State of the Art

"Cats: The Jellicle Ball" is so freaking smart it's not even fair. This may be the only concept that could make "Cats" function as a narrative driven piece with applications for our own lives.  For anyone who doesn't know, "Cats" is a famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which was part of the "McMusical" era of Broadway in the 1980's and 1990's. Adapted from the poems of T. S. Elliot, the show skyrocket to superstardom thanks to: 1.) It's incredible dancing and choreography, 2.) The hit song "Memory" and 3.) The fact that it was one of (if not THE) first shows that easily catered to foreign, non-English speaking, tourists. You do not need to understand anything being said or sung onstage to enjoy "Cats". In fact, it might be better if you don't. "Cats" (as Lloyd Webber said to Hal Prince when trying to convince him to direct it) is "about cats." There's no metaphor going on here. W...

Everything they're saying about this revival of "Death of a Salesman" is true. I can't imagine this play being more honest, urgent and gut wrenching than this 2026 Broadway revival. I'm assuming that most people reading this are familiar with Miller's masterpiece. The play originally premiered on Broadway in 1949 and tells the story of the Loman family. Willy Loman, the patriarch, is a traveling salesman. Once (relatively) successful, well liked and well known, with a loving wife (Linda) and two sons, Biff (the older, star athlete "golden boy"), and Happy (the charming younger brother.) When the story begins, Willy is pretty much on his last leg. He's suffering from some unnamed medical conditions that are making it unsafe for him to be driving as much as he needs to. He's older, and desperately needs to retire (which he can't), or be transferred to a local or desk job at the company he's faithfully served for decades. He and Linda ar...

There is an interesting and unusual revival of "Into the Woods" playing off-West End at the Bridge Theatre, with talks of a potential West End transfer. I was intrigued the moment I saw the poster. Cautiously so. "Into the Woods" is one of my favorites. It is one of those pieces that is always worth seeing, and always a disappointment when compared to the original production. "Into the Woods" is a brilliant musical. Possibly one of the top five best of all time. But it is a show that I, and many others, believe will never have a cast top the original. That's ok. It's still very much enjoyable with different performers. But with the original, it's as if you're watching living, breathing people...not actors playing characters. The humor, incredibly important to the show, was crafted on them, the character's voices, in some instances, written for them. There are some lines that will just never land the same way. Kate Fleetwood (The Witch) ...

Watching "& Juliet" is like eating a box of Twizzlers. Yeah, it might be fun...it may result in a hyperactive sugar rush, but there's no question that it has absolutely no substance and, if you're really honest with yourself, it just tastes of plastic.  The attraction of "& Juliet" is the energy, dance, chance to experience fun pop songs and eye popping design elements (namely the costumes.) But the story feels like it was written by a five year old who once looked up "boss bitch" in the dictionary and has most definitely never read "Romeo and Juliet."  The plot is, on the surface, simple and yet so convoluted it is literally painful trying to make sense of it. The surface level is this: Willam Shakespeare is about to debut his new play, "Romeo and Juliet." His wife, Anne Hathaway, blessed with a rare night off from taking care of the kids, has come to Stratford to see the premiere. Shakespeare has just finished the endi...

OH. MY. GOD. I had no desire to see "Stranger Things: The First Shadow." It felt like another obnoxious cash grab in the "Which IP are we going to adapt for Broadway next?" catalogue. Up next: Netflix's offering. And of all the things to adapt - a retro sci-fi/horror show that was fantastic in it's first season but has gotten progressively worse (with some improvements in season four) leading up to the, as yet still unreleased, fifth season (due to be released imminently). Not a genre "born for the stage" as it were, even in the best of circumstances. And the T.V. show isn't currently in the "best of circumstances." But after seeing "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" (which I reviewed for State of the Art ( https://stateoftheartreview.blogspot.com/2025/10/harry-potter-and-cursed-child-on.html ) I wanted to see what else the brilliant illusion team had up their sleeve. At intermission for "Stranger Things" I texted...

  "The Queen of Versailles" is not a perfect musical. But it is, perhaps, the musical we need. The show is based on the film documentary of the same name, which chronicles Jackie Siegel and her insanely wealthy husband David's building of the "Biggest House in America" which they modeled after, and named "Versailles." The documentary lucked out in being filmed at just the right place and time to document the housing market bubble burst - which coincided with the Siegels being in the middle of construction and losing everything. Their story became a parable about our world and, particularly the U.S.'s hubristic obsession with wealth. The musical, however, lucks out in its own way by being able to chronicle what happened to the Siegels in the ten years (+) since the documentary came out. And what happened after is, in a way, poetic justice on the level of a master storyteller. There couldn't be a more poignant ending if it had been invented by th...