Michael Appler, Author at The Theatre Times

On Broadway, “Burn This” Singes the Frayed Nerves of 20th Century Romance

Posted by Michael Appler | 19th Apr 2019 | New York, Review, United States of America

“I’m being pillaged and raped. I’m being pillaged and I’m being raped. And I don’t like it,” says...

We Shall Never See So Much (On Broadway): Glenda Jackson Is King Lear

Posted by Michael Appler | 14th Apr 2019 | New York, Review, United States of America

Emily Sun begins her book Succeeding King Lear with words from the philosopher of...

On Broadway, “Ain’t Too Proud” Runs Away with The Temptations

Posted by Michael Appler | 13th Apr 2019 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

The jukebox musical isn’t so named merely for its carousel of beloved pop tunes. It also puts to...

On Broadway, “What The Constitution Means To Me” Exorcises A Troubled American Ethos

Posted by Michael Appler | 1st Apr 2019 | New York, Review, Theatre and Politics, United States of America

In Heidi Schreck’s hands rests a divine power which only the best of storytellers wield to purge...

At the Barrow Group, “Perp” Is An Intimate, Challenging Look at Disability That Must Be Seen

Posted by Michael Appler | 29th Mar 2019 | New York, Review, Theatre and Disability, United States of America

We tend to think of disability as unlike other monuments of cultural identity, like race or...

On Broadway, “Kiss Me, Kate” Is True To Fashion, For Better Or Worse

Posted by Michael Appler | 19th Mar 2019 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

Anyone who tells you that Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate isn’t, or can’t be, a kick in the teeth to...

“Be More Chill” Brings Broadway Viral, Rewiring The High School Musical

Posted by Michael Appler | 14th Mar 2019 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, Theatre for Young Audiences, United States of America

The high school musical’s calling card has always been the “be yourself” thematic. A nerdy,...

At SoHo Playhouse, “Fiercely Independent” Demystifies Divorce

Posted by Michael Appler | 10th Mar 2019 | New York, Review, Theatre and Gender, United States of America

In 1977, Margaret Trudeau somewhat famously told People Magazine that “it takes two to destroy a...

Invigorated By A New Cast, “My Fair Lady” Continues to Enchant Broadway

Posted by Michael Appler | 8th Mar 2019 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, Theatre and Gender, United States of America

Lincoln Center has reissued its mandate for Lerner and Loewe’s 1956 classic, casting off whatever creative anxiety earlier dogged the production and staging a decidedly lighter, exuberant My Fair Lady.

At Roundabout, Can “Merrily” Still Roll Along, Reimagined?

Posted by Michael Appler | 5th Mar 2019 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

Fiasco Theater has dared to tempt fate yet again with Merrily, staging a buoyant, light-on-its-feet reimagining that’s stripped the musical of its original clutter, aiming, instead, for the story’s thematic heart.

Subtle and Striking, Irondale’s Timely “The Life of Galileo” is Epic Theater

Posted by Michael Appler | 22nd Feb 2019 | New York, Review, Theatre and Politics, Theatre and Science, United States of America

Irondale’s innovative and triumphant “Galileo” is Bertolt Brecht at his most excellent, cradled by an ensemble of dynamic and invested performers and pitched inevitably toward its audience with a playful, conscious eye toward its own didactic mission.

“City Of No Illusions” Takes Refugees To The Border Of Life And Death

Posted by Michael Appler | 16th Feb 2019 | New York, Review, Theatre and Politics, United States of America

“City of No Illusions,” a political comedy that stages the modern refugee crisis inside a funeral home.

Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “Choir Boy,” Fearless and Faithful, Makes Radiant Broadway Debut

Posted by Michael Appler | 4th Feb 2019 | LGBTQ Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

“Choir Boy” is itself a spiritual whose song, sung triumphantly by the bountiful talent of its leading star, Jeremy Pope, rises from its stage with the same faith and fearlessness of a prayer sung only for the stars.

Gilded in Glitter, How Much Jukebox Inferno Can “The Cher Show” Take?

Posted by Michael Appler | 2nd Feb 2019 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

Cher, the Academy, Grammy and Emmy Award winning superstar, could never be contained in a Broadway...

In “The Making of King Kong,” a Hallucinatory Descent Into the American Imagination

Posted by Michael Appler | 3rd Dec 2018 | New York, Review, Theatre and Politics, United States of America

Claire, though wrapped in the scrappy, eccentric volatility of experimental theater, is a challenging and provoking playwright, smart and admirably critical—hilarious, too.

Tom Stoppard’s “The Hard Problem” Looks for Humanity in Human Consciousness

Posted by Michael Appler | 20th Nov 2018 | New York, Review, United States of America

Stoppard has sought to lower the stage into the depths of the human mind, endeavoring to see the theater as a proxy for human consciousness, an outlet whose own bizarre corruptions of life are but well-directed reflections of our own conscious turmoil.

“The Prom” Is a Celebratory Trumpian Footloose When We Need It Most

Posted by Michael Appler | 15th Nov 2018 | Musical Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

Maybe “The Prom’s” greatest success, in all of its glitter and be gay, is a validation that splashy, garish musical comedies, themselves no champion of political correctness, can still be made from scratch. “The Prom,” exceptionally original yet cradled by tradition, is proof that bursting into jazz hands when someone puts you down is still a worthy prescription for joy.

At LCT, “Plot Points In Our Sexual Development” Traces the Edges of Queer Intimacy

Posted by Michael Appler | 8th Nov 2018 | LGBTQ Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

Queer spaces, Miranda Rose Hall suggests, are uniquely suited to plot the points of sexual development, to explore the dynamic, malleable nature of identity. Queer sex not as negotiation or imitation, but as creation and innovation.

“The Ferryman” Steers Us to the Crossroads of Family and Myth, History and Tradition

Posted by Michael Appler | 8th Nov 2018 | New York, Review, United States of America

Beyond the guises of harvest festivity, more sinister fates are at work. Holy vows have been broken. Betrayals and tragic sin done. Promises not made, innocent slain and wars unwon.

“Torch Song” Breathes New Life, Radiantly Led By Michael Urie

Posted by Michael Appler | 8th Nov 2018 | LGBTQ Theatre, New York, Review, United States of America

You may find that this glorious Broadway revival, led by Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl in the same theater where it opened over 35 years ago, burns a softer flame — no less bright, for sure, but perhaps a bit more tender, lit for a time when a drag queen poised before a Broadway audience, while no less political, is imaginably less avant-garde.