By Clark Groome When “Gypsy” first appeared on the scene in 1959, it was widely acclaimed as an almost perfect musical. Subsequent Broadway productions — featuring Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti Lupone in the monster role of Mama Rose originally performed by Ethel Merman — confirmed that initial reaction. The Arden Theatre […]
Read More >
by Clark Groome Neil Simon has written some of the English-speaking theater’s most popular plays. The prolific author of “Come Blow Your Horn,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple,” “Plaza Suite.” “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” “Lost in Yonkers,” “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” and so many other plays and musicals has quite possibly […]
Read More >
by Hugh Hunter If Leo Durocher had not come up with “Nice guys finish last,” Philly playwright Bruce Graham would have had to invent it. A master of the one-liner himself, the aphorism sums up Graham’s point of view in the offbeat comedy, “Any Given Monday” (2010), now running at Stagecrafters. Directed by Barbara D. […]
Read More >
by Clark Groome “Stupid F&*king Bird,” Aaron Posner’s play with the media-unfriendly title, has been described as a “deconstruction” of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull.” Should, therefore, the theatergoer have a familiarity with the original Chekhov piece? Ideally no. But on opening night I felt as though there might be references in Posner’s piece that would […]
Read More >
by Clark Groome Back in 1949 when Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific” opened on Broadway, musicals were almost always called “musical comedies.” While much of this magnificent show is very funny, it is anything but a traditional musical comedy. “South Pacific” is set during World War II on a remote island. Its plot involves war […]
Read More > by Clark Groome While there were always some of Johnny Cash’s songs that I really liked — most notably “A Boy Named Sue,” “I Walked the Line” and “Folsom Prison Blues” — I was never a great fan. At least not until I saw “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash” at People’s Light and […]
Read More >
by Clark Groome At the beginning of Lucas Hnath’s sharp and incisive “Hillary and Clinton,” now at the Suzanne Roberts Theater, 480 S. Broad St., until June 26, Alice M. Gatling walks onto the stage and tells the audience that it’s possible, maybe even likely, that in all the billions of solar systems there are […]
Read More > by Clark Groome When the musical adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden” opened on Broadway in 1991. I found it confusing, dark and probably inappropriate for some of the children in the audience. It was also clear that author Marsha Norman had added some elements to Burnett’s original, which added to the show’s […]
Read More > by Clark Groome There’s so much to enjoy in the Act II production of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate” in Ambler that I almost regret reporting that the show has significant weaknesses; “almost regret reporting,” but here we go: Tops among the positives is Porter’s magnificent score, which includes “Why Can’t You Behave?” “Wundebar,” “So […]
Read More >
by Clark Groome When the great country singer Patsy Cline made her debut on “The Arthur Godfrey Show” in 1956, she was almost immediately a sensation. One of Godfrey’s viewers, Louise Seger from Houston, fell in love with her singing. When Cline came to Houston to perform, Seger met her, and they formed a close […]
Read More >
