THI SPAGE IS NOT MEANT TO BE READ. 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indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | Fortune City files:   | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | | indexing tag | end Fortune City files Archived after 12/6/05:   Revival of "A Little Journey" by Rachel Crothers "The Minister's Wife" at Lincoln Center "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard "Beautiful Burnout" from National Theater of Scotland at St. Ann's Warehouse "Good People" by David Lindsay-Abaire "The Divine Sister" by Charles Bush "Star Alarm" by Wind Dell Woods "I Married Wyatt Earp": The Story of the Gunslinger's Wife Two views of “The People in the Picture” at The Roundabout Theatre Company " The Shaughraun" at the Irish Repertory Theatre "Awake in a World that Encourages Sleep" by Raymond J. Barry at Theater for the New City "Benefactors" by Michael Frayn "Triangle" at 59E59 Theaters "Kin" by Bathsheba Doran "Kin" at Playwrights Horizons One Night with Fanny Brice at St Lunke's Theater "This Ain't No Tea Party" at Midtown Theater "The Whipping Man" by Matthew Lopez at City Center "Miss Abigail's guide to Dating, Mating & Marriage!" "Other Desert Cities" by Jon Robin Baitz at Lincoln Center Broadway-bound in Toronto: "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" "Freud's Last Session" An American Original Elizabeth Bishop 101 "Freak Winds" Is Funny and Frightening Fahrenheit 451 Children of a Lesser God The Music Teacher Romping through the Plastic Roses Eye on Steppenwolf [title of show] Is an Adolescent Adventure Et tu, Jones? Alba Lite Michael John LaChiusa's "Bernarda Alba" is Garcia Lorca's feminist play "lite." The women in this chamber musical lust after sex, not freedom. By Lucy Komisar. The Irish Repertory Pays Tribute to a Yankee Doodle Boy In the program notes to "George M. Cohan Tonight!" writer and director Chip Deffaa says, "At first I planned to write a book about [George M Cohan] but his life was so theatrical, his songs so rich and rousing and varied, I felt his story is better told on stage." A wise decision. But equally fortunate was Deffaa's choice of triple threat Jon Peterson to play the multi-talented Cohan. By Paulanne Simmons. 33 to Nothing The sad truth is that "33 to Nothing" has all the earmarks of a work of love. It's pretty obvious that Grant James Varjas, who wrote the play with music, "33 to Nothing", now at the Bottle Factory Theater for a limited engagement, knows a lot about rock bands. At best, it's a psychodrama with music. By Paulanne Simmons.   Post-Modern Hedda In 1890 Henrik Ibsen wrote "Hedda Gabler," a play about a bored, neurotic woman who ruins the life of the people who surround her and then takes her own. It is a solid piece of drama with a preternaturally modern theme. For some reason, Andrew Upton saw fit to update the play with "spare dialogue and diminished exposition." Then The Sydney Theatre Company took this version and, under the direction of Robyn Nevin, turned it into something that seems to be a cross between a sitcom and a soap opera. By Paulanne Simmons.   A Fresh, New Look at "The Miser" "The Miser" ("L'Avare"), The Jean Cocteau Repertory' s newest show at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre, with its convoluted plot involving mistaken identity, shipwreck and unlikely reunions, may be the most Shakespearean of Moliere's plays. As translated by Charles Heron Wall and directed by Dan Zisson, the comedy has a modern ring that even Shakespeare at its best seldom achieves. "Barefoot" BF (Before Feminism) "Barefoot in the Park" is a dated comedy with feminist message. As a comedy, Neil Simon's play is just sitcom, but as sociology, it's fascinating. It inadvertently illustrates the ills of old-style marriage. By Lucy Komisar. "Side Show" Makes the Weird Wonderful The Gallery Players in Brooklyn have revived "Side Show," the 1997 musical about conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, and it shines. By Paulanne Simmons. Oedipus Pimp In celebration of Black History month, the New York Theatre Workshop is presenting Aeschylus -- in a high-voltage Hip-hop variation that makes the ancient tale as lively and accessible for grey panthers as for high schoolers. Make some room, "Rent." Here comes a phat rappin' cousin with impeccable credentials! By Glenda Frank.   Fanny Hill Is Irresistible Going against the wave of films and plays depicting abusive, self-destructive and plain weird relationships, Ed Dixon's new musical, "Fanny Hill," now at the York Theatre, carries the old-fashioned message that sex can be fun. Based on John Cleland's 1749 "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," Fanny Hill is a tongue-in-cheek rollick that director James Brennan keeps fresh in every sense of the word. By Paulanne Simmons. Rabbit Hole David Lindsay-Abaire's "Rabbit Hole," about the grief of losing a child, is a look into what appears to be a bottomless abyss of permanent, all-encompassing mourning. It's also an obvious message about how slipping into isolation only makes things worse. And about how loss ought to be understood in the continuum of previous loss and new life. These are not original observations, but under the clear, unsentimental direction of Daniel Sullivan, they do not appear trite. He unfolds a drama, not a melodrama. By Lucy Komisar. Laughing Around Town is back! Three shows Larry Litt saw in February pointed to a direction that Americans should be very nervous about. The assorted and very diverse themes were ancient Roman history in "The Art of Love," contemporary women's susceptability to advertising and fashion dictates in "Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High-Class Issues," and self-reflection in "The Accidental Pervert." "Paradise" Lost David Foley's "Paradise" is a play about three couples: one is gay, one is jewish and one is constantly bickering. There is a faithless husband, his unhappy wife and their innocent daughter acting out their own story upstage, and a pedophile priest who tells bad jokes. You can't help but feel you've been to the play before, and this is a problem. By Paulanne Simmons. I Would Like To Thank My Agent If Diane had lived during the Renaissance, she would have brandished a mean sword; scowled mightily with her hand placed threateningly on her dagger; smiled widely and bowed low; or gazed beatifically to heaven and crossed herself. In short, she would have done anything to cut her client the best deal in town. But Diane the Super-Agent (Julie White) lives in the here-and-now. Diane lives in "The Little Dog Laughed," by Douglas Carter Beane, which is as sharp-fanged and belly-laugh funny as his "As Bees in Honey Drown." By Glenda Frank.   Co-op Crazies "The Right Kind of People," Charles Grodin's new play, now in its New York premiere at Primary Stages, is the kind of comedy that plays best in big cities, most specifically, New York. The action, which revolves around the shenanigans of a Fifth Avenue co-op board, certainly rings true to anyone who has ever had to deal with this particular breed of people. By Paulanne Simmons. The Emperor Jones Goes Greek Arthur Adair had a good idea on paper, says Paulanne Simmons, in casting Eugene O'Neill's "The Emperor Jones" in a Greek mold.   Apartment 3A Mixes Romance, Comedy and Magic In Jeff Daniels' new play, "Apartment 3A," Annie Wilson (Amy Landecker) a PBS fundraiser, moves into a new apartment after finding her former boyfriend committing an act of infidelity on her grandmother's table. On the very day she takes the apartment, she meets a mysterious widower named Donald (Joseph Collins) who seems to have powers far beyond mortal men. If over-the-top love scenes, sparkling dialogue and a touch of wonder have not yet lost their appeal, "Apartment 3A" will certainly be a hit. By Paulanne Simmons. Huck and Holden The title of Rajiv Joseph's new play, now in its world premiere at the Cherry Lane Theatre, is "Huck & Holden," but it might have been "Huck, Holden & Navin." Indeed, if "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is the Great American Buildingsroman of the 19th century and "The Catcher in the Rye" is the classic coming-of-age story of the 20th century, then Navin's adventures in America might well represent a typical journey of self-discovery for the 21st century. By Paulanne Simmons. An (Irish) American Tragedy Eugene O'Neill's "A Touch of the Poet" is a powerful play in a gem of a production at Studio 54. Set outside Boston on July 27, 1828, it traces the final descent of Major Cornelius Melody and the rise of his headstrong daughter, Sara. It is a tragedy about the immigrant experience, a tale about Irish nobility – not about kings but about the transcendent dream passed from father to child, and the price of that dream. By Glenda Frank.   