Karen Akers – Simpy Styne Algonquin Hotel Oak Room
I thought the clothes were great, the ambiance was great, the architecture.  It was such a romantic time.  Karen Akers I’ve seen before.  She’s just an elegant woman and she came out and san Jule Styne songs; People Who Love People, You Gotta Have A Gimmick, I think there was about 26 songs which she interweaved making a story about love lost.  The food is great the room holds maybe 55 or 60 people.  Not inexpensive but worth it.  She’s there until the middle of May. 

Blackbird – Manhattan Theater Club
Jeff Daniels whom I think is one of those underrated actor who’s always terrific as is Alison Pill. The story unfolds in front of you and you’re not sure exactly what to believe. But this is a terrific performance of a rather unsavory plot.  I’ll leave it at that. Performances make this a must see. 

A Moon For The Misbegotten - Brooks Atkins Theatre
This is a must see, again, because of the performances. Its a story of star-crossed lovers, Colm Meaney plays the dad. There are some Irish accents in this that don’t really make much sense to me because it’s supposedly set in Connecticut. Colm Meaney who’s wonderful, Kevin Spacey is great but this play belongs to Eve Best.  She is wonderful. It’s really a terrific play. 

The Pirate Queen – Hilton Theater
Huge production, 42 people in the cast, great theater.  The cast works themselves into a froth trying to entertain you.  This is a very good cast, very talented cast, headed by Stephanie Block. The story itself is wonderful, based on a true character Grace O’Malley who was alive in the 1550’s and it was a contemporary of Elizabeth I.  The 1550’s was not exactly liberated times, so here you have very chauvinistic societies.  You have to remember Ireland was really a system of clans that hated each other.  They united against the English and the Pirate Queen Grace O’Malley, apparently a historical character, who actually met Elizabeth I.  The staging of this is terrific.  The contrast between this Irish peasant woman who led her tribe and Elizabeth, who led her tribe with all her finery, is amazing. A couple of  problems with this.  Since it was done by the same people who did Les Mis, it sounds a little like Les Mis.  The lyrics were not that great either, but a lot of Irish dancing and again performances are wonderful.

The Year of Magical Thinking – Booth Theater
A play based on Joan Didion’s memoirs, which she wrote following the death of her husband.  Right after the book was published her daughter actually died as well, which I’m not giving away any plot changes. It’s not the most cheerful experience but I recommend you to go see it.  Vanessa Redgrave is fabulous. She is has such a magnificent presence and terrific actress.  To deal with the question of knowledge…Does knowing make things easier?  I would argue not necessarily and so does the play.    Joan Didion’s clearly is a control freak and felt if she could understand everything, she could bring her husband back. If you need one reason to see it…Vanessa Redgrave.

Exits and Entrances - 59 E 59 Theaters
This is by Athol Fugard who is the South African play write.  It’s somewhat autobiographical, in that he describes his relationship with a famous South African actor. The reason to see this is the acting; which is so terrific.  Morlan Higgins and William Dennis Hurley, 2 actors whom I was unfamiliar with, were just plain wonderful.  They really do sort of get underneath your skin.   This takes place in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth South Africa in 1961 and 56.  The two of them are such fun to watch together.  I think you’ll enjoy it. Prices are reasonable. 

Be – Union Square Theater
If you saw Stomp and loved it, I think this is better than Stomp.  A dozen people from all over the world from, Amsterdam, Israel, France Belgian, Ivory Coast and they are incredibly talented.  They are percussive. Kids loved it.  The audience gets involved in this one.  Major energy. A great theatrical experiences! 

Stay – Rattlestick
It’s a story about a dysfunctional family. A teacher who we don’t know really much about, and it turns out she has an angel. I think this play really works on a number of different levels.  The angel here is perhaps the most interesting character. Worthwhile, smart piece of theater to .

