BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: Show/Boat: A River; a post-modern revisal of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1927 musical that weaves together the love relationships and racial tensions experienced by a group of people who travel along the Mississippi River on a showboat around the turn of the last century  Written by: David Herskovits        Directed by: David Herskovits One good thing: It’s great to hear the songs in this glorious score—Ol’ Man River, Make Believe,  Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man, Bill—and often gorgeously sung, especially by Phillip Themlo Stoddard as the gambler Gaylord Ravenal and Stephanie Weeks as the singer Julie who has been passing for white One not-so-great thing: The concept here is as muddy as the Mississippi often is and getting rid of all the scenery, putting actors in a hodgepodge of period and contemporary costumes and casting them regardless of race isn’t as daring or revelatory as this adaptation seems to think it is, particularly not for...

The Play: Grandiloquent; comedian Gary Gulman’s solo show chronicles how his childhood as a precocious kid not embraced by other kids and not always appreciated by adults turned him into the funny guy he is today Written by: Gary Gulman        Directed by: Moritz von Stupelpnagel One good thing: Gulman is very funny and very smart and so although stand-up isn’t usually my thing, I laughed a lot and was really tickled by his witty literary and pop cultural allusions, ranging from Immanuel Kant to Sesame Street's Grover One not-so-great thing: I wish Gulman trusted the audience more and allowed us to make the connection between his angst and his comedy instead of underscoring it in the final part of the show, making this yet one more Hannah Gadsbyesque confessional about how a comedian feels conflicted about using his psychic pain to make people laugh