287 B'way Shows! How Many Have YOU Seen?

 I decided to make a list of every Broadway show I've ever seen.

And the list kept growing and growing and growing. So far I've got 287. I've just added another to the list and am about to add yet another.

Mind you, I've seen some of these shows two or three times.

I've put an asterisk (*) next to some of my very favorites. I've put a pound (#) next to some of the shows I've seen more than once. And the tilde (~) represents shows that flopped.

How many hours in the theater does this amount to? Probably more than 700! Going over these shows brought back so many memories of time spent in the tender, enveloping arms of Broadway theaters. 

Of course, some shows I barely remember while others stand out so vividly in my mind I feel like they are part of me. And all the moments that come to mind! For example, one weekend we saw three musicals, each 20 years apart: Barnam from the 1980s, Camelot from the 1960s and Oklahoma! from the 1940s -- all one word titles, too. What a weekend that was!

The real standouts include the magnificent Hal Prince production of Show Boat; Sondheim's original Sweeney Todd, Sunday In The Park With George and Pacific Overtures; Tommy Tune's Will Rogers Follies and Nine; Jerry Herman's Hello Dolly!, Mame and La Cage; Lloyd Webber's Phantom and Sunset Boulevard, and so many, many stars: Carol Channing, Lena Horne, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mandy Patinkin, Tommy Tune, Raul Julia, Nathan Lane, Gregory Hines, Jerry Orbach, Audra McDonald, Robert Preston, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Jordan, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Debbie Reynolds, Sammy Davis, Hugh Jackman, Gregory Hines, Ramin Karimloo and on and on! 

This is still an incomplete list, but here it is up to this point:

110 In The Shade

1776

42nd Street*
A Bronx Tale

A Chorus Line

A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine

A Funny Thing . . . #

A Gentlemen’s Guide To . . .

Ain't Too Proud

A Joyful Noise

A Little Night Music

Alladin
All American~

Always, Patsy Cline

A Matter of Gravity
Amelie
Anastasia

A Party With . . .

A View From the Bridge#

After Midnight*

After the Fall

Ain’t Misbehavin’*

An American in Paris*

Annie

Annie Get Your Gun#
Any Wednesday

Anything Goes

Applause

Assassins

Baby~

Back To The Future

Barnum* 

Beautiful

Beauty and the Beast
Beetlejuice

Big

Big Fish~

Big River

Blithe Spirit*#

Bonnie & Clyde~
Brigadoon

Bubbling Brown Sugar

Bullets Over Broadway
Butterflies Are Free

Bye, Bye Birdie#

Cabaret*

Camelot#

Can-Can

Candide

Carousel*#

Catch Me If You Can

Chapter Two

Chess*

Chicago*#

Chinglish~

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Cinderella

City of Angels

Clothes for a Summer Hotel~
Coco

Company*#

Crazy for You

Curtains

Damn Yankees

Death Becomes Her

Defending The Caveman

Design For Living#

Elaine Stritch At Liberty*
End Of Te Rainbow

Equus

Eubie!

