Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

Dear Evan Hansen, Today is going to be a great day, and here's why. An original, emotional, affecting musical, free of stunt casting, is on Broadway. It has hints of other musicals (particularly Next to Normal ), but that's what happens when young writers are inspired by those who've come before. Written by Steven Levenson (book) and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (score), this musical is about loneliness, and the ways things that are supposed to connect us these days (social media) can also be terribly isolating. It's about learning who you are, and stepping out into the world. It's about learning who your children are, and loving them unconditionally. It's going to be a great day because Levenson's book is both funny and touching; Pasek and Paul's score features accessible pop (so it sounds natural in the teen characters' mouths) and smart, raw lyrics that reveal depth of character. It's going to be a great day because Rachel Bay Jones ...

We're much more tuned into other people's lives—you can check in on people via an ever-growing number of social media platforms—but does that mean we're any more connected? That seems to be at the crux of Dear Evan Hansen , a beautiful original musical that just opened at off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre. Written by Steven Levenson (book) and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (score), the show centers on Evan Hansen (Ben Platt), a high school senior whose awkwardness and social anxiety have kept him on the periphery of social circles. His therapist has given him an exercise: every day, Evan is to write himself a letter beginning with, "Dear Evan Hansen, today is going to be a good day because..." One of Evan's letters ends up in the wrong hands. When it does, rather than set the record straight, Evan seizes on the opportunity to become known; to have friends; to get a taste of what he considers a good, normal family life. (Evan's parents are divo...

What if? It's a short question, something we often wonder throughout our lives (maybe even multiple times each day). On the surface, it's a simple question, too. What if? What if just one seemingly innocuous choice changes your fate—or does it? What if there were a musical that asked us to grapple with this? Then it would be If/Then . This original Broadway musical, which reunites team Next to Normal , Tom Kitt (music), Brian Yorkey (lyrics and book) and Michael Greif (direction), tells Elizabeth's stories. Recently divorced and in her late thirties, Elizabeth (Idina Menzel) moves back to New York. One friend, Kate (LaChanze), says "Liz" moved to NYC to find true love. Another friend, Lucas (Anthony Rapp), says "Beth" returned to pursue her dream career. (As part of her reinvention, Elizabeth decides between calling herself Liz and Beth.) At the top of the show, Elizabeth meets up with Kate and Lucas in Madison Square Park and each asks her to t...

The musical adaptation of Todd Haynes’s film Far from Heaven , now playing at Playwrights Horizons, is a faithful adaptation of the movie, which is sort of neither here nor there in terms of my taste. I passively liked the film and making it a musical doesn’t do it any favors, despite my expectations and proclamations of support before I saw it. Far from Heaven (you might remember the 2002 film, which starred Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid and Dennis Haysbert) centers on Cathy (Kelli O’Hara), a picture perfect housewife in Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1957. She’s married to successful businessman Frank (Steven Pasquale) and they have the requisite two children. Cathy’s life becomes unsettled when she discovers Frank is a homosexual, and, even more scandalous in her gossipy town, when she befriends her black gardener, Raymond (Isaiah Johnson), who has taken over the family business after the passing of his father.  When anticipating the musical, directed by the terrific Mi...