off-Broadway

Happy April, and although the month is starting to look like one that’s unsettled as much as March was, we’re still going to celebrate just a few of the shows that opened in April on this week’s Dress Circle (3/5 7:00 p.m.). We’re only looking at eleven musicals this week as we focus on overtures and opening numbers, but we’re still covering 100 years of Broadway history.

So much is being said about cross-dressing and drag now that we thought we’d take a look at how musicals have looked at this aspect of theatre on this week’s Dress Circle (4/16 7:00 p.m.). Men portraying women on stage were a major part of Greek and Roman theatre as well as early European theatre mainly because women weren’t allowed to appear on stage. However, once that taboo was overturned, women often portrayed men, especially in operas and British Pantomimes.

For many, this time of year features a whirlwind of parties. We really don’t have first-hand knowledge of that, so we had to turn to the musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (12/28 7:00 p.m.) for some help with what parties might entail.

We’re turning to the first of two programs on this week’s Dress Circle (10/19 7:00 p.m.) that will feature some of our favorite songs from stage and screen musicals and soundtracks. Michael is up first, and he’s chosen 13 vastly different songs that really do express his rather eclectic tastes, and by no means is this even the tip of the iceberg of the list of his “favorites.”

We almost missed it, but we’re heading back to school, vicariously of course, through the musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (8/24 7:00 p.m.). We’ve programmed thirteen songs from a dozen shows, many of which are new to our “Back to School” programs.

We’re remembering the career of songwriter Charles Strouse on this week’s Dress Circle (7/27 7:00 p.m.) through songs from his stage and screen career. Strouse is probably best known for his work with Lee Adams with whom he penned some of his most successful shows including “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Applause,” and “Golden Boy” although his longest-running musical, “Annie,” was written with Martin Charnin.

With everything going on, we’re looking everywhere we can to find some happiness, and, of course, we turned to the musicals, and on this week’s Dress Circle (7/20 7:00 p.m.), we’ve compiled a playlist of some of the songs that make us happy.

We’re going where the “neon lights are bright” and “there’s magic in the air” on this week’s Dress Circle (6/29 7:00 p.m.) as we look at songs about Broadway from stage and screen. Even though a great deal of music has been written about being on the stage and theatres, we decided to limit it to only those songs that expressly mention “Broadway” in their titles.

We’re celebrating the career of composer/lyricist William Finn, whom we lost in April, on this week’s Dress Circle (6/22 7:00 p.m.) with thirteen songs from a variety of his often autobiographical musicals.

We decided to get everyone prepared for summer on this week’s Dress Circle (6/15 7:00 p.m.), since it officially begins on June 20th. To do this, we’ve turned to “summer songs” from thirteen diverse musicals.