Fugue – Cherry Lane Theater
Directed by Judith Ivey…Love her.  This has got one of the better actresses that I have seen either on Broadway or Off Broadway in very long time.  Her name is Deirdre O’Connell.  And she’s really terrific. I don’t want to tell you very much about this, you’ll figure it out yourself.  A fugue state is either a musical term that means a melody that’s both running away and running towards at the same time of two kinds of contradictory feelings.  Also, a fugue state is an amnesiac state, where people are both forgetting and trying to remember.  I don’t want to get to into it and spoil the play for you. But it a must see…not including the first 15 minutes which we could have done without.  Stick with it!

Talk Radio – Longacre Theater
If you haven’t seen the original you’ll like this one.  I happen to have had the opportunity to see them both and they were both well done.  Liev Schreiber is a terrific actor, but in this particular case, the character he plays has to have a little bit of vulnerability in him.  When you look at Leiv you don’t see vulnerability. You see, toughness, anger, and maybe sensitivity.   Doesn’t matter though it’s a good piece of theater.

Jack Goes Boating – Public Theater
Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz are co-directors at the Public.  I think this could have been 90minutes with no intermission it would have worked better.  Philip Seymour Hoffman is wonderful in this.  He normally plays a deviant but not in this one.  One scene that has to do with water that will visually blow your socks off!

Journey’s End- Belasco Theater
It’s a remarkable story.  Takes place in the Trenches of WWI.  Some people thought it was dated, some people liked it.  It’s a good, solid piece of theater.  Boyd Gaines who is a terrific actor, is remarkable in this.  It’s a good story, not cheerful but good.  It’s the reason why people in the old days went to the theater.  Its very Shakespearean in some ways. Not because of the language but because it’s a tragedy.  Nonetheless this is the perfect choice for classic theater buffs.

Prelude To A Kiss-American Airlines Theater
This has John Mahoney (From Frazier) who is really a terrific actor and Alan Tudyk another good actor.  The story is about a bride who is frightened of everything.  She kisses a man at her wedding and becomes him…they switch souls. So if you can get pass that premise, you’re in good shape.  There’s one scene, which will break your heart.  If you like old fashion, romantic, classic stuff, this is it!

Defender of the Faith-Irish Repertory Theater
A story of Ireland set in 1986.  The idea is, is there a mole? Is there a problem with somebody selling out? This will surprise you. It’s not cheerful, but very good. 

Howard Katz – Laura Pels Theater
Alfred Molina is the reason to go see this.  It’s a story of a man who falls from great heights and we see his life in flashback.  We’ve seen it before, but the reason to go is Alfred Molina.

Mary Rose-Vineyard Theater
This is by JM Barrie, who you will know from Peter Pan.  This is an interesting side-note to Peter Pan. I won't go into it, its a see for yourself.  

The Coast Of  Utopia
Voyage - Part I
Tom Stopper - The Study of Russian History – This is in 3 Parts. Amy Irving, Martha Plimpton, Billy Crudup, Ethan Hawke. Alot of star power is in this one.  A little long and talkie.  This could have been shorter, but I liked it…I’ll let you know about the other 2 in the months to come.
Shipwreck - Part II is significantly better. Wonderful cast…Billy Crudup, Josh Hamilton, Ethan Hawke, Amy Irving and Brian O’Byrne.  Shipwreck stands on its own. If you missed Voyage, that’s okay, you won’t be loss. But you wouldn’t want to miss Shipwrecked.
Salvage - Part III If you are going to go see one this is the one to see. It stands by itself.  Its interesting.   The performances are uniformly good.  Ethan Hawke is so excited to be doing this he prances around on stage and you can see clearly he’s having a wonderful time.


Spring Awakenings
Is a play that is kind of ingenious.  The play itself was written in 1891. The idea is these are  repressed teenagers learning about their sexually.  I must let you know though, the music wasn’t great but brilliantly staged and the kids gave good performances. Moral:  Its okay to be a slacker and If you have sex you will get yourself into trouble.  

Meet Me In St. Louis
It’s the original, with all the great songs.  Intimate setting so you can see the actors up-close with no need of a microphone to hear them. Great Songs!  I have never seen this as a play but I thought it was a great thing to do.  For those of you who like old fashion musical theater, this is one you don’t want to miss!

