Mark Janicello

KIN at Sadler's Well Peacock Theater. Barely Methodical Troupe's Director, Ben Duke, together with 6 brilliantly talented performers, and a crack technical team have created magic with almost nothing and turn the nearly-empty stage into the arena for one of the most breathtaking theatrical events that this reviewer has ever seen. Get a ticket now.

Natalya Pavlova as Violetta, together with her Alfredo and Giorgio Germont (Ivan Magri, and Giuseppe Altomare, respectively) battle mightily against the inanity of Nicola Raab's direction, unfortunately, to no avail. One must say, that Ms. Raab has achieved what I thought was nearly impossible -- she has drained the passion, drama, and romance out of Verdi's heretofore 'indestructible' masterpiece, and turned it into a lifeless, bloodless exercise in tedium. 

The hype surrounding French lyric tenor, Benjamin Bernheim is becoming hard to ignore. Based on last night's performance in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's listless, tired production of LA BOHÈME, there is reason to believe that Mr. Bernheim will live up to his hype

This evening, Opera 4.0, a Berlin-based production company presented their supposedly 'updated' version this Rossini masterpiece.  The press materials for this performance read as follows: 'Intelligible opera at last! Come and see Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' and enjoy a whole new opera experience: a richer soundworld and more lively than a musical!'  Regarding this completely misguided, idiotic mess of a show thrust upon an unsuspecting audience, I can only say 'Nothing could be further from the truth.'

Last night in Berlin, Roy Halock as Bianca del Rio tore the roof off of the Admiralspalast. This is a comic force, the likes of which have not been seen since the great Joan Rivers. Roy/Bianca with his/her x-rated material, potty mouth and encyclopedia of insults has completely outgrown the drag scene and crossed over to a level of commercial acceptance that any comic would envy---with or without a dress. A brilliant night of entertainment. Hold onto your hats and make your way to the nearest performance of this comic genius. Your funny bone will thank you.

If you can tune out the songs and simply want to see some good dancing, go and see FAME: THE MUSICAL.  If, however, you hope to see characters that you care about singing music that touches your soul, rent or stream the movie.

Barrie Kosky has done it again. WEST SIDE STORY at Berlin's Comic Opera has moments of breathtaking beauty despite uneven casting and hit-and-miss choreography. Jasmina Sakr as Maria is a standout.

One is seldom confronted with a performance like last nights DIE TODE STADT at Berlin's Komische Oper, and I don't mean that in a good way --a miscast, misjudged, major disappointment

LENYA STORY at Berlin's Renaissance Theater is a savagely misguided, heavy-handed slog through a poorly-written Wikipedia entry.  Neither a play, a musical (jukebox or otherwise), a concert, a musical revue or any other kind of theatrical entertainment, LENYA STORY takes two of the most fascinating exports from the Weimar Republic, Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, and makes a bloodless, passionless exercise in tedium out of their lives and careers.   

l am seldom at a loss for words, VIVID GRAND SHOW left me speechless -- again and again and again. Last night's world premiere at Berlin's famed Friedrichstadt Palace, was an absolute stunner. Every moment in the show presented a consistent level of aesthetic beauty so spectacular in its concept and execution that 'my goosebumps got goosebumps.'

Some performers walk on stage. Other performers make an 'entrance,' and then there is Luna Manzanares Nardo, the star and 'raison d'etre' for the touring production of CARMEN LA CUBANA.   Last night at the Admiralspalast, this gorgeous embodiment of Latin sensuality with a voice to match didn't 'make an entrance,' but rather devoured the entire production, the city of Berlin and most-probably the majority of northern Germany with a sexy blink of her eye and one quick flick of her pericon.

After the record-breaking run of THE ONE, if Krista Monson was worried about fulfilling the Friedrichstadt-Palast's or audience's expectations with her new show VIVID, she hid her nerves extremely well. She is a petite woman, blessed with a very winning smile, an enormous amount of energy, and a calm, nurturing aura that fills every centimeter of this cavernous theater. As the saying goes 'Dynamite comes in small packages.'

From the masters Shakespeare and Feydeau,  to John Cleese and Monty Python's Flying Circus, to the more recent works of Ken Ludwig and Michael Frayn, farce is a comic gift that keeps on giving.  The Theater Gods have given their highest blessing to the Renaissance Theater's hilariously funny production of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (Mord auf Schloss Haversham).  If you want a laugh-out-loud evening in the theater, run, don't walk to get a ticket!  Everything's right about THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG.

Off-Musical Frankfurt's stripped-down, bare-bones, cheaply-produced touring production of GREEN DAY'S AMERICAN IDIOT that was foisted upon the half-empty Admiralspalast in Berlin last night had almost NOTHING to do with the musical presented on Broadway.   Last night's performance was like watching a 3rd-rate, Green Day cover band in a provincial nightclub. The audience and the musical both deserve much better.

20 years after watching Roman Polanski's world-premiere production, it was with great trepidation that I entered the Musical Dome in Cologne, to watch DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES again. To my surprise, it was a quick-footed, highly-entertaining show that was a vast improvement over the original Viennese production.

Watching CABARET in Berlin, near the original locations of Christopher Isherwood's Book 'I Am A Camera,' gives this Kander and Ebb classic even more dramatic weight than it could possibly have in a New York or London production.  At last night's Premiere of the revival of Director/Choreographer Vincent Paterson's production showed why Mr. Paterson has been called 'The Man Behind the Throne.'  Widely imitated, but never equaled, his work in Berlin is the best reason to watch this production. 

Jonas Kaufmann is probably the most sought-after tenor on the planet today.  His DOLCE VITA concert last night at Berlin's glorious outdoor Waldbuehne Amphitheater proved exactly why. Let's state the obvious. Mr. Kaufmann is a tall, very handsome man, who's in very good shape both vocally and physically.  He has been blessed with a unique, baritone-like tenor voice with very secure, clarion high notes that he uses with great intelligence and enormous musicality.  This is one of the most unique voices singing classical music today. 

Currently, the world of opera is sorely lacking superstar talent. Last night, at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, three of the world's brightest classical-music talents came together in a very expensive, glittering new production of Verdi's MACBETH. Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo and conductor Daniel Barenboim, the Staatsoper's Music Director, were the 'above the title' names in the production. Of the three, only Mr. Barenboim, now 75, truly fulfilled his role in the production.

'Wop baba lu bap a wap bam boom!!' 47 years after its Broadway debut and 40 years after John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John sang and danced their way into the world's collective consciousness, GREASE is still the word! This touring production of GREASE, which has been on the road in German-speaking Europe since October 2017 is an amalgam of both the original stage production and the 1978 film. The Admiralspalast in Berlin is the last stop of this mammoth production before taking a summer hiatus. Last night the T-Birds, Pink Ladies, and lovebirds Danny and Sandy gave a whizz-bang performance that thrilled the tough Berlin audience.

A group of young performers (Donna Lee, Darell Hanes, Alexander Simoes, Carrie Getman, Udo Wiegand, and Sara McKee) work with 100% commitment, futilely trying to turn Ken Shakin's THE WANDERING, a musicalized re-imagining of James Joyce's 'Ulysses,' (factually a short Oratorio), into a fully-staged operatic performance. They only partly succeed.