The No. 1 Reason To See: Bonnie & Clyde
Just as history saw two youths rise to infamy with their acts of crime, Broadway ushers in two fresh talents to stardom in the new musical Bonnie & Clyde. Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan sizzle as the two misguided lovers whose robberies and killings led to their early deaths. A score by Broadway vet Frank Wildhorn and Don Black sets Bonnie and Clyde’s story of fast fame and swift extinguishment to the background of a pop country set.
The No. 1 Reason To See Bonnie & Clyde: Laura Osnes and Melissa Van Der Schyff singing “You Love Who You Love” Read more
Review: The People In The Picture
The new musical The People In The Picture is all about family. And like most families, it’s often difficult to understand and lays heavy on the guilt.
Donna Murphy stars as Raisel, who is more commonly referred to as Bubbie by her doting granddaughter. Raisel recounts stories to her granddaughter Jenny (an irritating Rachel Resheff) of her days as an actor in a Yiddish theater troupe in Warsaw, Poland. Despite being unable to talk about anything but the past, Raisel aggressively resists any memories her daughter Red (Nicole Parker) attempts to discuss, which is where the story’s haziness begins. Through her avoidance and weakened voice, we see that Raisel is haunted by her past—quite literally, actually, as the spirits of her dead friends visit her. Nothing like being beaten over the head with a metaphor.
Raisel is getting pretty old (judging by Murphy’s performance, I’d say about 126) and she’s losing her wits. Red finds it unacceptable for a senior citizen’s mind not to be as sharp as a tack, so she starts researching retirement homes. Raisel rails against her daughter’s suggestion with rage, as the mere idea reminds her of being put into a Nazi concentration camp. Ah, here come the memories that Raisel is trying to escape.
The story swerves in and out of Raisel’s past during Nazi-occupied Poland and the present day, which in this play is 1977. The transitions are abrupt and even stack up on each other. One moment the story is in the present with the 1970s characters, then it’s in the past with the 1940s characters, and sometimes the 1940s cast is talking in the present. No wonder Bubbie gets confused! Read more