Evita

Fiddler on the Roof

Finding Neverland

Finian’s Rainbow*
Fiorello#

Five Guys Named Moe

Follies*#

Footloose
Forty Carats

Foxy

Funny Girl

Gigi

Girl From The North Country

Godspell

Golden Boy

Golden Rainbow~
Grand Hotel#

Grease

Grey Gardens

Grind~
Groundhog Day

Guys and Dolls#

Gypsy*

Hadestown

Hair

Hairspray

Hamilton

Happy Birthday, Gemini~

Harmony

Hay Fever

Hello, Dolly!*# 

Henry Sweet henry
Here's Love~

Here We Are

High Fidelity~

High Society

Honeymoon in Vegas~

How To Succeed In Business . . .#
I Do, I Do

I Love My Wife
I Married An Angel

I Remember Mama~

Into The Woods

Irene~
It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman

It Shoulda Been You~

It’s Only a Play

I’m Not Rappaport

Jackie Mason on Broadway

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well

Jekyll & Hyde

Jelly's Last Jam

Jersey Boys#

Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Kelly~

Kinky Boots

Kiss Me, Kate#

Kiss of the Spider Woman

La Cage aux Folles 

Last of the Red Hot Lovers

Legally Blonde

Lena Horne – The Lady and Her Music#

Lend Me A Tenor

Les Miserables

Light Up The Sky

Little Me*#

Little Shop of Horrors#

Lorelei~

Love Life
Love Never Dies~

Luther

M. Butterfly
Mack & Mabel

Mame*#

Man of La Mancha

Mandy Patinkin in Concert
Marat/Sade

Mary Poppins

Mass Appeal

Matilda

Maybe Happy Ending

Me and My Girl*#

Memphis

Metro~

Million Dollar Quartet

Miss Moffat~

Mr. Saturday Night

Moon Over Buffalo

Mornings At Seven

Motown

Moulin Rouge

Mr. Saturday Night

Mrs. Doubtfire

Mummenschanz

My Fair Lady#

My One and Only*

Newsies
Network

Nice Work If You Can Get It*

Nine*

No, No, Nanette*

Noises Off

Oh Coward!
Oh! What A Lovely War

Oklahoma!*#

Oliver!*
Once On This Island

Once Upon a Mattress

On Your Toes

On the Town

On the Twentieth Century

Over Here!

Pacific Overtures*#

Paint Your Wagon

Pal Joey

Paradise Alley~

Passion

Penn & Teller

Peter Pan*

Pippin

Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Play It Again, Sam
Present Laughter
Pretty Woman
Prince of Broadway

Private Lives#

Promises, Promises

Pump Boys and Dinettes

Putting It Together

Purlie Victorious

Pygmalion

Ragtime*#

Road Show

Rocky
Romulus~

Same Time, Next Year

Saturday Night Fever

Seesaw
She Loves Me

Shenandoah

Show Boat*#

Shucked
Shuffle Along*

Side Show

Side by Side by Sondheim*

Singin’ In The Rain#

Sly Fox

Smokey Joe’s Cafe

Social Security~

Some Like It Hot

Something Rotten!

Sophisticated Ladies*

South Pacific*

Spamalot
Sponge Bob Square Pants

Starlight Express

Steel Pier~

Sugar~

Sugar Babies*#

Sunday in the Park with George*

Sunset Boulevard*

Sweeney Todd*

Teddy & Alice~

The Addams Family
The Band Wagon
The Band's Visit

The Belle of Amherst

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

The Book og Mormon 

The Boy From Oz

The Bridges of Madison County~

The Drowsy Chaperone*

The Flying Karamazov Brothers
The Front Page

The Full Monty

The Glass Menagerie

The Goodbye Girl

The Great Gatsby
The Happy Time

The Illusionists

The King and I*#

The Life~

The Light in the Piazza

The Magic Show

The Most Happy Fella

The Music Man*#
The New Yorkers

The Phantom of the Opera

The Play That Goes Wrong

The Producers

The Red Shoes~

The Ritz

The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life . . .

The Sound of Music

The Wedding Singer~

The Will Rogers Follies*

The Wiz

They’re Playing Our Song

This Was Burlesque*

Thoroughly Modern Millie*

Titanic*#

Tommy Tune Tonite!
Tootsie*

Vanya and Sonia And Masha and Spike*

Victor Victoria*

Vieux Carré~
Waitress
War Paint

Water For Elephants

We Take The Town~

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*#

Wicked

Wonderful Town

 You Can’t Take It With You

Young Frankenstein

Zorba#

Legend:
* personal fave
# seen more than once
~ flop

Broadway Musical: A Unique Gift To The World!

The Complete List Of 2025 Tony Winners!

It was Broadway's Biggest Night last night and it did not disappoint.

Here's the wrap up on the 2025 Tony Awards and the comple list of winners:

Here are the Tony wins by show:

Many Happy Endings – 6
Buena Vista Social Club – 4
Stranger Things: The First Shadow – 3
Sunset Blvd. – 3
Oh, Mary! – 2
The Picture Of Dorian Gray – 2
Purpose – 2
Death Becomes Her – 1
Eureka Day – 1
Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical – 1
Yellow Face – 1

And now, the list:

Best Musical
Maybe Happy Ending

Best Play
Purpose

Best Revival of a Play
Eureka Day

Best Revival of a Musical
Sunset Blvd.