The Revenger's Tragedy Ask a Boy Scout if the family is sacred, he'll say "of course." Then ask a dramatist the same question. He'll say "of course, the family is as sacred as the mysterious forces within all our lusty, vengeful hearts." This is the paradoxical twist of Red Bull's wildly funny, sardonically attractive show, The Revenger's Tragedy. By Larry Litt. Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead "Dog Sees God," Bert V. Royal's first play, is billed as an "unauthorized" parody. It is his take on Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts gallery – ten years later. Paulanne Simmons' take on the production is a great big "Good Grief!". In a Red State, 1920 Small theatre companies dedicated to rescuing lost masterpieces are vital links in the New York theatre chain. Their productions offer many surprises, like the recent staging of Susan Glaspell's "Inheritors," which premiered in 1921 and is rarely revived. Some of us -- theatre writers and historians who are familiar with Glaspell's "Trifles" and "The Verge" -- have assumed that her other plays simply don't play well. The recently formed Susan Glaspell Society and Director Yvonne Conybeare at the Metropolitan Playhouse are providing compelling evidence that we need to take a fresh look at Glaspell's work. By Glenda Frank. Ms. Wasserstein's latest play There are very few scenes in "Third," Wendy Wasserstein's latest play, where Dianne Wiest -- as Professor Laurie Jameson -- does not smile, glance benevolently, look maternal And her course on new interpretations of Shakespeare is lively and provocative. Even Woodson Bull, III, nicknamed Third, a new student and a jock – he's on the wrestling team and plans to become a real-life Jerry McGuire – is excited. But surprise of surprises, Prof. Jameson is as close to a feminist villain as contemporary drama and her creator, Wendy Wasserstein, permits. By Glenda Frank. ….four one-legged men! Written and performed by Gary Corbin There's nothing more harrowing than watching a person tell the absolute unfiltered, unexpurgated truth about their life's struggles. The event opens all kinds of doors in an audience that have nothing to do with the show in front of their eyes. Only a master storyteller can keep an audience focused on the subject and object of the oration. It's rare, when it happens to you, you remember. Gary Corbin's stellar one man performance is that kind of performance. If he performs this series again. Don't miss it. By Larry Litt The Quality of Mercy At the core of "Mercy at the Doorstep," Gip Hoppe's new play directed by Jim Simpson, lie several questions: What is mercy? Is it bestowed by God or man? Can it be forced on someone who doesn't want it? Does it sometimes cloak something more sinister? By Paulanne Simmons. A Walk on the Wild Side Whether you're a lifelong New Yorker, a temporary resident or a tourist on a short visit, "Accomplice" is a Big Apple experience you'll want to savor. This original piece of entertainment created by the brother and sister team Tom Salamon and Betsy Suffott is part interactive theater, part site-specific performance art and part walking tour of lower Manhattan. It is the most thoroughly entertaining ways to spend an afternoon in New York City one can imagine. By Paulanne Simmons. Guardians: Provocative or Pornographic? The two most sordid scandals to come out of the Iraq War may well be the Abu Ghraib debacle and the publication of fake torture photos in The Daily Mirror. Playwright Peter Morris use both stories in his two-character monologue, "Guardians." By Paulanne Simmons. Titanic A recent presentation of Christopher Durang's "Titanic" is proof that something's going awfully right at New York City's public universities. By Brandon Judell. A Fine & Private Place The titular fine and private place in Erik Haagensen and Richard Isen's musical premiering at York Theatre Company's home in St. Peter's at Citigroup Center is the imaginary Yorkchester Cemetery in the North Bronx. It is here that two couples, one live and one dead, meet. By Paulanne Simmons. Adrienne Barbeau Breathes Life into "The Property Known as Garland" Not a melodramatic soap opera about the decline and death of the late great Garland, but rather a funny and moving evening with the star. By Paulanne Simmons. "Defying Hitler" Offers a Glimpse of History and a Man's Soul Based on the memoirs of Sebastian Haffner, German journalist, historian and political commentator who grew up in Berlin between the two world wars, "Defying Hitler" weaves Haffner's personal story into world history. By Paulanne Simmons. "Cooking for Kings" From early childhood most people learn to equate food with love. But few take the metaphor to the same extremes as legendary French chef Antonin Careme, whose life story is told in Ian Kelly's one-man-show "Cooking for Kings." Being Ernest Is Still Important Poet, dramatist and novelist Oscar Wilde is known for many things: his flamboyance, his aestheticism, his homosexuality. But his most enduring and endearing legacy may be his masterpiece "The Importance of Being Ernest." Paulanne Simmons reviews the production at Brooklyn Academy of Music and deems it "just about as perfect as it gets." J.A.P. Chronicles, the Musical If there's one lesson in "J.A. P. Chronicles, the Musical," it's that not all Jewish American Princesses are alike. There are seven of them in Isabel Rose's new musical, based on her novel of the same name. Wall "Wall" is a shocking, searing account of the barrier now being built in Isrg out their assaults. Apparently, it has been working to some degree. Yet, is its success worth its financial, physical, and emotional costs? Director Simone Bitton apparently thinks not. Oy vey, The 40-Year-Old Virgin The town is currently plastered with posters that just about everybody can relate to. A "nice boy" with the conscervative haircut who is just so fresh-faced in his forties, exuding innocence and optimism, you know he isn't any kind of hit with the ladies, who are all tattooed now. The 40-year old virgin could have been almost as iconic in our time as the Prisoner of Second Avenue was in the early Seventies. The trouble is not the prototype, but the movie. The Constant Gardener: A Blooming Hit What made Fernando Meirelles’s City of God so different from any other offering in 2003 was its vibrant colors, razor sharp editing, pulverizing soundtrack, ferocious energy, and its jolting ability to recreate life in the slum of slums of Rio de Janeiro. Sex. Murder. Robbery. Drugs. Hopelessness. They were all brutally depicted, creating a striking fusion of visual opulence and mental purgation. Now in his first English-language endeavor, Meirelles has taken on what most would consider the most unlikely of literary sources for him, John le Carré’s The Constant Gardener. The corporeal collides with the cerebral, and the result surprisingly is the most satisfying adult-oriented, suspense-filled feature of the year. Last Days Kurt Cobain's life and death have been a source of interest and speculation for fans, critics and media alike and has inspired Director Gus Van Sant who brings the introspection deeper in his latest film "Last Days" which is shaped around the finals hours of Blake, a rocker struggling in a mess of durgs, alcohol and mental illness. Beowulf Beowulf, the hero of the sixth century eponymous Anglo-Saxon epic, may have battled sea monsters, dragons, fierce trolls and their fiercer moms, but in the adept rock-opera adaptation by Lindsey Turner at Irish Repertory Theatre, Beowulf proves every bit the post-modern hero, a talkative cousin of