Robert M Massimi.
Bio
I have been writing on theater since 1982. A graduate from Manhattan College B.S. A member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, which recognizes excellence in both English and Science. I have produced 12 shows on and off Broadway. I've seen over700 shows
Stories (176/0)
Arden of Faversham
"Arden of Faversham" at The Lucille Lortel Theatre is a fun, well written show. Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Kathryn Walat, the play moves along at a pretty even pace; the show never gets slow nor ackward throughout the one hour and forty minutes.
By Robert M Massimi. 3 months ago in Beat
Becomes A Woman.
"Becomes A Woman" by the Mint Theater Company is a deep by that is written by Betty Smith and was way ahead of its time.Playing an important role in the 1920s and 1930', Smith would go on to write 70 one-act and full-length drams. Her most famous work is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". "Becomes A Women" was written in 1931 and its nexus was exploring socially transgressive themes.
By Robert M Massimi. 3 months ago in Geeks
A Dolls House.
"A Dolls House". An Empty House' By Robert Massimi. In what is a bare minimalist set, before the show the year 1879 was projected on the stages backdrop.This ended up being very odd because this Ibsen rendition was very modern. I would think that in Amy Herzog's adaptation, she would try to take the bygone era out of the equation. Equally confusing is the direction of Jamie Lloyd. As a modern "Dolls House", we get only a bare stage with a turntable set. Characters are spun to the forefront as they address the audience. For the most part the actors are sitting throughout the 1 hour 50 minute intermission less production.
By Robert M Massimi. 3 months ago in Marriage
Misty
"Misty" Runs The Gambit Robert Massimi /
By Robert M Massimi. 3 months ago in Criminal
Tennessee Rising.
When I first saw "Tennessee Rising at the Cell Theatre, it was outside in the back of the theater and Covid was still a thing. Even though writer, actor Jacob Storms was difficult to hear at times, I thought the play was good; it was a solid effort all around.
By Robert M Massimi. 3 months ago in Beat
Havel.
In Havel the audience is treated to an edgy, hip performance about a man who would go from prisoner to president of the Chech Republic. More resonant today then when I first saw the show on the upper East Side right after theaters opened from the pandemic, this Havel has more meaning because of what is going on in the Chech Republic today.
By Robert M Massimi. 4 months ago in Beat
Kansas In Concert.
Kansas at MPAC. "Carry On Kansas". One of the great things about Kansas is that the band has many genres. progressive, alternative, country at times, as well as pop and of course rock and roll. The six musicians on stage tonight featured two original band members (Rich Williams and Phil Ehart). Under a spectacle of lights all evening, Kansas showed Morristown, N.J. exactly why its American- style boogie rock and complex symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures is both unique and resonant among its many fans. Kansas played for almost three hours tonight beginning with five acoustic numbers: "People of the South Wind" was a tight and heartfelt number, "Hold On" was a warm and sentimental song, "Memories Down the Line" was written by New Jersey native, keyboardist Tom Brislin, "Refugee" and Steve Walsh's "Lonely Wind".
By Robert M Massimi. about a year ago in Beat
"Jane Anger", "The Chinese Lady" and "A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine"
For anyone who loves the PBS show" Upstart Crow", "Jane Anger" will delight you as well. This show at The Ohio Theater was written by Talene Monahon (who also played Anne Hathaway) and for the most part is a real good one. The show features four terrific actors and the premise is that a cunning woman, Jane Anger (Amelia Workman) is going to help William Shakespeare (Michael Urie) get over his writer's block; and that a pamphlet titled Jane Anger Her Protection for Woman" the author is title less even till this day. With the help of his not so young assistant who is willing to empty Shakespear's chamber pot because he is career obsessed, (Ryan Spahn), Shakespeare is able to get down to writing his new play, King Lear even though it was written years earlier by Thomas Kyd. What better time to be a cunning woman than during a plague? Jane Anger is a real woman as she tells us; before being a cunning woman she was a whore and before that she was a weaver's assistant. While the X's go on doors, we get the humorous puns about those times and our current time. Monahon brings 1606 into 2022.
By Robert M Massimi. about a year ago in Beat
Theater "On Sugarland"
The opening of "On Sugarland" has been further delayed, I am now told that March 3erd press will be allowed in to see it. After seeing the show tonight, I can understand the reticence for NYTW not opening "On Sugarland". The shows plot is a mobile home-lined cul-de-sac where grief is persuasive. In the center stage is a memorial of boots, helmets, dog tags as well as other personal items of the fallen soldiers as a reminder of its communities' loss due to war (we never are told which war) in this two hour forty-five-minute play. What seems like daily rituals (never truly put forth) of singing, dancing and shouting, writers Whitney White and Aleshea Harris (What to Send Up When It All Comes Down) are vague in a lot the messages put forth in this play. Whitney White who also directs this play will need to seriously adjust this play before it opens.
By Robert M Massimi. about a year ago in Geeks
M J The Musical
"M J The Musical" "The Price for Fame" "M J The Musical" at the Neil Simon Theatre is not only the great music that Michael Jackson wrote and performed, but it also goes deeper than that in many ways. Lynn Nottage (Clyde's, Intimate Apparel) who wrote the book for the show brings forth at how the man was a perfectionist, how he saw the notes that segway eventually into the music, he could even tell his musicians just how to improve upon the melodies being played. Like Prince and James Brown, he was very demanding of his musicians and backing dancers; yet he was never forceful nor dismissive. Growing up with eight siblings in Gary, Indiana, his father, here played by Quentin Earl Darrington (he also doubled as Jackson's stage manager) was a tough man. Joseph Jackson made his sons practice all the time leaving very little personal time for each of the then Jackson Five. Michael, who was a very sensitive boy as Nottage points out, would carry many of these memories well into adulthood.
By Robert M Massimi. about a year ago in Beat
Ectoplasim
The Plot Gets Lost in The Séance "Ectoplasm" By Spit and Vigor has many good things working for it. The set and sound by Florence Scagliarini are first rate and so is some of the acting. The gothic set matches The Players Theatre like it was the theaters living room. Both the set and theater give off a "cool vibe". Like the last show put on at The Players by Spit and Vigor (The Wake of Dorcas Kelly), the audience was treated to the same gothic feel and the same undertone of a show that is Avant Garde in writing and design. Unlike "Dorcas", however, "Ectoplasm" is not well written. The show is billed as two woman who work together as mediums: Sara Marshall (Jillian Cicalese) and Kaye Schultz (Caitlin Dullahan-Bates). Sara fully believes in what she does and the life as a medium; Kaye is distraught in that she believes that they are charlatans and do nothing to help people.
By Robert M Massimi. about a year ago in Humans
