Showtime!

Showtime! features reviews, commentary and assorted theatrical musings from Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic. To submit amusing backstage banter, absurd audience observations or noteworthy links to Showtime!, click here. Anonymity's guaranteed. My not taking credit for your clever remark isn't.

Newest Entry

Carole J. Bufford's Body and Soul

The difference between enjoying a good nightclub singer and being completely enthralled by an exceptional cabaret artist can easily be recognized onstage at The Metropolitan Room as Carole J. Bufford – who cannot possibly be as young and relatively inexperienced as her brief resume indicates – displays the interpretive skills, stage savvy and snazzy audience rapport that stirs buzz and excitement long after the servers have been properly tipped. In a time when New York has sadly been losing some of its more prominent cabaret venues, a performer like Bufford makes you think of the hot spots to come where she’ll no doubt be headlining.

I first became aware of Ms. Bufford at one of Scott Siegel’s Town Hall concerts, where her thrilling performance of “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man Of Mine” progressed from a sweetly affectionate love song to a defiant declaration challenging anyone who would dare question her right to be devoted to whomever her heart chooses. Her fresh and unexpected interpretation and her gripping execution received roars of approval from the seasoned subscribers.

That selection is just one of the many highlights of Body and Soul, a collection of varying songs of love and lust, conceived and produced by Siegel. With chameleon-like skills, the slender, bobbed-haired, impishly youthful performer displays superior musical theatre acting technique, both physically and vocally, that subtly transforms her into the world of each song; most strikingly apparent when she follows a vicious, powerfully merciless interpretation of “Cry Me A River” with a fragile, painfully still and vulnerable rendering of “Cottage For Sale.” As with the rest of her program, like her sardonically inquisitive and wounded “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” both songs are infused with a subtext that stretches beyond the surface content of the music and lyrics.

The excellent arrangements are by music director Ian Herman, who, at piano, is joined by bassist Matt Wigton, but there is no stage director mentioned, making me think that either some talented sole is being cheated out of a credit or Ms. Bufford has a remarkable sense of what looks and sounds good on her; bringing polished, period honky-tonk authenticity to the nearly 100 year old “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home?,” steaming up the joint with a hot and bluesy “Low, Short and Squatty” and easing classic elegance into the evening’s title tune.

Though her voice plays it straight for the Sherman Brothers’ “Good Time Girl,” a warning for soldiers to keep it clean while overseas, her expressive eyes reveal more playful thoughts. Her sweet, ingénue-like delivery of Earl Brent’s “Say That We’re Sweethearts Again” gets maximum comic mileage out of its violent lyric depicting outlandishly low self-esteem.

But whether she’s flirtatiously growling through a hot swing arrangement of “Your Kisses Kill Me” or softly devoted in an endearing “Fade Into You,” what remains constant is the intelligence with which she colors every lyric, bringing interesting new shadings to old standards and making less-familiar numbers pop out at the audience.

Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay Ms. Bufford at this time is to say that she’s the kind of young, unknown performer that makes a critic want to review his assessment of her work a few extra times to make sure his effusive praise wasn’t overdone. But who knows, perhaps one day people will speak of Carole J. Bufford’s appearances at The Metropolitan Room the same way they now speak of appearances by certain young singers that were once seen at The Blue Angel, Les Mouches and the Continental Baths.

Photos by Lynn Redmile.

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Posted on: Sunday, January 27, 2013 @ 08:46 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Don't Cry For Me, Cinderella

There is no truth to the rumor that at tonight's closing performance of Evita, Ann Harada played Peron's Mistress and sang "Why Would A Fellow Want A Girl Like Her?"

Posted on: Sunday, January 27, 2013 @ 01:37 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

It Takes A Woman

Tracy Morgan was on The View today and said he'd like to play the title role in a Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, but when asked to sing a bit of the song he said he didn't know it. Remarkably, though, he had the entire oak leaf monologue memorized. #OneOfTheseSentencesIsALie

Posted on: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 @ 12:05 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

What? No Understudy?

So I arrive at the St. James tonight and they're passing out notices saying the performance is cancelled because Barry Manilow has bronchitis. And I'm thinking, somebody should just call Mandy Patinkin. He'd be over in ten minutes and do the whole show in Yiddish.

Posted on: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 @ 11:28 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/20/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week

"I am confused by life but I feel safe within the confines of the theatre."