Rambo and Batman. By remaining true to the mood and primitive setting of the original, director Charlotte Moore, sound designer Zachary Williamson and lighting designer Brian Nason created both an action-figure adventure and a ritualistic evocation that is powerfully affecting and not without its sense of humor in the use of giant puppets and shadow-narratives. By Glenda Frank. Laughing Around Town is Back If George W. Bush, elected or appointed as you may think, President of the United States were in the audience of the three performance events Larry Litt saw on October 6th and 7th, he would’ve seen himself portrayed as everything from a pitiful nazi commander to a hot fudge sundae. At seven pm on October 6th "Beating Around the Bush: An Evening of American Satire" at the NY Society for Ethical Culture saw five famous literary satirists, newspaper columnist Art Buchwald, Barry Crimmins (also of Air America radio fame), The Realist’s publisher Paul Krassner, Harper’s publisher Lewis Lapham and the great American novelist Kurt Vonnegut talking about the President, his policies, the Iraq War, and his insidious cronies, err staff. Oct. 7th at HERE Arts Center on Sixth Avenue and Spring Street, he attended the first performance of the extended run of Burning Bush: A Faith Based Musical. With a large space to play in, author/performers Noah Diamond and Amanda Sisk created a theatrical romp with song parodies, dance routines, much camping and vamping. October's Desperate Daughters Is it the new school semester that brings two stories of desperate daughters (in compelling productions) to the off-Broadway stage? Or is it the success of David Auburn's "Proof," which has not only moved with fanfare from stage to film but also brought us a new, iconoclastic hero, the brilliant but distraught young woman. Certainly the two feuding co-eds of the hit musical "Wicked" have added their own spin to the prototype. This season, Rolin Jones's Jennifer ("The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow") is buzzing up the mix while Barbara Dunn's sisters in "War in Paramus" are grim reminders of what life offered in the 1970s. By Glenda Frank.   Musicals for Crash Dummies, Disagreeable Women and Monks in Heat The full houses and round-the-block waiting lines at the exhilarating 2005 New York International Fringe Festival are clear evidence that theatre is very much alive. Not all of the 180 offerings in the 19 different venues could boast that they were genuine fringe -- experimental, fresh, honest, absurd, silly, brilliant and just waiting to be discovered. But as a showcase for new talent and unusual points of view, the 17 day festival remains an annual treat. Despite the many musical theater offerings, we will have to wait for next year to discover the next "Urinetown" meteor. By Glenda Frank.   Jenny Chow, Mia Farrow, Dr. Kinsey and more In the Continuum: Black Women Alone with AIDS/Jenny Chow: Flying Robot/Mia Farrow in Fran’s Bed/Pastoralia: Theme-Park Cave-People/No Nudes on Appian Way or Broadway/Stockbroker Breadwinner Quits the Rat-Race/Lennon Sings Again But Stops Short/Alfred Kinsey Sings & Dances in Dr. Sex/Musicals in Trailer-Parks?/River Dolphins Become Human in Miracle Bros./Two Gents in Central Park Should Be Back on Broadway/Words or Music: Capricious Capriccio at City Opera/NYCO Tries Patience at Lincoln Center/Heartbreaking Butterfly at NY State Theatre/Tall Horse: Puppet-Giraffe Strides Off To Paris!/Post-Modernist Lessing-Lesson at BAM: Emilia Galotti/Fantastic Athleticism of Black Grace. By Glenn Loney. Dorothy Chansky reviews Steppenwolf Frank Galati directed and wrote "after the quake," a spare tale of a disaffected young Japanese writer and the little girl whose nightmares set him free. The play is based on Haruki Murakami’s collection of short stories written in the aftermath of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe and focuses on five people and a human-size frog. The animals in the shy writer’s stories reveal hidden aspects of himself and finally allow him to make the commitment he should have made a decade earlier. "Last of the Boys," Steven Dietz’s slice of the lives of four present-day Americans still struggling with the after effects of the Vietnam War, is part boozy confessional, part macho posturing, and part ghost story. Rick Snyder’s direction sends bottles and bodies careening through the remnants of the trailer park where one shattered vet is nursing his wounds and looking for peace.   Ms. Wasserstein's latest play There are very few scenes in "Third," Wendy Wasserstein's latest play, where Dianne Wiest -- as Professor Laurie Jameson -- does not smile, glance benevolently, look maternal And her course on new interpretations of Shakespeare is lively and provocative. Even Woodson Bull, III, nicknamed Third, a new student and a jock – he's on the wrestling team and plans to become a real-life Jerry McGuire – is excited. But surprise of surprises, Prof. Jameson is as close to a feminist villain as contemporary drama and her creator, Wendy Wasserstein, permits. By Glenda Frank. Cambodia Agonistes “Cambodia Agonistes,” which Pan Asian Repertory Theater is currently remounting at the West End Theatre, uses dance, music and speech to tell the story of a traditional Cambodian dancer (Lydia Gaston) who suffers through the atrocities of the Cambodian Dictator (Ron Nakahara) and is eventually found wondering the streets of NYC, blinded by the memories of what she has seen. By Paulanne Simmons. One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern If the seventies, Nixon, Vietnam, the Chicago Seven, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert MacNamara, L.B.J, Bella Abzug and Spiro Agnew still resonate for you with some meaning, "One Bright Shining Moment" will help you relive your youth when politics were still tinged with hope, and you still felt that you could make a change. Candida In Jean Cocteaua Rep's production of "Candida," directed by Michael Halberstam, the central conflict of this play is not about how Candida puts both her men in their places, but about which of the two she will chose. That's where it goes wrong. By Paulanne Simmons. Funny Brothers In the spirit of Lewis and Martin, Abbot and Costello and especially The Smothers Brothers, Josh and Danny Bacher have arrived at Theater for the New City with "The Funniest Show in the World About the History of Comedy Performed by Two Brothers in Less Than Two Hours for Under Twenty Dollars." And Paulanne Simmons loved 'em. Mrs. Warren's Profession When George Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession" was first produced in New York, its unorthodox subject matter caused such a public outcry it was soon closed. And, although the play was written in 1898, it was not produced in England until 1925. Now revived at the Irish Repertory Theatre, it's not likely the play will scandalize many, but it will certainly entertain and provoke. By Paulanne Simmons. "Seascape" In Edward Albee's famous "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" the playwright presents two married couples--the embattled George and Martha and the naïve Nick and Honey. In the lesser known "Seascape," now at the Booth Theatre, directed by Mark Lamos, Albee also presents two couples--the loving Nancy and Charlie, and the equally loving Leslie and Sarah. But in this case, the main difference between the two couples is that Leslie and Sarah are lizards. By Paulanne Simmons. A Touch of the Poet These days so much theater is devoted to the inarticulate that when one sees a play filled with eloquent, even poetic characters, it comes a something of a surprise. O'Neill's "A Touch of the Poet" is now revived at the Roundabout Theatre Company under the direction of Doug Hughes. As the name implies, there is much poetry here--from the pen of both O'Neill and the oft-quoted Lord Byron. No American playwright could better strip his characters of their pretenses and defenses than O'Neill. This stellar cast is obviously comfortable and capable in its handling of the playwright's complex characters. The combination is luminous. By Paulanne Simmons. "Souvenir" is memorable There's nothing new about comic teams made up of a ditsy woman and a long-suffering, perplexed man. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and George Burns and Gracie Allen immediately come to mind. But it's doubtful that any such couple has ever been as touchingly and lovingly portrayed as in Stephen Temperley's "Souvenir," first presented at the York Theater last December, now at The Lyceum. Victor Attar in "Einstein" and "Golgotha" Israeli actor Victor Attar pulls off an acting tour de force in two magnificent solo plays at La MaMa. “Golgotha” by Shmuel Refael, playing through Dec. 22, is a revelatory piece in which Albert Salvado, a Greek, Ladino-speaking Jew and Holocaust survivor, bares his soul. "Einstein" by Gabriel Emanuel, which premiered in Canada over twenty years ago, goes a long way towards bringing the man closer to those of us today who are badly in need of his wisdom. By Paulanne Simmons. Paulsen's Lonely Banquet Seattle performance artist John Paulsen can be best described as a dark, existentialist clown with the goofy physical gestures and lyrical storytelling of the late Red Skelton. It's not exactly Howdy Doody It's only been during the last twenty or so years that puppetry in the United States has come into its own as an adult art form with a mature message. But although "Avenue Q" managed to steal the Tony away from "Wicked" in 2004, most people still see puppet theater as mostly suitable for light themes and simple stories. The Second Annual Voice 4 Puppetry Festival at Theater for the New City this December gives the lie to such beliefs. The ten-day festival celebrates the work of innovative and experimental puppeteers whose offerings may not be easily understood by children or adults In My Life Why does humanity suffer? Why do people hurt themselves? Why do they hurt others? For the characters in Joseph Brooks' new musical "In My Life," the answer seems to be that God is a good-natured jingle writer and bungler named Al (the talented Michael J. Farina), and he has left their fate in the hands of a heavenly helper, Winston (the hammy but hilarious David Turner), a self-involved wannabe impresario who is trying to create an operatic masterpiece that derives its power and passion from human tragedy. By Paulanne Simmons. Cambodia Agonistes “Cambodia Agonistes,” which Pan Asian Repertory Theater is currently remounting at the West End Theatre, uses dance, music and speech to tell the story of a traditional Cambodian dancer (Lydia Gaston) who suffers through the atrocities of the Cambodian Dictator (Ron Nakahara) and is eventually found wondering the streets of NYC, blinded by the memories of what she has seen. By Paulanne Simmons. A Mystery with a Message “A Soldier’s Play” is a brilliant and complex drama. It is told through narration, flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks. But unlike many plays of the 21st century, its characters are ambivalent and complicated but never incomprehensible. Originally staged in 1981, Charles Fuller’s play is every bit as riveting and relevant today in its Second Stage revival directed by Jo Bonney as it was almost a quarter of a century ago. By Paulanne Simmons. "Five Course Love" is delicious The remarkable thing about “Five Course Love,” Gregg Coffin’s new musical comedy, which opened at the Minetta Lane Theatre on Oct. 16, is that no one ever eats. Instead the three-member cast – Heather Ayers as the femmes fatales, John Bolton as the male lovers and Jeff Gurner as the waiters – sing, dance, and fall in and out of love. They do all of the above in five different ways – according to the type of restaurant in which they meet. By Paulanne Simmons. The Force is with Charles Ross For the two people in New York City who may not be acquainted with the original films, Charles Ross’s “One-Man Star Wars Trilogy” at Lambs Theatre until Dec. 31, is somewhat amusing. But for the vast numbers of young and old who have seen the movies several times, the hour-long journey through the galaxies is double-over-with-laughter funny. By Paulanne Simmons. Almost, Maine John Cariani's "Almost, Maine," probably won't win any major awards, but it may prompt more than a few people to visit small towns in that New England state. All of the play's action takes place at nine o'clock on a Friday night in the middle of winter at various locales in a remote section of Maine. All of them, in one way or the other, warm the heart. By Paulanne Simmons. The Bass Saxophone Eamonn Walker: From Oz to Duma, "Prisoner" Makes Good The Brit, Eamonn Walker, moseys into the suite at the Parker Meridian and sits himself down with a gracious smile and handshake. The man who played the steely Kareem Said on HBO's cult convict drama Oz and the maniacal African leader, Andre Baptiste Sr., in Lord of War--an extremely gutsy yet underrated antiwar film--is anything but the characters he is noted for. In fact, the gent's sort of a hunk, an impression you don't actually get when his image is flattened out on TV or on the movie screen. Innocent Voices--interview with Luis Mandoki Innocent Voices is the true story of screenwriter Oscar Torres, who at age eleven lived in a small, impoverished El Salvodorian village with his mother and two siblings. Their home a makeshift, bullet-ridden shack. Yes, indigence aside, life was fun except when the army and the guerilla bands were gunning up the neighborhood. Additionally, there was the forced recruitment of boys into the militia when they reached the age of twelve. By the way, this army was trained and financed by the CIA. Luis Mandoki, best known for his direction of When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Gaby: A True Story (1987), and Angel Eyes (2001) with Jennifer Lopez, has devised a startling entertainment that both stirs and educates about such a childhood. The film ends potently with a note stating that over 300,000 children around the world are currently forced into being soldiers.   Via Appia--I remember that from Latin class! "A Naked Girl on the Appian Way" loses its way. Richard Greenberg sought to write a farce about a multicultural Hamptons family, but instead produced a sitcom that lacks wit and intellect. By Lucy Komisar.   How's about: Absurd People Plural? "Absurd Person Singular" is an unsatisfying dark farce. The best part of it is British playwright Alan Aykbourn's dissection of relations between the classes and the sexes, but the farce, a slapstick with splinters, is rarely funny. By Lucy Komisar.   Who's Camus Anyway? "Who's Camus Anyway?" is Japanese writer/director Shuji Kashiwabara's paean to the obsessive compulsion of those involved in the industry. Setting his comic venture in a film department at a university, his dozens of frantic post-pubescent personalities scurry here and there, having only five days before they start shooting their own film about a young man who kills an old lady for sport.   "Ushpizin": A Fabulous Fable Comes to Life As the holiday Succoth nears, the impoverished Hassidim, Moshe Bellanga (Shuli Rand) and his wife Mali (Michal Bat Sheva Rand), don't have much to celebrate. The loving couple has no children. No food except cabbage to nosh on. And, as noted, no Geld, not even enough Shekels to purchase a lemon or the supplies to build a Succah. What the couple does have in spades is faith, and in this delicious, lovingly comic look at ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, that is more than enough. In Moshe and Mali's world, God will reward those who are true to his teachings. (Out on DVD April 4.)   They went Down, Down, Down in a Burnin' Ring of Fahr "Ring of Fire," coming so swiftly after the film "I Walk the Line," had to do something that was neither didactic nor emotional. In this case, that meant a show that is just as much about Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" as it is about those who inhabit his songs--farmers, lovers, losers, murderers, prisoners, wanderers, men who battle floods or work on chain gangs, and most of all, men and women who, despite adversity, can still sing and dance. The creators refer to their creation as "a book musical without a book." With "Ring of Fire," they've shown that a book musical without a book can also convey a message. By Paulanne Simmons.   