Category Archives: Musical

Damn Yankees 2027 revival: Faust goes woke

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I see where the Damn Yankees revival is going ahead next spring with Neil Patrick Harris taking the role of the devil. When the Broadway transfer was announced a year ago after the show’s Washington DC run (here are my comments at the time), I had the impression that the cast would transfer as well. I had been especially excited to see Jordan Donica, a terrific performer who is ready for stardom, as the young baseball sensation. That is not to be, but I’m not surprised that the producers opted for a star in the devil’s role. Harris is a great choice.

The NY Times article announcing the revival states that the baseball player, “a white Washington Senators fan in the original, is now Black [sic]”. I can only presume the writer has never seen the show. The character was not assigned any particular race in the 1955 original and could (and has) been played by actors of any ethnicity. The story is about an old man who sells his soul to the devil to become a young, virile batter in order to beat the hated Yankees – in other words, a baseball version of the Faust legend. It’s not about black or white but about human nature, a fantasy that any man of any race can understand and play. I’ve seen it here in Tokyo with an all-Japanese cast, and it works just fine.

The revival, however, will specify that the character not only be black but “motivated in his quest by the racial discrimination that limited his father’s baseball career”. Continue reading →

Hello, Dolly! (1969 film)

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  • Hello, Dolly! (1969 film)

7/24/26 (Fri)

I hadn’t thought about the Barbra Streisand vehicle since its release in 1969, so my memories, not entirely positive, were pretty vague. When a friend suggested it out of nowhere, I figured it was a good excuse to take another look.

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Back to the Future the Musical (バックトゥザフューチャー)

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  • バックトゥザフューチャー (Back to the Future the Musical)

3/29/26 (Sun), Tokyo

I didn’t bother to see this in London or New York, wary as always about another movie-to-musical adaptation. But a friend had an extra ticket to this sold-out Japanese-language production, and I had heard good things about the staging, handled here as on the West End/Broadway by John Rando. As usual for productions by the giant Gekidan Shiki theatrical group, I saw no children at all at this family-oriented show. Families are crowded out by the avid Shiki fans, for better or worse.

The show itself is just the movie on stage with some mediocre songs thrown on top in all the predictable places. Continue reading →

A Look Back: Pacific Overtures in Tokyo (2000)

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A Look Back: Pacific Overtures in Tokyo

Here is an expanded version of an essay written originally for the Sondheim Review (reproduced here) discussing the innovative Tokyo production of the Japan-themed musical in 2000. The essay played a small role in helping to bring the production to New York in both Japanese and English. It discusses the differing perspectives of the American writers and Japanese director regarding the musical’s themes. A British-helmed production played in Tokyo nearly a quarter-century later but did not have the same impact. This longer essay was featured in The Oxford Handbook of the Global Stage Musical (2023).

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Golden Boy (ゴールデンボーイ)

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  • Golden Boy (ゴールデンボーイ)

3/4/26 (Wed)

A chance reference online led me to this YouTube broadcast of the full stage musical from a Tokyo production of September 1988, starring Nishikiori Kazukiyo from the then-popular Shonentai boy band. It was released in video back in the day by Warner Brothers Pioneer, but I was surprised to find a free download online, a rarity for a star vehicle in Japan. In any case, I had never seen this rarely produced musical in any language, so I immediately took a look. Continue reading →

Gold Diggers of 1933

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  • Gold Diggers of 1933

2/15/26 (Sun)

Mervyn LeRoy’s joyous musical celebration comes between two other Warner Bros backstage musicals the same year, 42nd Street and Footlight Parade, that pretty much define the era. The songs are performed as stage productions rather than character or narrative numbers and are essentially interchangeable, having nothing to do with the underlying story; the producers in fact switched out the final number for a new song with no effect at all on the narrative. The show is based on a stage farce from 1919 that already had two previous film treatments. This one apparently was supposed to be a drama as well but added musical numbers following the success of 42nd Street (they moved fast in those days). Its huge popularity spawned several sequels.

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Pretty Woman (プリティ・ウーマン, musical)

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  • Pretty Woman (プリティ・ウーマン, musical)

1/23/26 (Fri), Tokyo

A Japanese-language version of the flop Broadway musical. This production appears meant as a showcase for the half-Spanish hunk Shirota Yu, who also translated the book and lyrics. The other main roles were double-cast despite an effective run of less than two weeks.

It was no better or worse than feared, basically a paint-by-numbers recreation of the movie with songs thrown on top, as with most of these film retreads. Continue reading →

& Juliet

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  • & Juliet

12/14/25 (Sun), Broadway

This one wasn’t at the top of my to-see list during my NY visit – I had ignored it in London, where it debuted – but there weren’t many choices on a Sunday night. It was either this or Mamma Mia, another musical based on the work of Swedish songwriters, which I hadn’t seen since (gulp) 2000. I ending up going for the new piece. Big mistake.

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West Side Story (1961 film)

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  • West Side Story (1961 film)

12/3/25 (Wed)

I hadn’t seen this version of the film in decades, so I took advantage of the 10am classic movie series sponsored by Toho Cinemas to see it on the big screen. I especially wanted to refresh my memory after Spielberg’s remake a few years back. Continue reading →

A Look Back: Merrily We Roll Along

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With the release of the filmed version of the 2023 Broadway revival of the cult Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along, the timing seems right for a rerun of this piece from last year. Unlike the Met Live and National Theatre Live productions, the film is not the record of a single performance but shot over three days and edited into one work. While that feels like cheating — it essentially gives the actors three takes to get it right, going against the entire idea of a live show — it does give a wider audience a look at a flawed vehicle that most are unlikely to see in person. Reviews of the film rendering have been mixed, but the production itself, based on the original London showing that I saw some years ago, was solid. It’s also a way for the producers to squeeze even more money out of the show after charging up to $899 per ticket on Broadway. Here is my take.

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Yankee damns Yankees

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  • Yankee damns Yankees

10/12/25 (Sun)

It seems that the 1955 musical Damn Yankees is set to be the next sacrifice on the altar of woke. I was excited to hear that a revival of the show, one of the best of the Golden Age musicals, will be moving to Broadway after an apparently successful run in Washington DC. I saw the last revival twice in 1994 with a pitch-perfect Victor Garber as the devil, and it was a joy. I remember in previews when 104-year-old George Abbott, the original director four decades earlier, showed up in the audience to a standing ovation.

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