I attended a masters class in acting and a play broke out. Holy cow. James Earl Jones, Angela…read moreLansbury, John Larroquette, Candace Bergen, and Eric McCormack put on quite a show. Sitting 2nd row center helps a little, too. Watching these pros in action, so close up, was extremely memorable. Sure, I was a little starstruck. While, I didn't totally love the play, it was made interesting by the actors. Special 'shout out' to Kerry Butler, who played the young wife of Eric McCormack. She is a star on the rise, and easy on the eyes, too! http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/BBym_fvX0Q5A6DB23aPQUg?select=qvOwBPJMV4YJXsc8oqWy8w#qvOwBPJMV4YJXsc8oqWy8w ~Performance: July 5 @7pm

This was a good Broadway show, and I'm glad that I got to see it, but in the end, I enjoyed the…read morecast and their acting more than I did the play itself. Don't get me wrong, the story is an interesting one, but it's hard to relate to any of these guys. It does make you think about what goes on behind the scenes during a presidential campaign. James Earl Jones was simply superb. John Larroquette and Eric McCormack were a lot better than I expected them to be.

What a performance! The cast, especially Jeff Daniels, was so amazing in this okay. The…read moreseriousness, the comedic parts, the sets, the pace of the story, all made this for such an enjoyable experience! The theatre is beautiful too, I was in a box seat with an excellent view with great audio.

This show was such a disappointment. I used to love the book and loved the movie so when I heard it…read morewas coming on broadway I was so excited. First things first the usher in this theatre are the rudest I've ever had to encounter with. One literally tried to shove me out of the way to get passed me. When I was getting directed to my seat they pointed to where I had to go but I wasn't sure if that was the right aisle. When I asked again the usher gave me attitude and told me to ask someone else. Bad start. The play itself is just ehh. The acting wasn't great although Jeff Daniels did a great job playing Atticus. But everyone else wasn't into character in my opinion and it wasn't much like the original book/movie. I expected more action and better acting. 2 hours and 35 minute play which could've been shorter with the story line they were providing. I wouldn't recommend it.

On 6/17/25 saw Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. . Wow! Run, don't…read morewalk to catch one of these performances In one of NYC's boros. It was a hilarious spanglish musical performed by highly talented actors. Seating was provided on first come, first served and it was filled to capacity but plenty of lawn to sit on or bring your own chair. It was 100 minutes with no intermission. Definitely worthwhile for a date night or family night.

Our Christmas, the play I saw at this location, was terrific!! Buried beside a church in Washington…read moreHeights, this place housed a hidden theatrical treasure. The cast of the play was great. The actors really developed strong characters and embellished an already wonderful and hilarious storyline. The play offered a touching and funny insight into the Christmas traditions of four very different Latino friends. Also,the music was simple yet sufficient. The location was intimate with only 50 seats.The only drawback was the run-down theater space; there were sheets stapled or tacked to the walls, the walls were sloppily painted with both high gloss and flat paint, an old drop-ceiling was stained and falling down in parts. This distracted some from the overall experience. It could be worth fixing this, especially if there are plans to continue hosting such great plays. Also, two thumbs up for whoever decided to promote this show at a discount ticket site online. I learned about this from an email and came with friends. So worth it, I would see it again if I could!

I was lucky enough to meet the cast of this show weeks before. Hearing how much they prepared for…read morethis show and getting into character. It made me really eager to see it. I'll be honest, I really didn't know anything about this story. I would hear the title of the show every now and then. I even saw it as a reference on an episode of Modern Family. The original main cast were all White, but this version steps out of the box and features all four main characters portrayed by African Americans. The actors in the show are Blair Underwood, Nicole Ari Parker, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Woods Harris. T hey all shine on the stage, but Nicole Ari Parker who plays Blanche really had something else. She was AMAZING. I've seen her in small parts on tv and the big screen, but her portrayal of Blanche was something spectacular. If you know the story or curious about it as I was. I definitely recommend seeing this show with this stellar cast.

