September 27, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler By chance last month, I was seated at a small table at the nightclub 54 Below with two gentlemen of the theatre whom I’d never met. One was Mitchell Bloom and the other Douglas Colby, both born raconteurs. Before the…

September 16, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler. There are not a whole lot of people around today who made their Broadway debuts more than seventy-five years ago. So, for someone like me, the chance to have a phone conversation with Alan Shayne resulted in pure pleasure. Once…

July 17, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler The noted stage, screen and television actor Barnard Hughes was born July 16, 1915, one hundred and eight years ago yesterday. His first role was in 1935 on Broadway in Herself Mrs. Patrick Crowley. His last, in the year 2000…

July 4, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler I’ve been writing 1776-themed columns on July 4th for seven years now and, admittedly, it’s been getting harder to find ways to not repeat myself. Then it dawned on me that I have yet to sufficiently delve into the remarkable…

June 30, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler Not to be too emphatic about it, but Alan Arkin was among my most favorite actors. King of the hill, top of the heap. Hearing of his death this morning at age eighty-nine has sent me into a memory spin…

June 24, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler News that Sheldon Harnick left us yesterday at age ninety-nine swept through my theatre friends’ social media feeds with sadness, but also joyful remembrances. One of the theatre’s most outstanding lyricists, his contributions to the American musical will forever stand…

June 21, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler On this first day of summer, I find myself engaged in Plymouth, Massachusetts directing mostly college students and recent graduates in summer stock. We’re putting up a big old Broadway musical (hey, it qualifies as old — Grease opened on…

June 10, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler Between 41st and 66th streets there are forty-two legit Broadway theatres (this includes the Palace, currently under renovation and scheduled to reopen in June 2024, as well as the Times Square Church, formerly the Mark Hellinger, which may never be…

May 12, 2023: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler Premiering tonight on PBS is a joyous gala titled Great Performances: Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway’s Best. I was fortunate to have been invited to the live 90-minute taping at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theatre in March, and I…