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AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - The Tempest - A Heavy Storm

New York Times

Music in Shakespeare’s Island Chaos
Mandy Patinkin puts the accent on fortissimo for much of this clean, largely well-acted staging of “The Tempest.”

Associated Press

A magnificent Mandy Patinkin propels 'The Tempest'
In the Classic Stage Company's eloquent new production of ''The Tempest,'' a storm at sea creates a brief cacophony of noise, confusion and shouting. The storm tosses a small ship's passengers and crew onto a deceptively peaceful, sandy island, where the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, have watched the proceedings with interest.

Variety

Review: The Tempest
Mandy Patinkin has a beautiful voice, as warm and golden as honey spooned from a jar -- the perfect voice to sing us through "The Tempest," the most musical of Shakespeare's late plays. Toplined by Patinkin's commanding Prospero, this Classic Stage Company production slips through some earthbound staging constraints ...

Back Stage

The Tempest reviewed by David A. Rosenberg
Wisely, director Brian Kulick ends the first act with the interplay among Caliban, Trinculo, and Stefano. Leave 'em laughing is the byword, at least through the intermission.

TheaterMania

Review: hThe Tempest
Mandy Patinkin's ill-conceived portrayal of Prospero is just one of the problems in Brian Kulick's haphazard staging of Shakespeare's play.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: The Tempest
Want some pastrami with your redemption? You’ll get it, along with a heaping helping of thinly sliced ham, at Prospero’s Deli. If that sounds tasty, grab your umbrella and begin your trek to a New York sandwich shop so unique it’s currently doling out its wares from the Classic Stage Company stage. Stranger still, it’s in the guise of a play called The Tempest. . . .

CurtainUp

Review; The Tempest
Patinkin, looking quite imposing in his all white casual garb and sporting a neatly trimmed beard, rants with authoritative conviction and postures in a league with the better Prosperos I have seen . .

AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - A Tale of Two Cities - The Best of Times? No. But Not the Worst Either

New York Times

Revolution (and Love) on Their Minds
This lumpish musical adaptation of the beloved Charles Dickens novel is one of those unfortunate shows that are neither witty in themselves nor able to inspire wit in others.

New York Daily News

Nothing revolutionary about 'A Tale of Two Cities'
In "Les Miserables," a fervent cry goes out for "one day more!" The creators and cast of "A Tale of Two Cities," which opened Thursday night, have taken th...

amNY

'Tale of Two Cities' features James Barbour and little else
The pre-Broadway buzz surrounding "A Tale of Two Cities" had nothing to do with Charles Dickens.

Newsday

Winer: "Two Cities" musical is not the best, nor the worst

New York Post

It should be far, far better
It was the worst of times . . . and the worst of times. Who knew how eagerly I'd await Sydney Carton's closing words, "It's a far, far better thing that I do . . . "

New York Sun

Decent Melodies, Bad Wigs: 'A Tale of Two Cities'
Who says you can't walk out of a Broadway musical humming the score anymore? My subway ride home from "A Tale of Two Cities" was filled with fond musical memories, as stirring martial songs of revolution jostled for primacy with plaintive laments sung…

New York Journal-News

Waiting for the best of times
Neither Jill Santoriello's musical talent nor her lyric-writing skills are really up to the task of bringing "A Tale of Two Cities" to a Broadway that has moved on from "Les Miserables" and its ilk.

ny1

NY1 Theater Review: “A Tale Of Two Cities”

Star-Ledger

Oft-told 'Tale' arrives as musical
Neither the best nor the worst of Broadway times, "A Tale of Two Cities" is a workmanlike but uninspired musical version of Charles Dickens' novel spun from the French Revolution.

More reviews of 'A Tale of Two Cities' on page two

Pages: 1 · 2

Theatrically speaking, the new musical A Tale of Two Cities, which opened last night on Broadway, is neither the best of times nor is it the worst of times. The music from Jill Santoriello (who's also written the book and lyrics) may sound derivative, but it's sung beautifully by many of the principals and the ensemble. Her condensed retelling of Charles Dickens novel may not offer many surprises, but it's generally lucid and retains enough of the original's flavor to satisfy. Warren Carlyle's direction and choreography may not hold any break any new ground, but his work unfolds within an extremely handsome and clever environment from scenic designer Tony Walton and under Richard Brow's eye-poppingly beautifully lighting design. In other words, there's enough that's right about "Tale" to ensure that theatergoers will not have a bad time with the show, but at the same time, it's a musical that never fully satisfies.