Last night, I was sucked into an emotional whirlwind in The Big Easy, torn as conflict raged,…read moreboiled in an agony of simmering tension and finally left limp and gasping as the final curtain closed. The performance by Blair Underwood and especially Nicole Ari Parker is really that impressive. I have no idea how they can go through that every night (twice on Wednesdays and Sundays) emotionally unscathed. If you like intense and rather dark theater, this Tennesee Williams classic is unforgettable, and the current production is extremely powerful. Definitely not appropriate for children. PARTING THOUGHT: Blair Underwood has obviously been doing the 300 diet/workout routine. Every shirtless scene, all of the ladies in the audience (and some of the gentlemen) were doing a fair share of wistful sighing ;)

A Docu-musical? What is a Docu-musical?…read moreJust the title of this performance made me want to go see this. Surprisingly it was very entertaining and very funny. The one man play (two man if you count Steve) is a documentation of of Colin Summer's collaboration and interaction with Steve from Australia. Colin business at that time was an online service to translate client's poems to music; so this is where the musical portion came from. Colin present his collaboration and the many music he had created with Steve. The play is funny and the music is great. The play will end very soon so go now. The theater is open seating so get there on time to grab the front seats!

STEVE: A DOCU-MUSICAL is a play that is based on the true story of Colin Summer's 8-year online…read morecorrespondence and artistic collaboration with Steve, a Gen X Australian. Steve, the lyricist, and Colin, the musician, has co-written hundreds of songs together. It's a story that tells a tale of how music, the Internet and computers brought these lives together in the modern world. Colin and Steve live on opposite ends of the Earth. Colin lives in the NE US and Steve in Australia. Colin had a partner, Andrew, who helped him co-produce the music. Colin and Andrew first worked with Steve when Steve found poetrytomusic.com and hired the musical team to score his lyrics. I laughed, sang, and really enjoyed this "docu-musical" so much. This one-man narrative story is written by and told to the audience by Colin Summers. I felt Colin was a very likable, charming young fellow that has a gift for music and telling stories as well. Colin not one time makes fun of Steve. I got to understand from Colin how genuinely interested he is in who Steve is. I was half hoping for Steve to pop out to say hi to the audience! This show is utterly charming. The play will stop playing at The 4th Street Theatre August 22, 2015. I highly recommend this Off-Broadway production. Tickets are inexpensive $16 in advance and $20 at the door. I watch a lot of plays in general and Steve: A Docu-Musical has been my favorite play, as of recently. This play really warmed my heart.

The Century Theater hosted Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby before it moved to Broadway…read more Generally, this great little off-Broadway theater near Union Square runs new plays before they move on to bigger (though I can't say better) venues. The theater is quite small, and not too deep. It's not as small as some off-off-Broadway locations (they usually get smaller as they acquire more "offs"), but you can still be in the back row without needing binoculars. The theater doesn't have upper levels, and that gives it a small chamber atmosphere that's very conducive to experimental productions. The prices, which again are inversely proportional to the number of "offs" before the word "Broadway," are in the $30 to $40 range. That's quite cheap by New York theater standards.

We were at the opening night performance of Valerie Harper in Looped where she gave a stellar…read moreperformance as Tallulah Bankhead. The entire play takes place in a Los Angeles recording studio where Tallulah was to do a looping (A correction of an illegible line of a movie, synchronized to the action). She, of course, shows up late and ...err...looped. Since everyone else has left and only the studio engineer, Steve, played by Michael Mulheren; and Danny, the film editor, played by Brian Hutchison, remain, the heavy task landed on the shoulders of Danny. Danny had the unenviable job of getting Tallulah to utter the one line and it took the entire afternoon as she ranted, raved and drank scotch, neat. The language was "Tallulahish", meaning the "F" word and other epithets and remarks that sent the audience into belly laughs. Leave the kiddies home, please. The line that sent me into spasms was Tallulah's description of how much she hated Scotch whiskey: "I gave my little dog a bit of Scotch, dahling, and he had to lick his ass to get the taste out of his mouth". Valerie harper was magnificent in the role and made me realize that Rhoda Morganstern is gone forever, her New York twang replaced by the throaty rantings of Tallulah Bankhead. The blunt language used came across as funny, not vile or disgusting.Tallulah spoke that way and trying to portray Tallulah without the four letter words and raunchy wise cracks would be like Robert Morse portraying Truman Capote without mincing across the Broadway stage. They all were good, but it was Ms. Harper who was great. Mathew Lombardo, the playwright, and Rob Ruggiero, the director, a couple in real life, did us proud with their first Broadway effort. When brought out by Harper at the close, they received a beautiful welcome from the audience. If you want to see one of the rare "tour de force" stage performances by a crossover performer from the television media, go see this. TDF members, it is available right now on tdf.org. And don't miss looking at the photos posted here.