460 stories by "Jacob Malizio"
The post The Queen of Versailles appeared first on Did They Like It?.
And Chenoweth is a wonder, sounding a little bit country whenever Jackie is most herself, as in "Each and Every Day," a love song to the infant Victoria; taking her high notes out for a spin…
Saddled with an unmemorable score by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin) and a confused book by Lindsey Ferrentino (Amy and the Orphans), Versailles glides by as bland bio-musical for much of …
This A-list team has been able to create some genuinely arresting moments, but they are fleeting in a busy show that still doesn't quite know what story it wants to tell. It's like a house t…
There is a two-hour-and-40-minute luxury-car crash happening at the St. James Theatre. If I were the litigious type, I'd be trying to figure out how to sue for whiplash. Instead, here I am s…
The performances, including a megatallented ensemble, are also excellent. As expected, Chenoweth is a force, and though Jackie isn't really a "likable" figure, the Emmy Award winner draws ou…
Like the 90,000"square-foot, $100-million palace that the Siegels are determined to build for themselves in Orlando, The Queen of Versailles is nothing if not ambitious. But like that same p…
I hoped the tag-team of Chenoweth and Arden would have magic to do. No such luck. The actress is a theatrical force, as everybody knows, but Simone Biles can't do a back handspring on a toot…
Much like the ill-fated Tammy Faye from last year, Versailles (directed by Michael Arden) toggles between different modus operandi " in this case, campy comedic sendup, surface level social …
But The Queen of Versailles isn't camp. It's cheap tat, queasy spectacle, grubby glitz. It doesn't burrow beneath its surface wealth to ask anything of substance.
The post Kristin Chenoweth'…
Set on the remote edge of a small Idaho town, LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD centers on a razor-tongued aunt and her long-estranged nephew who find themselves suddenly back in each other's lives " t…
As played by a glorious Laurie Metcalf in Samuel D. Hunter's keen-eyed, compassionate play "Little Bear Ridge Road," which opened on Thursday night at the Booth Theater, she is also one of t…
Little Bear Ridge Road is a quietly triumphant debut for Hunter, an American playwright who sees the country we truly inhabit, rather than the one we like to imagine we do.
The post Little B…
Moments of big emotion in "Little Bear Ridge Road" don't fall flat, exactly, but they don't play to Hunter's strengths as a writer; he's better in small, askew gestures.
The post Laurie Metc…
Little Bear Ridge Road, which runs about 95 minutes (with no intermission), serves as a showcase and masterclass of Metcalf's acting abilities and command of the stage. Over and over again, …
In Little Bear Ridge Road, Metcalf racks up the hits with ease, though the production feels more like watching home run derby than a full game. I couldn't escape the nagging sensation, as I …
The Orion's Belt comments prefigure all sorts of big discussions to come about cancer and meth addiction and child abuse. They are the same tropes that other, lesser playwrights stick in the…
This production, directed with superb acerbity by Joe Mantello, marks the playwright's overdue Broadway debut, and it doesn't disappoint. The play is a multifaceted gem, exquisitely shaped a…
Hunter is a master at creating these types of indelibly flawed characters, and his sensitive writing is beautifully complemented by Joe Mantello's typically precise direction and the superb …
Now that I am done telling friends to grab tickets to Little Bear Ridge Road, let's tell you about Samuel D. Hunter's latest drama, which opened on Thursday at the Booth Theatre. Little Bear…
1970s, Ohio. Lizzie gathers a group of women to talk about changing their lives, and the world. What follows is a necessary, messy, and bitingly funny exploration of what it means to be free…
If there is a show that can make the case for a Tony Award for best ensemble, it's this one. White directs the actors like a conductor leading an orchestra: Each one gets to shine in at leas…
Since seeing it earlier this year, I've found myself mentally comparing everything else onstage to Liberation, and frankly, not many other shows compare. Liberation is a must see.
The post T…
Both times I've seen the play"Off Broadway this spring, now returning in a larger space on Broadway"I've felt unprepared for the emotional wallop it lands, the way that Wohl's work becomes c…
"Liberation" is a brilliant, well-acted, and sobering account of the women's rights movement, complicity, and the lens through which we view our caretakers " namely, our mothers.
The post An…
