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Frank Wildhorn’s new Broadway musical Bonnie & Clyde opened last week to enthusiastic panning by critics. Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal, for example, seemed to take great pride in tearing the show apart by mentioning all of Frank Wildhorn’s other Broadway musicals. This is the introduction of his review: ‘Bonnie & Clyde’...
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Remember how back in March everyone was raving about The Book of Mormon? It was called one of the best shows in ages. The performances, staging, costumes, sets, lighting, book, score, direction–everything–was praised. What seemed like hyperbole was thrown out on a daily basis. The important thing to realize was that the show was...
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Here we go again. The troubled production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, currently taking in over $1million a week on Broadway but now assumed to have cost $75million to produce is in the headlines again. This time, Julie Taymor has officially filed a lawsuit against everyone who was ever involved in the book...
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This is an idea that’s been floating in my head for quite some time. What pushed it back to the forefront was the Godspell preview thread over at BroadwayWorld. One user wrote a particularly scathing review of the new Broadway production after its first preview performance. This is not a new phenomenon online. Remember...
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You are in downtown NYC. You walk up to a man on a poorly lit street standing in front of a short metal gate. You whisper “cannolis” into his ear and are led down a staircase into an alleyway filled with flickering lights. You knock on the big metal door at the top of...
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Yesterday at New York Comic Con, I saw a very eye opening panel about what really happened behind the scenes at Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The panel consisted of original Julie Taymor collaborator Glen Berger, Julie Taymor replacement writer Roberto Aguire-Sacasa, and an associate set designer named Rob who is not credited on...
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