By Rex Reed 4/24/12 8:40pm

theater

O'Hara and Broderick in Nice Work If You Can Get It.

Labor Camp:Nice Work’s ‘Cornball Cliches’ Confuse Cast

With nothing on its tiny mind but pulchritude and parody, Nice Work If You Can Get It, a dumping ground of cornball clichés woodenly directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with tinned arrangements of early tunes by George and Ira Gershwin, has landed on Broadway at the Imperial with a mechanical thud. Except for one or two exceptions, it is so vulgar, boring and stupid that it will probably be a hit.

The stars are Matthew Broderick, who sings weakly, can’t dance and is 20 pounds overweight, and Kelli O’Hara, who does everything musical with welcome panache but ends up wasted in a role so dumb it would have been rejected by Martha Raye. Read More

By John Heilpern 2/28/00 12:00am

Windbag Shaw Waxes On; Young Sondheim Makes Nice

Now, you might not entirely agree with my view that George Bernard Shaw is an old windbag, but surely he was never young. The mythic image of the man is of a pixilated guru stroking his long gray beard in sunny, bemused mischief.

G.B.S. was born old, wise from the cradle, as it were. He Read More

By Rex Reed 12:00am

Silliness and Music Prevailed … It’s the Dog, Stupid!

Silliness and Music Prevailed

With so many dark and depressing musicals dotting the New York theater scene, a zany time was had by all and sundry at Babes in Arms , the first of this year’s Encores productions of staged concert versions of seldom-performed musicals at the City Center, Feb. 12 to 14. Nobody went Read More