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending (shown above)

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Francis Jue, Yellow Face

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Kara Young, Purpose

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether and 59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy Ending

Best Costume Design of a Play
Marg Horwell, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Jack Knowles, Sunset Blvd.

Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans, Buena Vista Social Club

Best Direction of a Play
Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!

Best Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending

Best Choreography
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, Buena Vista Social Club

Best Orchestrations
Marco Paguia, Buena Vista Social Club

Best Book of a Musical
Maybe Happy Ending Will Aronson and Hue Park

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Maybe Happy Ending Music: Will Aronson Lyrics: Will Aronson and Hue Park

Tony Memories: Mary And Ethel . . .

It's time for Broadway's Tony Awards and the event on Sunday evening reminds me of all the wonderful experiences I've had in Broadway theaters over the years, seeing more than 280 shows and spending thousands of hours in those darkened confines where disbelief is gloriously suspended.

When you've seen this much, chances are you've experienced most of greats when they were at the top of their form. And yes, I've seen Robert Preston and Carol Channing and Gwen Verdon and Liza Minelli and Jerry Orbach and Sammy Davis Jr. and Gloria Swanson and Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury and so many others all live, on stage. But two of the greatest that still stand out were the two undisputed reigning Queens of Broadway -- Ethel Merman and Mary Martin. What a joy it was to be able to witness their incandescent talent!

Mary Martin and Ethel Merman were towering figures of Broadway’s golden age—two women whose names became synonymous with the very essence of American musical theatre from the 1930s into the 1960s. Though their careers unfolded on the same grand stages, their paths, styles, and legacies reflect two very different sides of the Broadway coin, or for that matter the Tony Award itself, as both were Tony winners.

Mary Martin exuded warmth. With a lilting soprano voice, radiant smile, and natural grace, she brought a sense of sweetness and emotional depth to her roles. Audiences fell in love with her as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, as the boy who wouldn't grow up in Peter Pan, and as the optimistic Maria in The Sound of Music. She became the quintessential Rodgers and Hammerstein heroine—wholesome, sincere, and utterly captivating. Her performances were not about overpowering the audience but about drawing them in. There was an emotional intimacy to Martin’s work; she seemed to sing from the heart, and her characters always felt grounded in a kind of gentle truth. I had the unique experience of seeing Martin perform both in concert and in a Broadway show and all of these qualities were on full display.

Ethel Merman, by contrast, was Broadway’s brass and bravado. With a booming mezzo-soprano that could cut through a full orchestra without amplification, Merman didn’t just sing—she belted. Her voice and her stage presence were larger than life. She commanded attention in every scene, whether as the sharp-shooting Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, the evangelist-turned-singer Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, or the fearsome Mama Rose in Gypsy, a role many critics consider the greatest female role in musical theatre. Where Martin soothed, Merman soared. She reveled in big, brassy showstoppers and punchy comedic timing, representing the quintessential showbiz dynamo. I also saw Merman in concert and on the Broadway stage in Annie Get Your Gun. Even in front of a full symphony orchestra, she never needed a microphone.

At the 1960 Tony Awards both Martin and Merman were nominated for Best Actress in a Musical, Merman for Gypsy and Martin for The Sound of Music. Merman's performance was a dazzling tour de force and she gave it her all, leaving everything on the stage. But Martin won the Tony for portraying Maria von Trapp whose story included her time as a novitiate. Merman's comment? "How are you gonna buck a nun?"

Their differences extended beyond performance styles. Martin was often described as gracious and maternal offstage—quietly influential and beloved by colleagues. Merman, meanwhile, had a famously bold personality. She was tough, outspoken, and unapologetically direct, much like the characters she played. While Martin worked closely with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Merman was the darling of composers like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and the Gershwins—masters of the pre-“book musical” era who valued vocal fireworks and vaudevillian flair.

Maybe the differences in style can in part be attributed to the fact that Mary Martin was married to a man who diligently handled all of her professional affairs through the bulk of her career while Merman never had much success at marriage and pretty much faced the music alone. Martin's husband/manager cushioned her from the rough 'n tumble of show business while Merman had no such built-in protection. And let's not forget that Merman hailed from New York City (Astoria, Queens) while Martin was born in the small town of Weatherford, Texas.

