364 stories by "Rob Lester"
Marital Mayhem and Matrimonial Mishaps: My First Ex-Husband's Second Cast Delivers Divorce Tales with Bite "Do you take this man " To have and to hold " from this day forward " for better, f…
TICK, TICK… ENCORE! LARSON'S TRUNK SONGS SHINE If you're a fan of potent post-Golden Age theatre music, you should check out a show that just officially opened downtown last night. There's…
WHEN CHILDREN'S THEATER IS A BEAUTIFUL THING Two "P" words""professional" and "pleasant""describe the stage production in Greenwich Village with two "B" words in its title: Beauty and the Be…
THINGS ARE O.K. WITH MR. K For decades, three words""by Barry Kleinbort""have often appeared in cabaret and theatre credits, typically preceded by "directed" or "written." At Birdland, The K…
A DATE WITH KATE She looks and sounds radiant, and the audience knows it. Tonight, March 6, she was greeted with some of the most enthusiastic and sustained cheers I've heard in a long time.…
HOW TO URN AUDIENCE SYMPATHY This one-man show is described as an "immersive" experience, and the immersiveness begins right at the entrance of the particularly fitting venue, the oh-so-appr…
BRIGHT, BROMIDIC BRYCE AND HIS FREEWHEELING FRABJOUS FRIVOLITY Take note, nightclub-goers: Attending an edition of the spiffy soiree The Bryce Edwards Frivolity Hour might just make you beli…
IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT, WILL EX-LOVERS REUNITE OR FIGHT? After decades apart, can the passion of once-young lovers sizzle again, like leftover pizza zapped in the microwave? Picking up an…
BACKSTAGE BABBLE AT STUDIO 54: TOPS WITH FLOPS Not every musical is a hit, and some barely get a chance to stumble before vanishing into obscurity. The midtown Manhattan nightclub 54 Below h…
DIANNE REEVES' WITH LOVE RECEIVED WITH LOVE If Grammy-winning singer Dianne Reeves' suitcase could talk (and I'm guessing that it can't), it would tell tales of trekking all over the world f…
EVERYTHING TO GAINES AND NOTHING TO LOSE No, he doesn't sing "My Funny Valentine" in his entertaining show called Love Is in the Air on the night before Valentine's Day at Green Room 42 (rep…
A COLORFUL, KINETIC AND PUPPET-FILLED POW Emilio's A Million Chameleons at Soho Playhouse offers family-friendly, fabulously frenzied fun. Like many offerings aimed at, or at least semi-targ…
Here are three releases that celebrate songwriters, each from a long-careered, stylish female singer. Karen Mason mines the oeuvre of the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Including selectio…
If you walk through Manhattan's theatre district, you pass locations of theaters owned by a man who wrote many shows (music, lyrics, book) and directed, produced, and often performed in them…
Reviews of new theatre and cabaret recordings.
Let's start with a recent Off-Broadway cast recording of a show that takes on religion, relationships, and right wing propaganda. Then it's love's ups and downs taking center stage for two s…
Maybe the musical Lucky Stiff wasn't enormously lucky the first time around, managing only 15 performances in its 1988 Off-Broadway debut, but it has continued to pop up over the years aroun…
There's a place for a glib, undemanding, unpretentious old-school musical comedy that seeks to entertain and just wants to make someone happy. "Make Someone Happy" was the big song that came…
Reviews of three new cast recordings.
Reviews of albums from Stephen Pasquale & John Pizzarelli, Jan Cronin, Judy Whitmore, and Andy Pratt.
Reviews of cast recordings from Guys and Dolls, Wild About You, Walking with Bubbles, and The New Peggy.
I've been doing a deep dive into songs by Stephen Sondheim lately, gorging on the new recording of Merrily We Roll Along, and then, wanting more, I went merrily scavenging through my "waitin…
"New York, New York" OBC, Matthew Scott, "Other Lives", and Chloé Jean album reviews.
Two "Anything Goes" albums from JAY Records.
A Collective Cy: Jeff Harner Sings Cy Coleman and "Harmony" OBC cast recording reviewed.