-- Helen Hayes

The grosses are out for the week ending 1/20/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: THE HEIRESS (13.7%), EVITA (10.5%), MARY POPPINS (9.0%), GOLDEN BOY (9.0%), CHICAGO (8.0%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (7.0%), ANNIE (7.0%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (6.6%), MAMMA MIA! (3.0%), WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (2.4%), THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (2.2%), ROCK OF AGES (1.6%), WICKED (1.2%), PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (1.1%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT(1.0%),

Down for the week was: PICNIC (-17.1%), THE OTHER PLACE (-12.1%), NEWSIES (-8.4%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-5.8%), JERSEY BOYS (-5.2%), ONCE (-3.7%), GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (-1.7%), THE LION KING (-0.3%), THE BOOK OF MORMON (-0.1%),

Posted on: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 @ 04:41 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

The Other Place

Laurie Metcalf is already seated center stage as patrons enter the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre for Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of The Other Place, tempting less-sophisticated playgoers to yell out, “We loved you in Roseanne!”

But despite her Emmy-winning sitcom success, Metcalf’s extensive stage career has consisted primarily of critically acclaimed performances in more somber fare, such as her Mary Tyrone in last year’s London production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. As in that O’Neill classic, Sharr White’s psychological drama also has her playing a woman whose mind transports her into unreliable perceptions of reality. The twist being that she’s this play’s storyteller.

As accomplished neurologist Juliana Smithton, Metcalf is a striking figure of confident, intelligent sexuality; smartly dressed and crackling with sarcasm. She puts those qualities to good use in marketing a new pill intended to treat dementia and once the play gets started, she’s recalling a presentation she gave at a convention in St. Thomas, where she was distracted by a woman in the audience dressed in a yellow bikini. Soon, the audience may question if the scantily clad guest was really there because, coincidentally, it seems Juliana may be suffering from dementia herself and, in a roller coaster of scene work deftly guided by director Joe Mantello, the play takes us from narrated remembrances to the present to flashbacks, all depictions questionable in their truthfulness.

In her messy home life, Juliana suspects her oncologist husband Ian (Daniel Stern) is cheating on her, and that she’s been getting calls from her long lost daughter (Zoe Perry) who might have married her former assistant (John Schiappa). Eugene Lee and Edward Pierce’s clever set provides a background of jumbled window frames, none of which offer a clear view of what’s beyond.

With weightier roles for the supporting players, The Other Place might provide a deeper experience in its 70-minute length, but Juliana is the only fully-realized character. Fortunately, the superb Metcalf, with her detailed performance exposing Juliana’s humiliation and fear of losing control of her mind, is attention-grabbing at every moment, but without her presence The Other Side seems little more than a competent, if somewhat familiar, episode.

Photo of Laurie Metcalf by Joan Marcus.

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Posted on: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 @ 02:23 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Peter Marshall: And Then She Wrote

“If you’d like to sing along with us, please don’t. It confuses me.”

Self-depreciating references to his age are hardly necessary for Peter Marshall, whose Metropolitan Room gig marks his first major cabaret engagement since he was partnered with Tommy Noonan in late 1950s. In between he squeezed in careers as a musical comedy leading man – most famously on Broadway opposite Julie Harris in Skyscraper – and as the five-time Emmy Award winning host of The Hollywood Squares.

But even at 86 years of age, his saloon singing skills are still in exceptional shape. The flashing smile from his handsomely-creased face is as charming as his mellow, romantic baritone crooning old favorites.

Marshall surrounds himself with talented women both on stage and on the set list for And Then She Wrote, a fun and lively revue of American Songbook classics written or co-written by women. With music director Anne Drummond on piano and flute and Brandi Disterheft on bass, the male star shares vocal responsibilities with jazz singers Carol Welsman (who occasionally takes over the keyboard) and Denise Donatelli. And he does share the stage. The three divide up material pretty evenly.

Of course, the matriarch of the American Songbook, Nora Bayes, is introduced early on with “Shine On, Harvest Moon.” Dorothy Fields is well represented with favorites like “Sunny Side of the Street," “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “The Way You Look Tonight,” as are Carolyn Leigh (“The Best Is Yet To Come” “Young At Heart” “Real Live Girl”) and Betty Comden (“Make Someone Happy” “Just In Time” “The Party’s Over”).

Thirty-nine songs in total, including selections by Ella Fitzgerald (“A-Tisket, A-Tasket”), Marilyn Bergman (“What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?”) and Peggy Lee (“It’s a Good Day”) are packed into the 90-minute program, mostly by limiting each presentation to one chorus. The mixture of solos, duets and three-part harmonies are done in straightforward, standard arrangements with bits of patter praising each songwriter and adding some of Marshall’s personal remembrances.

And Then She Wrote may not be a particularly creative venture, but it’s a polished, cheery and enjoyable interlude, and a welcome chance to see one of television’s iconic figures successfully return to the type of performing he first loved.

Photo: Carol Welsman, Peter Marshall and Denise Donatelli.

