Displaying items by tag: Glenn Slater

Murder in the streets, neighborhoods divided along racial lines, racial and ethnic slurs, glorified mob activities, wise guys, street fights and more. THIS is A Bronx Tale (the musical) on its first national tour after a successful 700 show run on Broadway.

Originally a one person play written and performed by Chazz Palminteri, A Bronx Tale is a 1960s coming of age story of a young Italian-American boy who is lured away from his honest, hardworking, baseball loving blue-collar family by the temptations and glorification of the local mob.

Billed as “a tale about respect, loyalty, love, and above all else: family” it is hard to ignore that the backdrop for the entire story is violence, racism, and dishonesty played to an upbeat, “feel good” doo-wop soundtrack. 

If you’re a fan of West Side Story, Grease, Jersey Boys and other similar stories, you will find A Bronx Tale enjoyable even if it follows a predictable story line where Good wins over Evil in the end. 

Featuring music by Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by Oscar and Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, the score is light, cheery, and optimistic as it keeps the story and the action moving. 

The design team earned the highest praise from this reviewer for both its authenticity and its simplicity. The set morphed almost invisibly from outdoor to indoor, day to night, without distraction. The choreography and blocking which incorporated set/prop movement was subtle and less intrusive than crew members moving around in the darkness trying to go unnoticed.

The overall performance was pleasant and but possibly a little flat according my row mates. With four of the five leads having performed as part of the original Broadway run, I may have expected too much. From my perspective the vocals lacked depth and at times the orchestra drowned out the vocals.

On a side note: Does every portrayal of an Italian-American have to include a Danny Zuko accent?

A Bronx Tale is currently being performed at Broadway in Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theater for a limited engagement through March 24, 2019.

Here comes the feel-good show that both adults and kids will enjoy. Based on the 2003 movie by the same name starring Jack Black, School of Rock-The Musical is featuring music from the movie, as well as an original score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Glenn Slater.

If you have not seen the movie (shame on you), here’s the basic plot: Dewey Finn, a desperately broke musician who lives on his best friend’s couch, gets an opportunity to pose as a substitute teacher at a posh $50,000/year tuition prep school, where well-to-do kids aim for “Harvard, or at least Cornell”. Unbeknownst to the school staff or the parents, Dewey jump-starts kids’ rebellious stage by organizing his class into a band and teaching them to play rock instead of learning math and history. In the process he builds kids’ self-esteem, gets them to forget about the troubles at home (yep, rich kids have problems too), and turns them into rock stars. Dewey falls in love with a beautiful, albeit uptight, school principal and gets her to reconnect with her inner rocker chick, and the parents change their minds on education.

Multitalented cast includes Broadway veterans Rob Coletti who is absolutely fabulous as Dewey, Lexie Dorsett Sharp (a cartoonishly entertaining Rosalie), very capable Matt Bittner as Ned, and Emily Borromeo (as hilariously played Patty), to name just a few. A slew of adorable, not to mention quite accomplished, kids will melt your heart and win you over without even trying. Ava Brigliawho, who plays Summer, already has a few shows under her belt (Matilda the Musical, and Gypsy), and Gilberto Moretti-Hamilton (Freddy, a New-York native, had been named “Musician of the year 2017” by the Boys Club of NYC; he plays drums (in the show), as well as piano, bass, xylophone and percussion. For most of the remaining young actors, School of Rock – The Musical is their debut. These kids are so cool, and they play their instruments live in every show!

This high energy production is moved along by the dynamic ever-changing set (scenic and costume design by Anna Louizos, lighting design by Natasha Katz) that moves seamlessly between Dewey’s apartment, school’s different rooms and the rock band stage. Great music hits are born in the kids’ classroom, and everyone wants to jump up and down to “Stick It To The Man”.

School of Rock- The Musical premiered on December 2015, and was nominated for four 2016 Tony awards, including Best Musical, Best score (Lloyd Webber and Slater), best Book (Fellowes). It also won the 2017 Oliver award for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

School of Rock – The Musical will play at the beautiful Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited three-week engagement November 1-19, 2017. For more show information visit www.broadwayinchicago.com.