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We sent one of our critics to review the new national tour of Oklahoma! while it visited Chicago to see how the Tony-winning Broadway revival fares on the road.
Jeanna de Waal’s debut cabaret show, performed Monday evening at Feinstein’s/54 Below, perfectly captured the spirit of a performer excited for the future and “a princess moving on'' after the hasty closing of Diana. Packed with superfans and sheep sweaters, the venue was filled with giddy looks between tables and a sense of wonder for what was about to unfold. Each song was met with a rumbling of whispers ringing out before lyrics could even begin, as many opted to quickly pull out their phones, set to record and share the drama of it all. de Waal had been at the center of the Diana universe for years, through the San Diego production, two rounds of Broadway previews, a Netflix recording under severe COVID precautions, and a run that would ultimately play 34 performances before closing on December 19, 2021. Years in the making, de Waal’s performance as the people’s princess turned heads while her solo show continued to win hearts.
A broadway review of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child now playing at the Lyric Theatre in New York City. Since its West End debut in 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has attracted intense fan interest around its central relationship. The close bond between Harry Potter’s son Albus and Draco Malfoy’s son Scorpius forms the emotional core of Jack Thorne’s play, which follows the pair’s doomed effort to “set history right” by stealing a time turner and saving Cedric Diggory’s life nineteen years in the past. (It goes wrong, of course, and complications ensue.) Thorne’s original text, co-conceived with director John Tiffany and J.K. Rowling (more on her later) does not demand Albus and Scorpius’ bond be played as a burgeoning romance. But Tiffany and original co-stars Sam Clemmett and Anthony Boyle certainly leaned into that reading in the play’s first iteration, playing the duo’s journey as a love story even when the text sometimes insisted otherwise. Choreographer Steven Hoggett even crafted a mournful, romantic “Staircase Ballet” for a scene where the two are forced apart.
Theatrely's Broadway review of Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. The Doors of Perception is an anomaly: the hyper-literate Aldous Huxley’s 1954 book about his experiences with mescaline, it married his breathtaking combination of crystal clear sociopolitics to a still-unmatched first person account of being under the influence of psychedelics. Equally bizarre was Clare Booth Luce, a staunch Republican congresswoman and ambassador to Italy whose 1936 play, The Women, famously featured no men and gave rich insight into the lives of Manhattan socialites. And then there’s Cary Grant, one of the handsomest Hollywood leading men who mastered the art of screwball while dodging lifelong gay allegations created by his living with another actor.
Dear Evan Hansen wants the humorous but scathing energy that Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick has in spades. The similarities between Hansen and Teenage Dick run deep. Both shows follow awkward, lonely teenage guys trying to get through high school. Both protagonists gain incredible social power through the force of their storytelling. They use this power to woo their popular love interests, and excuse their gaslighting because of their disabilities. And in the end, everything comes crashing down because of dangerous lies exacerbated by social media. Both shows have had large cultural moments this year. Hansen’s film adaptation premiered in movie theaters this past September and re-opens on Broadway this weekend. Teenage Dick, which previously ran off-Broadway in 2018, is now touring through some of the most well-known regional theatres in America. Having already played at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company this fall, the show is now running at the Huntington Theatre Company and will head over to Pasadena Playhouse in February.