And yet, for all their differences, both Mary Martin and Ethel Merman defined what it meant to be a Broadway star. They both worked incredibly hard, toured with their shows ands never missed performances. Both theatrical troupers, they originated some of the most iconic roles in theatre history, won countless awards, and helped shape the very idea of the Broadway musical. If Martin represented the heart and soul of the evolving American musical—its turn toward emotional storytelling and sincerity—Merman embodied its exuberance and theatrical punch.

Yes, they were competitors but, in the end, they weren’t so much rivals as they were complementary, each keenly aware of her unique appeal and her audience. Merman and Martin each illuminated a different side of the stage, and together, they set a standard that Broadway performers still aspire to today.

As Tony Night approaches, let's remember them fondly and give thanks for Broadway's illustrious legacy.

From 1956: This Is A Real Find!

The Complete List Of 2025 Tony Nominees

They've just been announced, so here is the complete list of 2025 Tony nominees:

Best Musical
Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Death Becomes Her
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat

Best Play
English
The Hills of California
John Proctor Is the Villain
Oh, Mary!
Purpose

Best Revival of a Play
Eureka Day
Romeo and Juliet
Our Town
Yellow Face

Best Revival of a Musical
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Tom Francis, Sunset Boulevard
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
James Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face
Harry Lennix, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Sadie Sink, John Proctor Is the Villian
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, SMASH
Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club
Julia Knitel, Dead Outlaw
Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical
Joy Woods, Gypsy

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Glenn Davis, Purpose
Gabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the Villain
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross
Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Tala Ashe, English
Jessica Hecht, Eureka Day
Marjan Neshat, English
Fina Strazza, John Proctor is the Villain
Kara Young, Purpose

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Marsha Ginsberg, English
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Marg Horwell and David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Miriam Buether and 59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Scott Pask, Good Night, and Good Luck

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy Ending
Arnulfo Maldonado, Buena Vista Social Club
Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her
Derek McLane, Just in Time

Best Costume Design of a Play
Brenda Abbandandolo, Good Night, and Good Luck
Marg Horwell, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Holly Pierson, Oh, Mary!
Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Dede Ayite, Buena Vista Social Club
Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical
Clint Ramos, Maybe Happy Ending
Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her
Catherine Zuber, Just in Time

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Heather Gilbert and David Bengali, Good Night, and Good Luck
Natasha Katz and Hannah Wasileski, John Proctor is the Villain
Nick Schlieper, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Jack Knowles, Sunset Blvd.
Tyler Micoleau, Buena Vista Social Club
Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, Floyd Collins
Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her

Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Palmer Hefferan, John Proctor is the Villain
Daniel Kluger, Good Night, and Good Luck
Nick Powell, The Hills of California
Clemence Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Jonathan Deans, Buena Vista Social Club
Adam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.
Peter Hylenski, Just in Time
Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
Dan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins

Best Direction of a Play
Knud Adams, English
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Direction of a Musical
Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cromer, Dead Outlaw
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.

Best Choreography
Joshua Bergasse, SMASH
Camille A. Brown, Gypsy
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, Buena Vista Social Club

Best Orchestrations
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time
Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
Bruce Coughlin, Floyd Collins
Marco Paguia, Buena Vista Social Club
David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sunset Blvd.

Best Book of a Musical

Buena Vista Social Club
Marco Ramirez

Dead Outlaw
Itamar Moses

Death Becomes Her
Marco Pennette

Maybe Happy Ending
Will Aronson and Hue Park

Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Dead Outlaw
Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna

Death Becomes Her
Music & Lyrics: Julia Mattison and Noel Carey

Maybe Happy Ending
Music: Will Aronson
Lyrics:  Will Aronson and Hue Park

Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Music & Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts

Real Women Have Curves: The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez

We Take In Four B'way Shows Amidst Many Openings

Maybe Happy Ending, on Broadway now.

We've been back on Broadway and we've seen four shows we'd like to tell you about it. But first, a quick observation. For many years autumn was always the most exciting time on Broadway. It was the time of big openings with many shows debuting night after night, mostly through October and November. The openings were stellar affairs. So momentous was all this that it was heralded in the Great American Songbook classic Autumn In New York with a reference to "the thrill of first-nighting."

