James Sims

Broadway

  • Backstage at Broadway’s Next to Normal

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    James Sims

    Of all the shows on Broadway this season, “Next to Normal” packs the biggest punch. It’s a heavy dramatic story line following a family’s downward spiral as it deals with a crisis. Best of all is the score. With music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, the show explodes on stage with a…

  • Broadway’s Norman Conquests, Painfully Funny

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    James Sims

    My knees are quite sore. I might just have a permanent crick in my neck. And I couldn’t be more pleased. No, it’s not a latent masochistic side of my personality surfacing. Although I’m sure something like that lurks deep within. But this fractured sensation can be thankfully blamed on Broadway’s latest British import, “The…

  • Rock of Ages Shakes Up Broadway

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    James Sims

    Not everyone will find the huge serving of 80s nostalgia and rock anthems appealing, but those tired of yet another revival might just discover their own golden ticket to the Broadway experience. In a time when theatre producers are checking pay phones for loose change, a guilty pleasure like “Rock of Ages” has potential to…

  • South Pacific Shines on Blu-Ray

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    James Sims

    The last time I screened the film adaptation of Broadway’s “South Pacific,” I was enlisted in the U.S. Air Force serving in the Pacific. With no Japanese war looming, the movie acted more as a nostalgic look backwards, painted with warm pastels that starkly contrasted anything seen around my military base at the time. It…