Million Dollar Quartet

by Desmond Sam

Million Dollar Quartet is a tribute to four musical geniuses of rock 'n' roll and allows you to join in on the fun.

Million Dollar Quartet is a recreation of a legendary moment in music history. This musical retells the impromptu jam session of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins held at Sun Records Studio the day before Christmas in 1956. The show focuses on their brilliant music and barely touches upon their unstable lifestyles.

Million Dollar Quartet is a showcase of nostalgic remembrance of a time when youth expression was starting to explode and become a key component of the fabric of America. The show helps young people today understand the roots of our music. The performer who stands out the most is Dyanne, Elvis Presley's girlfiend, played by Victoria Matlock. She is the only woman in the show and her vocals take control.

The music is a collection of hits that have become household favorites, including Fever, Great Balls of Fire, and I Walk the Line. The music has people dancing in their seats, reminiscing about the first time they heard each song. The actors' impressions of each singer is completely believable.

Million Dollar Quartet is an easy-going musical that will delight your soul and make you tap your toes.

TICKETS: $30 lottery rush • Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St.

It's a Small World

If you're a young and talented Broadway star, that is.

Ever wonder what happens to your favorite performer when he or she leaves a show? For some, they don't go very far.

Take a look at the new Broadway musical American Idiot. John Gallagher Jr., who played the unhappy Moritz in Spring Awakening, is currently starring as another angsty teenager. His love interest in the show is performed by Rebecca Naomi Jones, who you may have seen in Passing Strange.

Remember Sonny from In the Heights, played by Robin de Jesus (he also appeared in the musical theatre movie Camp)? You can catch him in the new Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles.

Karen Olivio, who played Karen in In the Heights, has been appearing for over a year as Anita in West Side Story.

And we can't ignore the slighly larger move of the two ill-fated lovers from Spring Awakening, Wendla and Melchior, played by Lea Michelle and Jonathan Groff. Chances are you've seen them on the silver screen as they sing and dance their way through prime time on the new hit TV show Glee...coincidentally (or not), their characters are dealing with some of the same issues as their Spring Awakening characters did onstage.

Is it hard to see an actor perform a different role than what you are used to? Tell us in the comments!

Lend Me a Tenor

by Sabrina Khan 

When it comes to comedy, delivery is everything. The cast of Lend Me Tenor makes that clear in every single scene of the hilarious play written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Stanley Tucci. Set in a hotel suite in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1934, the stage is divided into two elaborately decorated rooms. The atmosphere is vibrant and classic, costumes similarly glamorous, and the tones of the actors appropriately melodramatic.

When neurotic Cleveland opera producer, Saunders (Tony Shaloub, Monk), hires the world renowned Italian tenor, Tito Morelli (Anthony LaPaglia, Without a Trace), to star in Othello, he expects him to arrive on time and be ready to perform. Max (Justin Bartha, The Hangover), his daughter, Maggie’s (Mary Catherine Garrison, Accent on Youth) foolish boyfriend, is his assistant and responsible for ensuring that Tito is focused on the premiere. The three, expecting him to arrive solo to his hotel room, are surprised to find him finally enter with his hot-tempered wife, Maria (Jan Maxell, The Royal Family). She proceeds to yell at her husband for eating too much on the way and accuses him of having women in the hotel room.

Saunders leaves Max to convince him to take a nap. Max secretly mixes a tonic in his drink to do the trick, totally ignorant of the fact that Tito had already taken pills in an impassioned response to his wife‘s bickering. Completely intoxicated, Tito even has Max sing to him after Max tells him about his own vocal ambitions. He finally falls asleep, distraught because he finds out moments before that his wife has left him.

When Max attempts to wake Tito, he finds him completely still and panics that he is dead.He informs Saunders, who goes mad with rage because he thinks of the tickets that must be refunded. He devises a plan to have Max sing the tenor’s part and wear the costume for Othello, with blackface and all. He would fool the audience and the company until having to announce Tito’s death early the next morning. “Nobody will know,” he convinces the reluctant Max. Little do they realize that Tito is still alive. It’s one farce after another and the actors do a tremendous job of refreshing the humor.

A play of operatic proportions, Lend Me Tenor, is a surefire hit. Each role, large or small, has its own flair and the dynamic between the characters is well balanced. The actors truly compliment each other, making the play an arena for witty verbal jousting. Lend Me Tenor is simply genuinely funny and suitable for all audiences.

TICKETS: $26.50 general rush • Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St.

God of Carnage

by Dalia Wolfson

God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza, reveals the violence and animal instincts of daily, mundane encounters in the living room in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Eleven year-old Benjamin, armed with a stick, hit his peer Henry, knocking out two teeth. This incident brings their parents – Veronica and Michael, Annette and Alan – to discuss the next step in educating and disciplining their sons. The fast-paced 90-minute play tracks the unraveling of a polite discussion into a safari of sorts, with the two couples’ attacking each other and themselves as their social barriers crumble.

God of Carnage is particularly enjoyable because of Matthew Warchus’ directorial talent. The characters rearrange themselves throughout the play, sitting in different seats, collapsing on couches, strolling around the stage and, in the final moments, all are found to be in states of disarray with their knees on the floor – a sort of descent of man to the most primitive, crawling form of mobility. The set is also used masterfully, so that each prop – be it yellow cleaning gloves, white tulips or a limited-edition Kokoschka art book – is not merely a stage piece, but an object that merits interaction and attention. The roles of the characters conjure up a nice balance: one couple consists of an art history teacher and a department store owner who gleefully discusses toilet fittings, while the other pair includes a lawyer and a job in wealth management. The socioeconomic differences in the two sets of parents are outlined by their speech and clothing and, eventually, verbalization of values through the dialogue.

The root “carn” (flesh ) in Latin reveals itself in many forms: carnage, carnal desire, reincarnation and other visceral, instinctual words. These concepts are introduced throughout the play, placed as focal points in the struggle between high society’s discipline (upheld by Veronica, the art history teacher who respects sophistication) and raw, animalistic behavior (represented by Michael, the ‘neanderthal’ who settles for a “second rate” lifestyle). While a philosophical thread runs through the performance, God of Carnage skirts around this conflict with a generous dose of physical humor and a rapid hour-and-a-half long duration that leaves the audience feeling that somehow, the issues have not been fully fleshed out.

God of Carnage illuminates the tension between the primitive and the civilized, and ultimately this play is rather relevant to our generation; the slow, painstaking process of maturity is a concept that teens encounter in our daily existence. God of Carnage may not explore these issues to a point of satisfaction, but is worth seeing because it does raise vital questions about human nature that are pertinent to adolescents as they attempt to find a balance in this helter-skelter world.

TICKETS: $26.50 student rush • Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St.