All of this changed as Broadway evolved with the advent of blockbuster hits that ran not simply for years, but for decades. Think Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Mama Mia, Chicago, Les Miserables, Hamilton, etc. The higher costs of producing shows on Broadway meant that they needed longer runs to recoup their investment. With such long residences for the mammoth forever hits, fewer theaters were available, even though not as many shows ventured onto Broadway. At the same time the growing importance of the Tony Awards shifted the whole season from the autumn to the spring -- a time when Broadway benefits both from the Tony promos and the beginning of an accelerated tourist season as well. 

Today, most new shows open right around this time as we come to the run-up to the Tonys. By the end of this week all of this Broadway season's shows will have debuted and the Tony nominations will be announced next week.

Now to the shows we've just seen -- two revivals and two newcomers. We'll start with the oldest one first:

Love Life. We took in Kurt Weil and Alan Jay Lerner's Love Life (described as a vaudeville in two plays) as part of the Encores series at City Center. Originally produced in 1948, the musical has not been seen in New York since then. The show tells the story of a married couple, Sam and Susan Cooper, who never age as they progress from 1791 to 1948, encountering difficulties in their marriage (and thus the very fabric of marriage) as they struggle to cope with changing social mores. At the same time the show mirrors and comments on the American experience over this long swath of history. In a sense it's all about the search for and evolution of the American Dream. With a huge cast, the magnificent City Center orchestra and stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Kate Baldwin, this production accomplished what would seem to be an impossible task -- bringing this daring, sweeping story to life and making it newly relevant. This was a very limited engagement and we're so glad we got the chance to see it. Outstanding!

Pirates, The Penzance Musical. Originally known as The Pirates of Penzance, this updated Rupert Holmes adaptation of the Gilbert and Sullivan musical is a big, splashy, broad comedic celebration from the Roundabout Theatre Company. With pinpoint perfect direction by Scott Ellis and soaring, swashbuckling choreography by Warren Caryle, the show is a true dazzler with high production values. Of course, we were attracted to it by its stars, the dashing Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King and the delightful David Hyde Pierce as Major General Stanley. We're happy to say that both gents deliver on all fronts. And, they are ably assisted by co-stars Jinkx Monsoon and Nicholas Barasch, all part of a cast of 41. Long before the Marx Brothers, there was Gilbert and Sullivan. Which is to say, Pirates is silly, zany, preposterous and altogether delightful! 

Death Becomes Her. One of Broadway's most boisterous new musicals has landed in one of its most elegant, historic theaters. And you can't help but be struck by the way in which Death Becomes Her has taken over the Lunt-Fontanne. The show's purple panoply is literally everywhere, enveloping the walls, the proscenium arch, the lobby and, of course, the now mandatory souvenir/logo shop. With a book by Marco Pennette and music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Death is based on the 1992 film of the same name. Basically, it tells the story of two famous, viciously catty, self-absorbed women who don't want to grow old. They are supposedly "friends" but we all know how that works in a cynical tale such as this. The special effects are inventive, the backhanded insults are quick and sure-fired and the performances are fine. But the show and its stars come at you with all the subtlety of a runaway freight train and this never lets up. Maybe we should have seen the movie -- then again, perhaps not . . . 

Maybe Happy Ending. We've saved the most original and thought-provoking new musical for last. No big cast here (it's mostly a two-character show) but that suits this musical whose intimacy makes it all the more beguiling. This is a quirky show with a nonetheless universal appeal. From South Korea, the musical is set in the not-too-distant future in the Seoul metropolitan area. Oliver and Claire are helper robots that look completely human-like, created to help people, but were abandoned by their owners and now live in  side-by-side apartments where abandoned helper bots live. Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen play the bots and they are nothing short of amazing, especially Criss who plays a somewhat less advanced bot than Shen. This is a high-tech show with a big heart and it's suprsingly romantic. With book music and lyrics by Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe is poignant and evocative, soaring across cultures, time zones and generations in a way that will leave you astonished at what musicals can accomplish in the age of artificial intelligence. The ending, in particularly, will stay with you and maybe even have you guessing, which is the point of the outing in the first place. Highly recommended, and a sure contender for the Tony award!