Category Archives: Theater and Live Comedy

Theater and Play Reviews Plus Live Comedy

Shark Attack Broadway Play!

the shark is broken photo by gail worley
Photos By Gail

OK, I think that long-time readers can agree that I am always finding  unusually fun and freaky shark-related items to feature in this ongoing column which I affectionately refer to as Shark Attack. And just when I think it’s safe to look in my  mailbox, this shows up: Dun dun, dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun!  Shark Attack Broadway Play! Continue reading Shark Attack Broadway Play!

Trekkie Monster from Avenue Q

trekkie monster photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Trekkie Monster is the alter-ego of Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster in the award-winning Broadway play, Avenue Q, which is an adult parody of Sesame Street. Geoffrey and I saw it several years ago and it was completely hilarious. Created by Rick Lyon, Trekkie is obsessed with social media and has made millions of dollars off investments in various platforms. In a previous iteration of the show, the original Trekkie was obsessed with Star Trek, hence his name.

Photographed in the Museum of The City of New York as Part of the Exhibit, Puppets of New York.

Play Review: With a Little Help . . . It’s John Belushi at Theatre 80

John Belushi Play Card
Photos By Gail, Except Where Noted

To many, comedian and actor John Belushi still feels like a contemporary artist — owing to the tenacity with which his work has embedded itself in pop culture — but the fact is that Belushi has been dead for a long time. A friend who accompanied me to the opening-night performance of a new play entitled With a Little Help . . . It’s John Belushi wasn’t quite two years old in March of 1982, when the hard-partying performer died of an accidental drug overdose in a Hollywood hotel room.
Continue reading Play Review: With a Little Help . . . It’s John Belushi at Theatre 80

Theater Review: The Lighting Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical

Lightning Thief Marquee
Above Photo and Playbill Image By Gail. All Other Performance Photos By Jeremy Daniel.

You just can’t keep a good thing down. Nine years after it debuted as a major motion picture, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical – based on the New York Times best-selling book, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, is back with a national theater run. The two-act rock musical, written by Rob Rokicki and Joe Tracz (Be More Chill), first played in NYC in 2017 for a short run. Due to the show’s popularity, fans of the book series demanded that the play be available to a larger audience, and a National Tour was launched in January. This past week, the tour made a four-day stop at NYC’s Beacon Theatre, and I was able to check it out.

Continue reading Theater Review: The Lighting Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical

The Imbible, an Intoxicating New Theater Experience!

Imbible Title Card
All Photos By Gail

Do you like drinking? I sure do. If you enjoy drinking and you also like going to the theater, maybe you have wished that there was a play where the actors brought cocktails right to your seat for you to enjoy during the show. That would be insane, right? What a great idea! Well, what if I told you that this is not just a beautiful, utopian dream, but that it is already happening right now? Yes, it is true, and this magical event happens at New World Stages in midtown. The show is called The Imbible: a Spirited History of Drinking, and the cherry on the cake is that it all takes place in a bar!

Imbible Signage
Continue reading The Imbible, an Intoxicating New Theater Experience!