Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).
Bio
I have been writing on theater since 1982. A graduate from Manhattan College B.S. A member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, which recognizes excellence in both English and Science. I have produced 14 shows on and off Broadway. I've seen over700 shows
Stories (324)
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The Many Saints of Newark.
"The Many Saints of Newark" Forgetaboutit ! Let me start off by summing up "Saints" in a few words: Terrible. Awful. Horrible. Horrendous. It's fourteen years since we saw "The Sopranos" go off the air so what better time than now to make a film about The Sopranos? The movie, a prequel, is so confusing that one had to keep asking... what the hell is going on here. I cannot begin to tell you what this movie is about. The movie was billed as how Tony Soprano became Tony Soprano. Unfortunately, the movie never comes close to explaining this. Two problems come right to mind why this movie is a failure: the first is that Michael Gandolfini, the real- life 20- year old son of the late James Gandolfini, as young Tony. Michael never comes close to his father, not by way of charisma nor pathos. The second problem is that David Chase co-wrote this flee bitten dog.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).4 years ago in Geeks
Theater Review... "I Squeezed Really Hard" and Broadway Tony Winners.
It is a shame that "I squeezed Really Hard" at the Wild Project only played for a very limited engagement. Not only is Anthony Misiano's show a real good one, it plays well in this East Village house. In a baron set (one Chair, two if you count the one that holds his water), Misiano moves about the stage like that hyperactive boy he once was. He tells his life story through tongue and cheek, however, his life up until High School wasn't exactly a day at the beach. In his solo performance, the author/actor gives the audience a very detailed description of what it was like to live below the poverty level, to hear gun shots ring out on a regular basis: to be just a little boy and witness a stabbing death. Whether we want to feel for this actor or not, Misiano will have none of it. He continually makes us laugh at just how ridiculous he, or for that matter, any child could live like he did.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).4 years ago in Geeks
Ni Mi Madre.
"Ni Mi Madre' (which has been extended through September 25th) has a lot of good, bad and ugly to it. In one hour we get to know Bete, the mother of writer and solo performer Arturo Luis Soria. In this sixty minutes we get to see the life of a woman who has been through many ups and downs of what life has to offer. She grapples with the secrets that tear her and her son apart, the unbidden memories of her estranged mother and the traditions that keep them apart. The play further explores the intersection of queerness and Latindad; examines to a small degree gender, sexuality. and citizenship. i think the play has more to do with identity: hers and Arturo's as well as past husbands. Although other family members are mentioned, the play lays bare the secrets, memories, fears of raising a family and getting by in her world that is at hand.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Beat
"Pass Over"
"Pass Over" "This One Can Be Passed Up" Robert Massimi. A show like "Pass Over" should be played off off Broadway and not at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway. One of the many problems with this play is that it goes nowhere; it never really challenges us and it surely doesn't move us one way or the other, it more or less floats in the rarified atmosphere. The shows premise is two young men from Chicago living in the hood waiting for their lives to change. The problem with its two characters is that Moses (Jon Michael Hill) and Kitch (Namir Small Wood) do nothing to help themselves. When you add bland direction by Danya Taymour into the mix, the play goes downhill fast. In "Pass Over" Taymour never has the audience feeling any empathy for the two characters, we only see two men who want to get off the block and into the promised land, however, they never discuss any plans nor dreams other than their top ten list as to what they would do if they could.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Geeks
PNC Concert Series
Robert Massimi. Squeeze are an English rock band that came to prominence during the new wave period of the late 1970's. They continued recording i the 1980's, 1990's and 2010's. While songs like "Cool for Cat's", "Up The Junction" and Labelled with Love" were UK top-ten chart hits, they were not commercially successful in the US. "Hourglass", "Tempted" and "Pulling Mussels" faired far better.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Beat
"Spring Awakenings" and "Wake of Dorcas Kelly"
"Spring Awakenings" at performed at The Vogel at the Basie Center is a classic musical performed on Broadway and countless regional theaters across America is a 1891 German play with the same title by Frank Wedekind. Set in late 19th Century Germany it tells of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of sexuality.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Beat
"Audience"
Fri, Jun 25 at 12:42 PM "Audience" written by Vaclav Havel is an absurdist comedy that focuses on a time in Havel's life when he was remanded to work at a brewery as punishment for writing critical articles about the communist Czechoslovakian government. "Audience" follows his fictional alter ego Ferdinand Vanek and his dialogue between he and the Brewmaster (Teresa Linnihan). Havel would eventually go from a prison cell to the presidential palace: from 1989 till 2003 and through the overseeing of the newly formed Czech Republic, Havel would lead his people toward democracy throughout his long presidency. With the infusion of the CAMT Marionette's, The Bohemian Theater put forth what is billed as Havel's funniest, most absurdist play.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Beat
"Impact"
"Impact" is a virtual show that was written and acted in a solo performance by Amy Engelhardt. The play is about her life; the catastrophe of Pan Am flight 103 that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland due to terrorism by Libyan Nationals. In what Engelhardt describes as "Follow Signs"... where and how her life moves, she talks about music moving her during difficult times. A former alumnus of Syracuse University, she was able to know her fellow students by name in the theater department. Her senior year she decided to focus more on music than acting. At The Cell Theater and produced by The Playhouse at White Lake, the play at times is very moving; at other times it can be both slow and more about Engelhardt's corniness than the main issues that she is trying to portray.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Geeks
"Blindness", "Tennessee Rising".
In an epidemic year what better play than one about another epidemic that plagues an entire country seemingly overnight? In a sound extravaganza, Blindness, which was first produced in London’s Covent Garden and written by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time) is as imaginative, as anything I have seen in a long while.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Beat
"Waiting for I Dunno"
The Signal Through The Noise/ Tolerance Party #4B put forth by The Cell Theater virtual recent project "Waiting for I Dunno" is mish mosh of Absurdism that goes nowhere important. Based off the play :"Waiting for Godot", Joseph Handel and Kira Simring write an incoherent play.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Geeks
Voyeur: The Windows Of Toulouse-Lautrec"
It's 1899 and Bated Breath has turned the West Village into Paris; from the fantastic costumes of that time period to great dancing on MacDougal St. and wonderful opera singing on 5th Avenue, "Voyeur" is an interesting body of work both conceived and directed by Mara Lieberman.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Geeks
"White Noise"
The Cell gives us Tolerance Party #4, "The Signal Through The Noise". Joseph Hendel gives the viewer a very interesting play; two main characters with different lifestyles as well as different views of the world. The entire play takes place in a breakout room where we encounter a total of three characters, two of whom are the main focal point of a well written play; for the most part. Hendel presents the bohemian actor, Heather Mo Witz as a woman who is educated in a Charter school and has certain ideas about the world. Although a somewhat radical bohemian, she is not immersed in overly radical ideas; she simply makes her points and listens for a reaction. She hears more from the noise than her counter part India Menete(~ over the N). India is a suburban housewife who sees the world in a different place; this place involves her children, parades and a sense of history that omits the imperfections. Where India hears a parade, Heather sees slavery, injustice and a global New World Order that is out of her grasp.
By Robert M Massimi. ( Broadway Bob).5 years ago in Beat
