AIN’T TOO PROUD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TEMPTATIONS is two and half hour of pure pleasure, a thrilling non-stop ride through R&B pop music and an exuberant celebration of the American jukebox musical in its matured form. It’s the best since JERSEY BOYS, the jukebox musical that spawned a generation of the genre. Fittingly, AIN’T TOO PROUD's director is Des McAnuff, who helmed JERSEY BOYS (Tony and Olivier Awards) in 2005. After a notable recent misfire in SUMMER, the D

Disappointing is the best that can be said about Classic Stage Company's bare-bones revival of Marc Blitzstein's 1937 play in music THE CRADLE WILL ROCK. Originally produced to great controversy by the legendary John Houseman of Federal Theatre Project and directed by the legendary Orson Welles, THE CRADLE WILL ROCK is a parable of greed and corruption that champions the socialist, pro-Labor movement. The setting is Steeltown USA which is ruled with authoritarian hand by M

One doesn’t have to be a millennial or Generation Z to really dig the new musical BE MORE CHILL, but it helps, evidenced by the enthusiastic, adoring response of its largely under-30 audience. Based on Ned Vizzini’s 2004 novel, adapted by Joe Tracz and outfitted with almost two dozen songs with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, BE MORE CHILL is a hybrid of the timeless Faustian legend with a sci-fi twist and anti-drug message. It’s the penultimate teen musical, this time, in

The newest revival of the classic musical comedy KISS ME KATE is pure delight. Chockablock full with marvelous songs by Cole Porter, it is an exhilarating exemplar of the Golden Age of American musical comedy. What’s more, robustly directed by Scott Ellis, and contemporized subtly, it rises above revivals that have come before. First performed in 1948 and the winner of the first Tony Award for Best Musical in 1949, KISS ME KATES’s backstage plot revolves around the battle