Barry Singer (on The ARTS and Otherwise)

"SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS:" Match me, Sidney

I walked into MasterVoices’ recent concert revival of the musical Sweet Smell of Success at Jazz @ L.C.’s Rose Theater carrying a lot of baggage; or…

Dec 13 • Barry Singer

3

"QUEEN OF VERSAILLES:" The Country Takes A Bow

I called Stephen Schwartz to talk about Queen of Versailles after I saw it.

Dec 6 • Barry Singer

2

November 2025

"LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD:" Grasping For Life Behind A Screen

Sometimes you turn up the TV to hear better; other times, to hear better, you just turn it off.

Nov 28 • Barry Singer

"BAT BOY:" A Bloody Fountain of Youth

I am not really the audience for Bat Boy: The Musical, so I’m writing about its recent high-octane revival at Encores! as an outsider looking in — kinda…

Nov 17 • Barry Singer

"ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS:" Sing Out Loramentum

Oratorio for Living Things, by the recently-MacArthur-awarded composer Heather Christian, has its own antecedents but is still unlike almost anything…

Nov 13 • Barry Singer

"RAGTIME:" NOW!

The devastating new production of Ragtime that just opened at Lincoln Center Theater has hurled me back in time to the original Ragtime, which I first…

Nov 3 • Barry Singer

2

October 2025

TROUBLE? Right Here in River City?

We are back.

Oct 13 • Barry Singer

August 2025

Two Good Books: "SEEING THROUGH" & "THEATER KID"

This is not a book review.

Aug 27 • Barry Singer

1

"LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING:" SHEILA JORDAN N.Y. TIMES OBITUARY

I found writing about Sheila Jordan cathartic.

Aug 13 • Barry Singer

Steppin' Out: BILL'S SUPPER CLUB & "MINGUS DYNASTY"

This is about Bill’s, my favorite bistro, and also about the Mingus Dynasty band; a pairing I never would have imagined, or expected, which makes it all…

Aug 5 • Barry Singer

July 2025

"A CHORUS LINE:" 50 YEARS ON

A Chorus Line opened on Broadway fifty years ago this week, on July 25, 1975.

Jul 27 • Barry Singer

4

"LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE:" CHUCK MANGIONE N.Y. TIMES OBITUARY

Writing Chuck Mangione’s obituary reminded me how much I listened to “Land of Make Believe” when I was a kid (largely on WNEW-FM), and, of course…

Jul 25 • Barry Singer

1