Reviews
Simon’s Newlyweds Still Funny
*** 1/2 (three and a half out of five stars) Most readers will remember Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” as the 1967 film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. However, the story of two young newlyweds who quickly learn that marriage is more than five steep flights of stairs started as a romantic comedy…
‘Barefoot in the Park’ at TheatreWorks New Milford
A new play is always fun for me. I try not to research a show before I see it (which explains why I sometimes miss errors in the description section of press releases.) I did know that Neil Simon, the author of The Odd Couple, Rumors, and the books for many great musicals like They’re…
TheatreWorks Presents a Spirited Man of La Mancha
Now through January 5, you can head to the black box theater at TheatreWorks New Milford to experience the iconic Man of La Mancha, a 1965 musical chronicling Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, as he acts out his beloved character awaiting trial during the Spanish Inquisition. With expert direction by Francis A. Daley, the…
TheatreWorks performed in ‘Earnest’
Leonard Diamond’s “Earnest or What’s in a Name” has a lot going for it. Mostly, Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Diamond’s musical version is based on Wilde’s classic. However, Diamond’s opening scene, not Wilde’s, can be confusing if audience members don’t recognize that Oscar wrote “The Importance of Being Earnest,” and that…
Light and Delightful: Earnest or What’s in a Name?
TheatreWorks New Milford is to be commended for hosting the world premiere of the delightful musical comedy Earnest or What’s in a Name? The two-act play is an original and extremely entertaining adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ — and is presented in the distinctive, light style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Book,…
Here’s a Jolly Look at, Well, Musicals
The title tells it all: “The musical of Musicals (The Musical!)” is a fitfully funny, often charming parody of five musical theater styles. It is also a vehicle for over-the-top performances from a cast of four and a narrator-cum pianist. Currently playing at Theatreworks in New Milford, where the pianist/director/musical director/choreographer/set designer (whew!) is the…
Theater parody music to your ears – 5 Stars
Instead of Agnes de Mille’s ballet from “Oklahoma,” there’s a “run-of-de-mill” ballet in “The Musicals of Musicals (The Musical)” by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart on stage at TheatreWorks, New Milford. Whether this satirical tribute to musicals is singing “You’re high as an elephant’s eye” or turning a prop cart into a gondola in a…
Musical of Musicals Is Extraordinary Entertainment
A five-for-the-price-of-one romp through some of the most famous genres on Broadway Some community theater productions are perfectly named and perfectly executed. This is one of them! The Musical of Musicals (The Musica!l) now on stage at Theatreworks New Milford is strikingly professional and hilariously entertaining. And given the astronomical prices of musicals on Broadway nowadays, it is also…
TheatreWorks’ ‘Musical of Musicals’ is a Hit of Hits
It’s a rare theatrical experience to see not one, but five stories unfold on stage in one production, and rarer still for those stories to develop musically. But “The Musical of Musicals—The Musical!” creators Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart have done just that. Rather than take audiences through one long, drawn out tale with the…
Theater Review: “The Musical of Musicals”
Theatreworks New Milford, under the guidance of local favorite Bradford Blake, is staging a musical pastiche that affords a kind of informal history of musical theater by spoofing five of the most important icons of the twentieth century, from Rodgers and Hammerstein, through Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, to Kander and Ebb. Each segment…