While you may have already suspected it to be the case, I am officially hanging up my hat as a theatre critic and putting this blog, newsletter, and its podcast on hold indefinitely. I made my decision last fall, but I have waited to share it because I wanted to pair the news with another exciting development. Along with my business partner Jamie DuMont, I am thrilled to announce that I am following a long-harbored dream and launching a second career as a theatrical producer with our production company The Fabulous Invalid,

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The Fabulous Invalid (Jamie DuMont and Rob Russo) announced today that Call Fosse at the Minskoff, a new 90-minute solo play written and performed by Mimi Quillin, and directed by Michael Berresse, will premiere at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (14 Castle St, Great Barrington, MA) on October 15-16, 2021, at 7 p.m.

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Deeper cuts from the Bob Dylan songbook are roughly interpolated into “Girl from the North Country”, a new musical by Irish playwright and director Conor McPherson. Heavy on mood, this original Depression-era story offers a compelling look at a mélange of ordinary, forgotten people on the margins of low-rent society, but the effort is hampered by Mr. Dylan’s anachronistic songs and their poor integration into the plot. This one left me chilly and detached.

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Belgian auteur Ivo van Hove presents a reimagined version of “West Side Story” for the 21st Century; employing his signature style of theatremaking, this production is thrilling and revelatory, breathing new life into a beloved classic with new choreography, precision cuts to the text, new orchestrations, a superb ensemble cast, and groundbreaking use of video and live filmmaking. The result marks a true summit of achievement in theatre-making and a highlight in a lifetime of theatergoing. It demands to be seen.

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Transport Theatre Group Company presents the first New York revival of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”, featuring a new book by Dick Scanlan. Despite an energetic star turn by Beth Malone, the titular character operates in a single mode, and the Meredith Willson score is unremarkable. This attempt to shoehorn a 21st century approach into the shell of a 20th century musical founders.

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After 46 years away from New York, audiences at City Center finally have a chance to see what Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s 1974 flop “Mack and Mabel” is all about thanks to a new Encores! production. The result is bittersweet—both thrilling and sad. Jerry Herman’s score shines, alongside performances by Douglas Sills, Alexandra Socha, Lilli Cooper, and a top-notch ensemble, and the atmosphere of old Hollywood is superbly spun. Still, this is not a musical masterpiece, but a beloved curiosity—a good musical that almost works. Perhaps someday, it might.

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A look at two new musicals that opened recently off-Broadway: The New Group’s “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” and Roundabout Underground’s “Darling Grenadine” (critic’s pick!).

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With the concept of “winter” an increasing memory, here is overview of all that’s coming to New York stages this spring!

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Roundabout Theatre Company presents a sterling revival and Broadway debut of Charles Fuller’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Soldier’s Play”, a thrilling and tautly constructed military murder mystery set among the segregated barracks of an Army base in 1944 Central Louisiana.  Kenny Leon directs a terrific ensemble, led by David Alan Grier and Blair Underwood, in one of the best productions Roundabout has presented in recent memory.

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Laura Linney stars in an unnecessary and poorly adapted stage version of Elizabeth Stout’s acclaimed 2016 novel, “My Name is Lucy Barton”.  Despite a grounded and forthright performance from one of the greatest actors of her generation, the play never satisfactorily justifies its existence.

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On Friday night at Carnegie Hall, The New York Pops orchestra performed a top-notch program celebrating the revolutionary musical partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II with guest vocalists Max von Essen and Laura Michelle Kelly, and the Essential Voices USA chorus.

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Richard Jones directs a new adaptation of Ödön von Horváth’s 1937 noirish procedural “Judgment Day” by playwright Christopher Shinn, performed in the Park Avenue Armory’s drill hall on a grand scale.  The experience is mesmerizing and effective, even if not essential to the text.

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As we begin a new decade, I look back at my past decade of theatre-going and pick my top 10 favorite plays and musicals.

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