The musical gets off to a rocky start with a short pantomime sequence behind a scrim where audiences see a young man stabbed while he grieves over the body of another. Another man looks on at the murder and is promptly taken away from the scene. For those who know the novel intimately, the sequence is remarkably clear, holding a key to one aspect of Dickens' story. For anyone else, though, the moment raises more questions than it answers. Thankfully, the musical soon starts off on its tale with the introduction of Miss Pross (Katherine McGrath), the housekeeper who's responsible for raising a little girl named Lucie in England, after the disappearance of the child's father in the decade immediately preceding the French Revolution.

The action quickly flashes forward and Lucie (Brandi Burkhardt) has grown into young adulthood, and learns from Pross that they are travelling to France, along with family friend Jarvis Lorry (Michael Hayward-Jones) to retrieve Lucie's father, Dr. Manette (Greg Edelman), who has recently been released from his imprisonment in the Bastille. The rapidity with which this action takes place is almost stirring, and it leads into the heart of Dickens' intricate story about the Manette clan, Lucie's romance with Charles Darnay (Aaron Lazar), a French noble who's renounced his title, and the love that she inspires in Sidney Carton (James Barbour), a dissolute attorney, who must be hired to defend Darnay during his early days in England.

These performers may be the chief reason to take in "Tale." Burkhardt uses her strong soprano to beautiful effect – even when Santoriello's lyrics seem saccharine – and she imbues Lucie with an inner strength that makes the character a genuine heroine. Lazar cuts a handsome figure as the romantic – in all senses of the word – Darnay and Edelman brings both warmth and gravity to the role of Dr. Manette.

As Carton, Barbour, who never manages to eclipse, even at this remove, the memory of Ronald Colman's performance in the role in the 1935 movie, can look simultaneously boyishly impish, debonair, and debauched. Like his co-stars, he exudes a level of humanity that elevates much of the material in "Tale," including some of the power-ballads that Santoriello has written, tunes that can at times be frighteningly reminiscent of other similar era musicals. Perhaps most important, Barbour manages to infuse Carton's sacrifice for Lucie and Darnay with great dignity.

The same cannot be said of Natalie Toro, who plays the vengeful Madame Defarge, the woman who keeps track of the injustices committed by the French nobility in the knitting that seems to be perpetually in her hands. Toro sings two of the biggest numbers in "Tale" – songs that require her to wail as if Defarge were some sort of contestant on "American Idol." These songs not only feel inappropriate musically, they also seem to have been placed to ensure that they have maximum aural impact, rather than for dramatic reasons. This is particularly true of her first act throat-ripper, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," which would make much more sense in the second act after theatergoers have learned the reasons for Defarge's bitterness.

Throughout, a sextet of arced skeletal towers, which indicate gorgeously, the interiors and exteriors of townhomes on both sides of the Channel swirl across the stage and in front of projections which bring to mind etchings of London and Paris from the period. Walton's design not only gives the production a fluidity and certain cinematic sweep, it also holds several clever surprises in store for audiences.

So, too, do a number of the performances in secondary roles, particularly Craig Bennett's understated turn as the garrulous "resurrectionist" Jerry Cruncher and Nick Wyman's portrayal of the double-crossing Englishman John Barsad. David Zinn's handsome period costumes also contain some unexpected flairs, occasionally making the performers look like caricatures that might have appeared during the Revolution or in print with Dickens' novel.

Ultimately A Tale of Two Cities does not have the panache to rival the stage adaptations of great works like Nicholas Nickleby or Les Miserables. Instead, this is a musical that does enough right to ensure that theatergoers are not insulted, but not enough to capture imaginations or hearts.