Dark Night, An Israeli Student Film Par Excellence A highlight of the 21st Israel Film Festival (Feb. 23- March 9; http://www.israelfilmfestival.com) and an Oscar nominee for the 2005 Honorary Foreign Film Award in the Student Academy Awards competition, Leon (Leonid) Prudovsky's "Dark Night" is a potent, thoroughly professional take on the current Israeli/ Palestinian quagmire. Klezmer Conservatory Band It's been said that klezmer's audience is growing because of identity politics. So what? The simpler explanation is, the music is just plain thrilling. Our Larry Litt was lured to the City of Brotherly Love to appease his feelings of displacement and "balance out the festivities of the holiday season." He found himself dancing in the aisles of Philadelphia's remarkable new Verizon Hall of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, along with about 2,400 others. by Glenn Loney Musicals Old & New, Other Musical Entertainments, Opera, Choral, Orchestral CD Albums, The Hänssler Treasure Chest.   Remembering Jerzy Grotowski by Margaret Croyden On January 14, 1999 one of the most important and influential theater persons, Jerzy Grotowski died. On March 21, 1999, friends and admirers of this master of the theater gathered together at the St. Marks Church in the East Village to memorialize him. Our own Margaret Croyden, who covered the career of the master director and theoretician in the New York Times, serves up her own remembrances taken from the event, plus those of Harvey Lichtenstein, Judith Malina, Bill Reichblum and Andre Gregory. Promising Theater in the Promised Land by Margaret Croyden A trip to Israel brings Margaret home curiously refreshed, with a notebook full of observations on how the theaters there have an admirable sense of direction compared to their American counterparts. Shakespeare á la mode Is there a dumbing down of Shakespeare in order to make it contemporary? The practice of modernizing Shakespeare has been sacrosanct for a long time. But what does it say about us? by Margaret Croyden.   Love and Courage at Theater for the New City The scruffy but indomitable Theater for the New City, which helped launch such notables as Tim Robbins, Moises Kaufman, Sam Shepard and Charles Busch, got all decked out in pre-Valentine's Day hearts and flowers for its aptly named benefit "Love 'N Courage" on Feb. 13.By Paulanne Simmons. Who Won What Last Spring? Our "Top 10" Critics' Poll By Philippa Wehle The New York Theatre Wire has once more asked its reviewers to choose their top ten shows seen between May 1, 2004 and May 1, 2005, on, Off and Off-off Broadway and to list them in order of importance. Their choices are based on artistic merit alone. This year's"Top Ten" represents a fascinating spread of shows, from new plays to revivals, from musicals to serious drama. Of interest, however, is the fact that two of the shows in the top ten are "downtown" shows, one of which is by an important, emerging theater group, the International WOW Company, which is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Tony Awards 2005 Tony Award® winners list Here is the complete list of the winners for the American Theatre Wing's 59th Annual Tony Awards. The Drama Desk Awards by Glenda Frank Review the acceptance speeches at an awards ceremony? Why not? Since many of them never see the light of day, except to those present, they really ought to be reported. Write Glenda Frank, our newest columnist, "I have a fondness for the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony that's over and above my delight in being one of the voters. The acceptance speeches seem more off-the-cuff, more revealing and personal than for that other prize. Although the 2005 ceremony has come and gone, the words of the female winners deserve a second hearing." The Obies Off-Broadway's 50th annual awards Meeting at Webster Hall in the Village on May 16, the Village Voice and scores of past recipients, Off-Broadway performers and producers met for another year to acnowledge deserving artists in yearly tradition begin in 1956 at the instigation of Jerry Tallmer, who was then on the founding staff of the Voice. Click for the results TRANSAMERICA: What's Your Daddy's Bra Size? The Tribeca Film Festival has a small gem on its hands.Yes, you can argue Duncan Tucker's feature debut's plotline certainly has been done. A parent is thrown together with the child he or she has never seen before, and after an hour or so of angst, followed by recriminations, the two realize they love each other and form a new sort of family.The twist here is that daddy is an uptight pre-op transsexual and sonny is a street hustler. Mysterious Skin According to The Hours's Michael Cunningham, Scott Heim "is a serious writer who's unafraid to swim in the darkest waters." The same could be argued for director Gregg Araki. From The Living End (1992) to Totally F****ed Up (1993) to The Doom Generation (1995), Araki has always embraced subject matter that was outré. Our "Top 10" Critics' Poll By Philippa Wehle The New York Theatre Wire has once more asked its reviewers to choose their top ten shows seen between May 1, 2005 and May 1, 2006, on, Off and Off-off Broadway and to list them in order of importance. Their choices are based on artistic merit alone. This "Top Ten" is the original vote of its type on the Internet, since The New York Theatre Wire, founded in 1996, was the first place for drama criticism on the World Wide Web. Unusual for this contest, a British import tops the list this year. 2006 Tony Award Winners This year's Tony Award winners were lead by a group of talented "boys," young and old. "History Boys" swept the Tonys, earning six awards including Best Play. Surprise hit "Jersey Boys" took home the much coveted award for Best Musical as well as awards for Best Featured Actor and Best Leading Actor in a Musical. "The Drowsy Chaperone" fared well, winning five awards during the night. For a full list of winners, see article. 51st Annual Village Voice Obie Awards The 51st Annual Village Voice Obie Awards were presented on May 15, 2005 at the NYU Skirball Center in Manhattan.   Croyden's Corner Three Days of Rain--and a slippery experience for Julia Roberts Our Margaret Croyden feels sorry for this vibrant Hollywood beauty, whose Broadway debut was a play made up almost entirely of exposition. Two cents on the Threepenny Opera Memories of the original "Threepenny Opera" make Margaret Croyden bristle at the current overproduction, which is directed by Scott Elliott and translated by Wallach Shawn. What Pryce for Lithgow? A tantalyzing cast replacement in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" causes Margaret Croyden to assess the effect of changing a leading actor in a running show, and begs comparison of the Broadway version with the sophisticated, elegant, fun film that starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin. Trip to Bountiful: a small play For years, the Signature Theater has been devoted to their playwrights-in residence project which produces the works of contemporary American playwrights. Now they have inaugurated a two year anniversary celebration of their playwrights in residence program, and they have chosen Horton Foote's acclaimed play "The Trip to Bountiful" to launch it. Chita Rivera, The Dancer's Life There is a built-in problem in retrospective shows for mature stars that galls some crtics. But it never seems to affect our New York audiences, which never disappoint. At the end, they always stand up. By Margaret Croyden. Lloyd Weber's "Perils of Pauline," Dressed in White The story of "The Woman in White" is about two sisters, one beautiful; the other, homely; one innocent, the other jealous; one abused; the other; a fixer. And their "perils" -- mistaken identity, family secrets, abused women, illegitimate children, and a dastardly, violent villain, who marries the innocent beauty only to abuse and rob her. With that kind of a dramatic situation, what could make our Margaret Croyden sigh throughout this "so-called musical"? Ellen Stewart, La Mama, The Mother to Us All On December 5, 2005, at the meeting of The League of Professional Theater Women gave its Lifetime Achievement Award to Ellen Stewart, LaMaMa