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Posted on: Friday, January 18, 2013 @ 10:46 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/13/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week

"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."

-- Harvey Fierstein

The grosses are out for the week ending 1/13/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: PICNIC (26.6%), GOLDEN BOY (12.5%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (10.3%), ONCE (8.5%), THE HEIRESS (6.5%), THE OTHER PLACE (6.3%), WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (4.7%), GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (0.7%), THE BOOK OF MORMON(0.1%),

Down for the week was: MARY POPPINS (-32.7%), ANNIE (-29.2%), CHICAGO (-26.0%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-19.2%), MAMMA MIA! (-18.9%), EVITA (-17.8%), JERSEY BOYS (-13.8%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (-9.9%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-9.3%), NEWSIES (-7.3%), WICKED (-5.7%), THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (-5.4%), ROCK OF AGES (-4.6%), PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (-4.2%), THE LION KING (-1.8%),

Posted on: Monday, January 14, 2013 @ 03:20 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Water By The Spoonful

It doesn’t happen often, but, fair or not, there’s always a little extra pressure put on a play when it comes to New York after having already won the Pulitzer Prize. Quiara Alegría Hudes, a Pulitzer finalist for both Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue and her co-authorship of In The Heights, was awarded top honors last year for Water By The Spoonful, which was commissioned by Hartford Stage, where it premiered in 2011. Shortly after, the recently-opened Off-Broadway mounting was placed on Second Stage’s schedule.

But while the playwright provides some intriguing characters and interesting themes, the evening’s dramatics remain rather tepid, despite the work of an engaging ensemble under director Davis McCallum.

Being the second part of the trilogy that began with …Soldier’s Fugue, we’re once again introduced to Puerto Rican Iraq War vet Elliot (Armando Riesco). Back home in Philadelphia after being honorably discharged for a leg injury, his adjustment to civilian life includes working with his cousin Yaz (Zabryna Guevara) to pay for the funeral of his Aunt Ginny, who raised him from infancy. Yaz is a college music professor with a strong admiration for John Coltrane; a theme-heavy scene has her speaking passionately of the beauty of dissonance in jazz which eventually leads to resolution.

Running parallel to their story are scenes involving an Internet support group for people recovering from crack addiction, run by a woman who goes by the on-line name of Haikumom (Liza Colón-Zayas). Participants include 20-ish Japanese born/American raised Orangutan (Sue Jean Kim) who strikes up a closer friendship with middle-aged Chutes and Ladders (Frankie R. Faison) while discussing her wish to find her biological parents. Though the group members never meet personally and only communicate on line, their dialogue seems too conversational to pass as typewritten chat.

The two worlds eventually connect and the comparisons between Elliot’s physical family and the virtual one created through the Internet carries the main weight of the play, with sidetracks into issues of dependency, wartime trauma and civilian loss providing the dissonance.

Hudes has a talent for dialogue, introspective humor and fresh storytelling ideas, but in the end Water By The Spoonful, a play deeply concerned with communication, doesn’t say very much.

Photo of Liza Colon-Zayas, Sue Jean Kim and Frankie R. Faison by Richard Termine.

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Posted on: Monday, January 14, 2013 @ 02:15 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Norm Lewis

Norm Lewis is in a commercial for Cialis. Unfortunately, it doesn't begin with him singing "I Got Plenty Of Nothing" and end with him singing "Bess, You Is My Woman Now."

Posted on: Friday, January 11, 2013 @ 11:48 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/6/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week

"Valjean serves nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread; a punishment that he regards as unjust, though in fact it reflects well on the status of French baking." -- Anthony Lane

The grosses are out for the week ending 1/6/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: THE OTHER PLACE (15.8%), GRACE (8.8%), PICNIC (4.4%), WAR HORSE(1.6%),

Down for the week was: PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (-14.7%), GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (-11.1%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (-10.4%), THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (-9.9%), CHICAGO (-9.4%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-8.8%), MARY POPPINS (-8.1%), GOLDEN BOY (-7.2%), CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (-6.7%), MAMMA MIA! (-5.7%), ELF (-5.3%), ANNIE (-4.7%), THE HEIRESS (-4.1%), ROCK OF AGES (-3.1%), DEAD ACCOUNTS (-3.1%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-3.1%), JERSEY BOYS (-2.7%), WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (-1.8%), CHAPLIN (-1.3%), WICKED (-0.4%), NEWSIES (-0.3%), EVITA (-0.1%),

Posted on: Monday, January 07, 2013 @ 03:41 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback

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About Michael: After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular audience participation murder mysteries (try improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring free live theatre to underserved communities, and dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows Michael can be seen at Shea Stadium pleading for the Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared celebrities making their stage acting debuts by starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.