Company
This is a revival.  The same director who did Sweeney Todd did this one.  It is a Stephen Sondheim musical.  Raul Esparza was wonderful.  Compelling moves as well. The cast was good but a little busy because of so much going on at once, but good.  

The Vertical Hour
Is written by David Hare. It’s a story of a young woman who is a political science teacher at Yale.  She meets her fiancé’s father who is a cranky Englishman.  And they have a discussion seemingly about America’s involvement in Iraq, but it’s really about everything.  It is a very good play.  David Hare as you probably are aware of is a very wordy play write but very clever.  Bill Nighy steels the scene.  Julianne Moore is lovely.  But with the performance of Bill Nighy everybody else was blown away.  It a Hot Ticket!

The History Boys
It’s a play on Broadway.  It cleaned up at the Tony’s. It doesn’t work to me as well as the movie, because the initial character on stage was eccentric. And in the movie he is more a pervert than anything else.  If you can’t see it on Broadway, see the movie.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical
May not be the best in theater, but this was very cute.  It has great voices.  The dancing and choreography is just plain terrific.  The audience just loved it.  Simply great for kids and adults. 

Striking 12 – Daryl Roth Theater
They say it’s the last musical of the year.  Three musicians tell a story using drums, key- board and a violin about some guys New Year’s Eve.  It sounds boring, but its not.  The musicians are extremely talented.  Just enough off-beat I think you’ll enjoy it.  Good one to see.

Mamma Mia
3^rd time I’ve seen. Still Love it! Need I say more.

A Chorus Line
The new Chorus Line is lovely. If you’ve never seen it this production is terrific.

Evil Dead The Musical
This is adorable. Has a very talented cast.  Yes, its based on the cheesy horror movie.  If you sit in the front row you will get splattered with fake blood.  Silly and cute.  Absolutely wonderful for the teenagers! 

All Too Human-An Evening with Clarence Darrow
Its not terribly theatrical, it’s a one man show. Clarence Darrow is this fascinating human being. This is a guy who was part of American History with kind of a Mark Twain view of things.  Great for the intellectual. 

Ross
Ross was the name Lawrence of Arabia used when he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion.  T. E Lawrence is a fabulous figure of the 20^th Century.  Another one for the intellectuals. 

Grey Gardens
This is something for everybody, but not for kids. Christine Ebersole is certainly going to win a Tony for this and should.  Terrific musical theater based on Jackie Kennedy’s cousins living in squalor with 400 cats or something. Good performances.

Mimi Le Duck
Cute theater.  A woman goes to find herself and I’m surprised I didn’t find it more adorable.  It’s a good idea. 

Jay Johnson – Two and Only
If you know someone who likes or loves ventriloquism, this is a great show!

Bush Wars
For those among you who are feeling political, this one is for you.  Very talented cast. Hilarious, political satire.  If you like Bush, you should go see something else.


Les Miserables
Just re-opened.  Fabulous cast.  I was enthralled every moment for 3 hours.  A must see.  Forget about the other performances you have seen….this cast is remarkable. Put this one on your list. 

Mary Poppins
Music is wonderful.  They are trying to bring back some of the original darkness of this story, with even a couple of scary scenes.  If you don’t leave singing the songs, you are stronger than I am.

The Little Dog Laughed
This is for any of your hipster friends, who is an agent, has an agent or wants to be an agent.  It’s funny, hip.  Not to take your grandma to, language a little raw…but you should see.

Okay, I know I can hear you saying you don’t like Shakespeare, you are not going to go to a play that is about Richard II, but Richard II is Richard the Lionhearted. This is really one of the interesting monarch’s who went off to fight the crusades.  If you really want to see the real majesty of the play and of the language go see Michael Cumpsty, at the Classic Stages Company. This is really Shakespeare, I think, in away Shakespeare was meant to be performed.  It’s a relatively limited cast and all of them play multiple parts.  Michael as Richard II is just plain terrific.  Even if you think you don’t like Shakespeare…get yourself over to Classic Stages and see Richard II.