---- Andy Propst

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A Tale of Two Cities plays at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street). Performances are Monday at 8pm; Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday at 2 and 8pm; Thursday at 8pm; Friday at 8pm; and Saturday at 2 and 8pm. Tickets are $59.00 - $120.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com. Further information is available online at www.TaleMusical.com

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In director Brian Kulick's staging of Shakespeare's The Tempest, which opened last night at Classic Stage Company, a huge painted canvas of a lush, almost Rococo, cloud-filled sky supported by ropes hangs above the stage. This central element of Jian Jung's stark scenic design rises and falls and teeters above the action (thanks to four distractingly visible operators) of the production.

It's a handsome piece of scenery and one that can aptly mirror the oppressive bitterness that lowers upon Prospero (Mandy Patinkin), the former Duke of Milan who has spent 12 years on a desert island after being ousted by his brother Antonio (Karl Kenzler). At the same time, though, the piece weighs heavily upon the production, ironically diminishing the play's airier elements, such as the romance that develops between Miranda (Elisabeth Waterston), Prospero's daughter, and Ferdinand (Craig Wright), son to the King of Naples (Michael Potts), who along with Antonio and his father is shipwrecked on the island following a storm conjured by Prospero.

The magic that Prospero uses to conjure the storm comes not only from the research and experimentation he conducted prior to his ouster, but also from what he's learned while on the island, where's he's enslaved two of its magical residents, the kindly sprite Ariel (Angel Desai) and the barbaric Caliban (Nyambi Nyambi). While Ariel works to assist Prospero in his designs against his brother and followers, Caliban works with more dissolute members of the court – Trinculo (Tony Torn) and Stefano (Steven Rattazzi) – to oust his master.

The multilayered tales of "Tempest" are told with marvelous lucidity in Kulick's production, and there are a host of fine performances, particularly from Patinkin who delivers a passionate, but impressively restrained, interpretation of the wronged and wronging Prospero. Both Waterston and Wright charm as the young couple whose attraction to one another is instantaneous. Yet these two, like Torn and Rattazzi, who work tirelessly to bring the comedic aspects of the play to life, feel as if they are curiously stifled in the production. Though the lovers' deep emotions are evident and the others' clowning apparent, these emotions fail to reach into the hearts of theatergoers.

There are moments when this production does manage to somehow soar above the both literal and metaphorical barrier of the canvas: whenever Christian Frederickson's delicate original score – often sung beautifully by Desai – is performed and also during the play's final moments when Patinkin's Prospero relinquishes his bitterness and enmity. It's difficult to not be moved in these sequences, but unfortunately, like the island on which its set, much of this "Tempest" feels barren, or at least, somehow oppressed.

---- Andy Propst

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The Tempest continues through October 12 at Classic Stage Company (156 East 13th Street). Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Additional performances are Sunday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Oct 12 at 7:30pm. Tickers are $70-75 and can be purchased by calling 866-811-4111 or 212-352-3101. Further information, and ticketing, is available online at: www.classicstge.org

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AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab - Spoofing Broadway One Last, and Hilarious, Time

New York Times

Giving Their Regards by Skewering the Shows
This is the liveliest, sauciest and saddest “Forbidden Broadway” in over a decade.

Newsday

Linda Winer on 'Forbidden Broadway' and 'Three Changes'

Star-Ledger

Roast of the town
Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab

Bergen Record

'Forbidden Broadway' returns to its wicked glory days

Variety

Review: Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
Solid but unspectacular, "Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab," the final New York installment of the long-running satirical revue, proves why the show has become an institution and why, after 26 years, it's probably time for a break. When he's on, writer-creator Gerard Alessandrini still offers up vicious parody, but when he's coasting, he just repeats a basic set of gripes.

Back Stage

Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab reviewed by David Sheward
After the current edition of Forbidden Broadway closes in January, the long-running satirical revue of all things theatre will be taking a break for a while.

TheaterMania

Review: Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
This final-for-now edition of the 27-year-old series of spoofs works best as a showcase for its four very talented performers.

CurtainUp

Review: Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
Whether for the first or umpteenth time, leave it to the daily headlines to make you sober, and get thee into Forbidden Broadway's Rehab for a barrel of laughs.