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B. Smith in “Love, Loss and What I Wore”

Entrepreneur and actress B. Smith

B. Smith, yes the restaurant owner of the soul food restaurant in Manhattan’s Theater District is in a play, Love, Loss and What I Wore, at the Westside Theatre on W. 43rd St. This play, written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, is a collection of women’s stories associated with different clothing items and it is a wonderful experience. Based on a book by Ilene Beckerman, there are humorous parts and parts that will touch your soul. Smith is making her off-Broadway debut in this piece.
She sits on the stage with a huge script book in front of her, as do her co-stars, Anne Meara, Conchata Ferrell, Minka Kelly and AnnaLynne McCord, and they proceed to share these short stories. Smith is such a natural on stage, between her delivery of the lines, facial gestures and mannerisms. She comes across as very comfortable and fits right in with her co-stars. These five ladies have a great chemistry.
This play and Smith are something that should be seen by mothers and daughters, it is just that kind of play that relates moments between moms and daughters.
Sometimes the laughs are so intense audience members, including myself, were coughing. These stories are amazing, these performances are phenomenal. This is a theatrical experience you will long remember.
Karen Carpenter directs these five actresses with focus and compassion.
It is marvelous to see Smith do stories that are funny and stories that touch the heart and have you feel what each of her characters is going through. But this is also something that you will experience as each of these ladies speak.
Ferrell is especially entertaining, but you’ll see what I mean when you go and experience this play.
B. Smith is part of this rotating cast and will be with the show through May 29, so try to go before then. For ticket information call 212-239-6200.

The Shirelles Music is on Broadway
Broadway has a new musical and it’s about the Jewish housewife who discovered the Shirelles-the Black teenage singing group of the late 50s. The woman was Florence Greenberg and these girls were singers that her daughter Mary Jane  heard at her school.

The talented actresses portraying the Shirelles are Kyra Da Costa, Erica Dorfler, Christina Sajous and Erica Ash. These young ladies perform some of the greatest hits of this girl’s group including “Mama Said,” “Soldier Boy,” “He’s So Fine” and “Baby It’s You.”

The show also takes you on a musical memory lane with performances of hits like “It’s My Party”, “Duke of Earl” and “Our Day Will Come.”
The audience also gets to see the dirty side of the record business with playing off DJs so that they would give records air time.
There’s also a forbidden romance as Greenberg, a wife and mother, falls in love with a Black songwriter named Luther Dixon, the man who wrote “16 Candles”.
There are many entertaining moments in this new musical playing at the  Broadhurst Theatre on W. 44th St.
Beth Leavel plays Greenberg and she is absolutely fantastic. Her acting and singing are on point. But then so is this entire cast, because the ladies who play the Shirelles are marvelous, Allan Louis is charming and an amazing talent as Dixon and Geno Henderson is incredible as he plays multiple roles, every time a Black male singer from the time period of 1958 to 1965 is portrayed Henderson takes on the role 100% and delivers.
This show is just a really wonderful time and the singing is a step back into time.
You should make plans to see this show because besides being entertaining, it’s a true story.  For tickets call 212-239-6200.

Wonderland Is Fun On Broadway
You may know the original story of Alice In Wonderland, about the girl who goes into a rabbit hole and meets all kinds of characters—but forget what you know and go to Wonderland, the new musical playing at the Marquis Theatre in Manhattan.
This musical is an altered telling of the story and one that you will greatly enjoy. It stars E. Clayton Cornelious as the caterpillar and he is absolutely  wonderful. He is joined on stage by a fantastic cast that can sing beyond belief
and includes Janet Dacal, Darren Ritchie, Jose Llana, Karen Mason, Kate Shindle,  Carly Rose Sonenclar, Edward Staudenmayer and Danny Stiles.
This theatrical experience is one you will not forget, as it has great musical numbers, there are dips into hip-hop and that boy singing group kind of style.
It is just a lot of fun.
I don’t want to tell you how they change the story, you need to see it for
yourself, but believe me—you will appreciate it.

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