REVIEW: “Anything Goes” at the Mac-Haydn

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 1999 The only sure thing about the existing version of “Anything Goes” is that Cole Porter wrote the music and lyrics. He didn’t write all of them for the original “Anything Goes” which opened in Broadway in 1934, but he did write them. Beyond…

REVIEW: “42nd Street” at the Mac-Haydn

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 1999 “Come on and meetThose dancing feet.On the avenueI’m takin’ you to –42nd street!”– Al Dubin This is it. The Mac-Haydn has pulled out all the stops and come up with an all singing, all dancing extravaganza. Pack up grandma, grandpa and the kiddies…

REVIEW: “West Side Story” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, July, 1999 “West Side Story” is the only musical on this season’s Mac-Haydn roster not to have won the Tony Award for Best Musical. It lost in 1957 to “The Music Man”, which opened the Mac-Haydn’s 1999 season. Comparing those two shows is like comparing…

REVIEW: “South Pacific” at the Mac-Haydn

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 1999 Mac-Haydn is off to a good start this season with a second fine musical production – this time Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1950 opus “South Pacific”. Based on a group of shorth stories by James Michener, “South Pacific” was a tremendous hit for Rodgers…

REVIEW: “My Fair Lady” at the Mac-Haydn

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, June, 1999 It is very important to note that “My Fair Lady” is a “musical play”. It is not a musical comedy – that uniquely American art form. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe took the play “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw, added some songs…

REVIEW: “The King and I” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre

Reviewed by Gail M. Burns, August, 1998 The King and I is one of those shows that everyone assumes is wonderful. After seeing the decidedly shoddy production at the Mac-Haydn last night, I began to wonder if the underlying problem isn’t in large part due to the show itself. By…