herself. Margaret Croyden introduced Ms. Stewart and recounts her address here. On Second Avenue-- A Heavy Dose of Nostalgia. If you love the past and you're Jewish you will love this show. On the other hand, you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate this cleverly put together remembrance of a great time in the theater. "On Second Avenue" is full of history, romance, and love. The "old" second avenue, the Broadway of the Yiddish theater, began at 14th Street and stretched the entire length of the avenue, to produce a renaissance of Yiddish theater: comedies, vaudeville, cabaret, melodramas, and serious dramas--even Shakespeare. By Margaret Croyden. "Third"-- A Playwright's Mistake Wendy Wasserstein, one of the premiere playwrights who broke the ice with her feminist play "The Heidi Chronicles" (1989), has been celebrated as a liberal feminist with a comic talent for projecting social and political issues in her work. She has won numerous awards, sponsored monitoring programs, sits on important boards, and is known as a do-gooder. Absent from the scene for a while, she has now come up with a new play "Third" a confused mish-mash that seems to satirize, and/or attack liberals and political correctness. By Margaret Croyden. Thoughts in the Night What's keeping our Margaret Croyden up at night? If there is any single throughline in the current Broadway season, it is the abundance of talented actors in parts which are beneath them, to wit: "A Naked Girl On the Appian Way" with Jill Clayburgh, "A Mother, A Daughter And a Gun" with Olympia Dukakis and "The Odd Couople" with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Is it all just a case of good ol' American "take the money and run?" Topics in the Spotlight Mrs. O'Neill's Illness A prominent biographer of Eugene O'Neill reconsiders the legacy of the playwright's mother after reading the script of an upcoming New York play: "Miles to Babylon" by Ann Harson, to be presented October 12 to 29 at American Theater of Actors. The play dramatizes the fight to overcome morphine addiction that was waged by Ella O'Neill, the model for Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey into Night." This article is contributed by Stephen A. Black, author of "Eugene O'Neill: Beyond Mourning and Tragedy," published by Yale University Press.   The White Plains Performing Arts Center announces Jack W. Batman as Executive Producer Jack W. Batman returned to the professional theatre in 2003 after a brief hiatus as one of a small team that founded and developed New York City's sports and entertainment playground, Chelsea Piers, and now comes to White Plains to reinvigorate this City's premier theatrical venue. His Broadway producing debut came with the romantic comedy Enchanted April, starring Elizabeth Ashley and Molly Ringwald, which received twoTony Nominations including Best Play and was the recipient of two Outer Critics Circle Awards. For Off-Broadway, he then produced the widely acclaimed Brian Dykstra: Cornered & Alone and the highly regarded environmental comedy Clean Alternatives, which also played the Edinburgh Festival (Scotland) this past summer and won the top prize, the Fringe First Award. By the New York Theatre Wire staff.     Edinburgh Festival 2006 The Bayreuth Festival 2006 Mozart Jahr 2006 is All Around Vienna   ''The Rules of Charity'' at The Lion Theater on Theater Row ''The Prodigal Son'' at Mint Theatre Company   Photography Exhibit on Filipino American History Debuts Off-Broadway in SoHo ''Broadway Bares XVII-Myth Behavior.'' Updating Classics: When? Why? by Jack Anderson after a visit to Denmark Josephine Baker: Image and Icon at National Portrait Gallery Washington, D.C. "The People vs. Mona" "The Street" at Workshop Theatre "Mainstage" "Surface to Air" at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theatre "The Quick-Change Room" at The York Shakespeare Company "Whoop Up" at the Duplex "The Brig" at the Living Theatre     "Frost-Nixon" At last we have the best play of the season, the best performances, the best director, and best of all--Frank Langella in the role of Nixon. And what a performance. Actually I hesitated going to see this play. I lived through the Nixon period and was not anxious to have it in front of me again. Furthermore I thought it would be a straight docu-drama with question and answers and that's all. But much to my surprise it turned out to be a most fascinating psychological examination of one of our worst presidents. By Margaret Croyden. ''The Pirate Queen'' ''The Pirate Queen,'' the long-awaited musical commissioned by ''Riverdream'' producers Moya Doherty and John MColgan and created by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, the duo behind ''Les Miserables'' and ''Miss Saigon,'' has arrived. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Talk Radio'' starring Liev Schreiber Everyone knows that Liev Schreiber is a good actor. He appeared in numerous movies, won Tonys and other acting awards, and is much in demand. Everyone in theater knows that Eric Bogosian's "Talk Radio" was produced by the Public Theater in 1987 when the great Joe Papp was running the place. Margareth Croyden ascertains how the two forces match in teh current revival at the Longacre Theater. The Vertical Hour David Hare is one of England's most produced playwrights. Not only has his plays appeared regularly in London, but ten of them have been performed on Broadway, including his solo performance about his experience in Israel. Besides "The Vertical Hour" at the Music Box, his play "Stuff Happens" premiered earlier at the Public Theater. Later this season he is to direct Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" starring Vanessa Redgrave. With a resume like this, his plays cannot be missed. By Margaret Croyden. I'll Be Seeing You…Love Songs of World War II "I’ll Be Seeing You…Love Songs of World War II." by Andrea Marcovicci will include the songs of Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer and Jule Styne, the songs "people are yearning for." By Paulanne Simmons. Translations The Manhattan Theater Club's revival of Brian Friel's 1980 play ''Translations'' is a stunning and moody production that examines the use of language to bond and to divide in both a personal and a political sense. It also becomes a symbol of patriotism and conscience as it plays into the conflicts and connections among the occupied and the occupiers in Ireland in 1833. The play is beautifully staged by Irish director Garry Hynes with a sympathy that extends to people on all sides in that quarrel. By Lucy Komisar and Margareth Croyden. Hattie McDaniel Tells Her Story "(mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story," part of Emerging Artists Theatre’s second annual Triple Threat, is a one-woman show written by Joan Ross Sorkin and performed by Broadway star Capathia Jenkins. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Adrift in Macao'' Theatergoers used to Christopher Durang's dark comedies will see another side of the playwright in his new venture, a collaboration with composer Peter Melnick in a highly enjoyable parody of film noir, ''Adrift in Macao.'' By Paulanne Simmons.   "The Wedding Singer" strikes the right note. Based on the 1998 film set in Ridgefield, NJ, "The Wedding Singer" is a delicious romp through those times that brought us CD players, mobile phones, the end of disco and the beginning of rap, and Ronald Reagan. By Paulanne Simmons. Shining City "Shining City" stars Brian O'Byrne as Ian, a therapist whose relationship with Neasa (Martha Plimpton) is falling apart as a result of her infidelity and his conflicted sexuality; and Oliver Platt as his patient, Jon, who seeks help after seeing the ghost of his recently deceased wife. Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons. "The History Boys" Teaches Broadway a Lesson From "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" to "Dead Poets Society," there's no shortage of dramatizations about teachers and their students. But few are as ironic and blasphemous as Alan Bennett's "The History Boys," which opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on April 23 with its original London cast. By Paulanne Simmons. Three Days of Rain--and a slippery experience for Julia Roberts Our Margaret Croyden feels sorry for this vibrant Hollywood beauty, whose Broadway debut was a play made up almost entirely of exposition. Two cents on the Threepenny Opera Memories of the original "Threepenny Opera" make Margaret Croyden bristle at the current overproduction, which is directed by Scott Elliott and translated by Wallace Shawn. What Pryce for Lithgow? A tantalyzing cast replacement in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" causes Margaret Croyden to assess the effect of changing a leading actor in a running show, and begs comparison of the Broadway version with the sophisticated, elegant, fun film that starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin. "The Light in the Piazza" "The Light in the Piazza" is charming operatic fable about romance. A fanciful Florence and thrilling voices provide the magical setting. The fifties of the novel onwhich this musical play is based was the era of "Three Coins in The Fountain" and "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone," a time when Americans mused about finding sensitive lovers and romance in Italy. Playwright Craig Lucas has kept that sense of fifties fantasy which fits perfectly with Adam Guettel's operatic score and lyrics. By Lucy Komisar.     "Treason" Mixes Treachery with Infidelity Sallie Bingham, in her new play "Treason," The Perry Street Theatre Company's final show at 31 Perry Street, tries to find some answers to the questions that surrounded poet Ezra Pound throughout much of his life. By Paulanne Simmons. Dolly Is Back, and She's Tovah Feldshuh This June, Tovah Feldshuh takes the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in Paper Mill Playhouse's revival of "Hello, Dolly!" directed by Mark S. Hoebee. Unlike other interpreters, Feldshuh doesnot play Dolly as a Jewish widow, but rather emphasizes Dolly's Irish Catholic roots. If the interpretation is surprising, it is certainly inspired. By Paulanne Simmons. Field of Broken Dreams Back in the 1960s and throughout much of Irish history human beings starved when they had no land. This accounts for how fiercely many people fought to acquire and retain whatever holdings they needed to survive. But there's much more than mere acquisitiveness, or even greed, behind John B. Keane's "The Field," now in revival at The Irish Repertory Theatre. By Paulanne Simmons. Barb Jungr Performs a Tender Tribute to the King In "Love Me Tender," chanteuse Barb Jungr gives her own brilliant interpretations, not only to Elvis favorites like "In the Ghetto" and "Love Me Tender," but also lesser known songs like "Tomorrow Is a Long Time," written for him by Bob Dylan. By Paulanne Simmons.   2006 Festival-Time North & West: Shakespeare & Shaw! Shakespeare Festivals North by Northwest: Stratford-Canada & Ashland-Oregon, Bernard Shaw Celebrated in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Toronto Lord of the Rings Sings!, Arms & the Man: Chocolate-Time!, Colm Feore's Curious Coriolanus, Nightmare-Gothic Duchess of Malfi, Bryan Bedford's Foppish London Assurance, Colm Feore's Creepy Fagin in Oliver!, Much Ado Benedick Old Enough To Be Beatrice's Dad, Marvelous Marco as Oregon Cyrano, OSF's Bus Stop: Greyhound Doesn't Stop in Ashland Anymore, Merry Wives Reduced To Broad Buffoonery, Betrayals in Milan: Two-Timer in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Arthur Miller's Crucible Witch-hunts Still Resonate, High Society: Cole Porter & Philip Barry No Blend, Magic Fire in Peronista Argentina, Ashland Earnest Better than BAM Redgrave Import, Anne Frank in Ashland, Portland: New Theatre, New Season, Back in NYC: LaBute's Some Girl(s) at the Lortel Is Some Play, Kotis' Pig Farm More Bloody Fun than Inishmore!, Greenberg's House in Town Set on Millionaire's Row, Frank Wedekind Sings at the Atlantic, Central Park Woods Come To Dunsinane in Delacorte Macbeth. By Glenn Loney.     "Pig Farm" Goes Hog Wild on Some Sacred Sows Greg Kotis and John Rando, the creative team behind "Urinetown," have switched from one kind of bathroom activity to another with "Pig Farm," an uproarious farce about the perils of fecal sludge. By Paulanne Simmons. There's a Lot Going on in "Nothing" Set in the years following World War II when wealthy Brits had lost much of their money but none of their manners, "Nothing" stars Sophie Ward as the pampered and acidic Jane Wetherby and Simon Dutton as her ex-lover, John Pomeret. By Paulanne Simmons. Susan Gets Religion and the Mint Gets It Right Although "Susan and God" is almost seventy years old, the Mint Theater's revival under the lively direction of the company's artistic director, Jonathan Bank, is as fresh and pertinent as if it had been written yesterday. By Paulanne Simmons. Zoe's Dream: Cirque du Soleil Like other Cirque du Soleil productions, "Quidam" [pronounced Key Dam] -- which is playing through Aug. 13 in downtown Philadelphia, an easy daytrip from New York -- is a gravity-defying treat. It overflows with acrobatic wonders and surrealistic images that feel more like a journey through a dream than a visit to the circus. By Glenda Frank.   "Manhattan Madcaps of 1924" Is a Delicious Bite of The Big Apple Summer Stock on Broadway begins its first season at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space with the least known work of one of America's best known musical teams: Rodgers and Hart's "Manhattan Madcaps of 1924." By Paulanne Simmons. Fields of Dreams God has been a hot topic on Broadway, and now in this slow July, off-Broadway brings us two remarkable plays about religion, love and survival. At Playwrights Horizons, Keith Bunin in "The Busy World is Hushed" goes where few playwrights dare to tread, and at the Irish Repertory Theatre, "The Field," by John B. Keane, whose first hit dates back to 1959, is enjoying posthumous success. You don't have to have faith to find these dramas good theatre. In fact, these productions may work even better if you don't.   Talking and Singing About Tina Tina Turner's life has been filled with music and dance, and Gabrielle Lansner's tribute to the R&B icon, "River Deep," is gloriously filled with both. By Paulanne Simmons. It's a Grimy Business If writing good and somewhat clever lines were all it took to create a biting and entertaining satire, Roger Kirby's "Burleigh Grime$" would be right up there. But good satires also require intelligent thinking, a plot that makes some sense and characters who elicit at least a modicum of interest. "Burleigh Grime$,"unfortunately, is lacking in these essentials. By Paulanne Simmons. The Charge of the Guilt Brigade "The Unmentionables," Bruce Norris's new play now in its world premiere at Steppenwolf, stages a confrontation between well-meaning, educated American citizens and a fictional African government fueled by torture, nepotism, and the systematic maintenance of a permanent underclass. By Dorothy Chansky. Norway Meets New York "deathvariatons" and "Rosmersholm," the two plays that comprise the "Norway Meets New York" double bill now at 59E59 Theaters, have several things in common. They are both translations of work written by Norwegian playwrights (Henrik Ibsen, who is considered Norway's greatest playwright and the father of modern drama, wrote "Rosmersholm," and Jon Fosse, Norway's pre-eminent contemporary playwright, wrote "deathvariations"). They are both presented by Oslo Elsewhere in new translations ("deathvariations"is translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde and "Rosmersholm" is translated by Anna Guttormsgaard). They both ask the question, is fate inescapable, or do we create our own? But the similarity ends here. By Paulanne Simmons. One Life with too Much Talk In "Anais Nin-One of her Lives," Henry is married to June but is in love with Anais. Anais is married to Hugo but is in love with Henry, as well as his wife, June. June is, well, she's bad news for everyone. By Paulanne Simmons. There's a Lot to Like in "As You Like It" ThedrillingCompaNY's latest Shakespeare in the Parking Lot presentation, "As You Like It," may not have the costumes, lighting and setting seen in Central Park and the Brooklyn Academy of Music not too long ago, but it may be one of the most original and at the same time faithful interpretations of the Bard you'll ever see.By Paulanne Simmons. "Everything Turning Into Beautiful Goes Nowhere" "Everythings Turning Into Beautiful" is about two lonely songwriting partners, Brenda (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and Sam (Malik Yoba). They both have had limited success in their careers and almost no success in their love life. By Paulanne Simmons. "A Stove Carver" Has Good Material but Doesn't Cut Deep Enough Although Mastrosimone could easily have turned "A Stone Carver" into a political statement, he is far more interested in the relationship, past and present, of father and son than in the plight of individuals who get in the way of the government. By Paulanne Simmons.   "Four Plays" Gender Identity Issues of the 21st Century Diversity can mean many things. For Diverse City Theatre Company's Equality Playwright's Festival, it means "gender identity issues of the 21st century." The festival at Theatre Row presents four commissioned one-act plays about sexual orientations that conflict with the dominant culture. By Paulanne Simmons. "Marco Millions (based on lies)" It's hard to associate the brilliant but dour Eugene O'Neill with the high jinks and soft-shoe routines in "Marco Millions (based on lies)," now at the Lion Theatre, but the clever, laugh-out-loud production by the new Waterwell theatre company is surprisingly true to the text of one of the playwright's rarely staged satires. By Glenda Frank. "Barbara's Blue Kitchen"Is Bitter-Sweet and Delicious Ever wonder what's behind those long-suffering lyrics in country songs? The answer to that question and much more is revealed in Lori Fischer's "Barbara's Blue Kitchen," at the Lamb's until Sept. 30. By Paulanne Simmons. Topless Dancer seeking Love and Fame Carmen Barika's "XXXOTIKA"at the Daryl Roth Theatre is a mix of her current New Orleans refugee autobiography and the world of cabaret artists seeking fame and fortune on the silver screen.. Her new offering for this year's NY Fringe Fest is unique, exotic and tantilizingly sexy. By Larry Litt. There's New Blood in a Tender Theme "Indian Blood" by A.R. Gurney at 59E59 Theaters is a quiet play, written with overwhelming tenderness. It is superbly acted and masterfully directed. By Paulanne Simmons.   "Just a sing sing Song" August/September musicals, part 2: "Shout!" For those who want to take a short walk down memory lane to revisit the music and the changing lives of women in the 1960s, the unpretentious "Shout!" is a pleasure. By Glenda Frank. "Just a singsing Song" August musicals, part 1: "[title of show]" "[title of show]" falls into the genre of backstage musical, and is most similar to "A Chorus Line." Two very appealing guys with different approaches to work are ambling toward a collaborative musical -- until word of a fringe festival comes along. By Glenda Frank. America /Seen Through Irish Eyes Like so many plays by and about the Irish, "Mr. Dooley's America," in revival at The Irish Repertory Theatre, is set in a bar. Only this time the bar and the bartender were not created by playwrights Philip Dunne and Martin Blaine. They were the brainchild of the Chicago newspaperman Finely Peter Dunne. By Paulanne Simmons. "Gutenberg! The Musical!" Is a New Take on an Old Type How wonderful! As the summer theater festivals wind down and Broadway gets into gear, along comes a musical that makes a perfectly marvelous bridge between seasons. "Gutenberg! The Musical!" By Paulanne Simmons. Matthew Burnett Channels Thornton Wilder in "Theophilus North" Thornton Wilder was one of the few writers equally at home in drama and narrative fiction. His final, semi-autobiographical novel, "Theophilus North" is currently bridging both genres in Matthew Burnett's similarly titled stage adaptation presented by Keen Company and directed by the estimable Carl Forsman. By Paulanne Simmons. A Tale of Two Sisters In two brilliant monologues, Anna Manahan lays out the case for each of the sisters, Martha and Mary, who like their biblical counterparts, represent bitter resentment and uncomplaining generosity of spirit. By Paulanne Simmons. "John Ferguson" Is Not Worth the Mint John Ferguson (Robertson Carricart) is a poor farmer whose ill health has forced him to entrust the running of the farm to his young son, Andrew (Justin Schultz). Despite his bad luck, however, his faith in God remains unshaken. He is convinced "Joy cometh in the morning." By Paulanne Simmons. "The Persians" A Nation In Defeat The National Theatre of Greece has brought American audiences a rare treat: six performances of the neglected "The Persians" by Aeschylus in (modern) Greek. The production is stunning, but, like opera, it makes demands on the viewer. Watching it, it is difficult not to hear criticism of the American presence in the Middle East. Iran, not Iraq of course, is the contemporary name for Persia, but there is a decided spill-over effect. By Glenda Frank. Camping Out With Camille Camille O'Sullivan performs with remarkable gusto, throwing herself into each song emotionally and physically. By Paulanne Simmons. "Miles to Babylon" Is a Moving, Sometimes Amusing, Journey "Miles to Babylon" is Ann Harson's imagined account of what happened to Ella O'Neill, mother of playwright Eugene O'Neill, at the convent where, in fact, she did rid herself of her habit. By Paulanne Simmons.   "The Wild Duck" Lands in Brooklyn In the United States, Henrik Ibsen is best known for "A Doll's House," "An Enemy of the People" and "Hedda Gabler." But in his own country, Norway, "The Wild Duck" is one of the playwright's most cherished plays. In fact, it was the challenge of rediscovering the play and upsetting many people's preconceived ideas about it that led Eirik Stubø, artistic director of the National Theatre of Norway, to stage his own production of the play. This production will be coming to BAM's Harvey Theater October 25. By Paulanne Simmons. Bush Bashing at It Best Nancy Holson and Jay Falzone's "Bush Wars: Musical Revenge," is clever, engaging and often to the point. By Paulanne Simmons. Jay Johnson's Puppets Will Make You Laugh and Touch Your Heart "Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!" is much more than a razzle-dazzle display of virtuoso voice throwing and puppet manipulation. Johnson's puppets are so human they put Pinocchio to shame. By Paulanne Simmons. They'll be Coming to the Cabaret… Again Last year Town Hall produced its first Broadway Cabaret Festival, written and hosted by Scott Siegel, the creator of Town Hall's long-running series, Broadway by the Year. This year they're doing it again. By Paulanne Simmons. "Bush Is Bad"-Impeachment Edition We went to the opening of "Bush Is Bad"—Impeachment Edition on Oct 28th. Seeing this updated version of Joshua Rosenblum's political cabaret at the Triad Theater on West 72nd Street convinces me that not every political idealist should or could be a progressive blogger. By Larry Litt.   "Post Mortem" Dies in Second Act A. R. Gurney wrote "Post Mortem," the fourth world premiere of a Gurney play at The Flea, with the premise that neither the political right nor left has the answer to the problems that plague America today. By Paulanne Simmons. "Woyzeck" -- Two Views Paulanne Simmons and Philippa Wehle agree that "Woyzeck," from London's Gate Theatre, combines irony and sincerity, comedy and tragedy, ambiguity and clarity. Adapted and directed by 29 year-old American Daniel Kramer and brilliantly performed by an outstanding cast, it is not to be missed, our mavens say.     The Doctors Are In, The Patients Are Way Out: Two Plays, One Ailment French medical practices and patients expose themselves on New York stages in Novemeber and December with Resonance Ensemble's all-female revival of Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" and a new multi-media examination of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot's treatment of women's hysteria, "Some Historic/Some Hysteric," from the New Stage Theatre Company. If you think American health care is in a major crisis just wait till you see these plays. By Larry Litt. Girl Gone Mild After a tempest in a teapot over whether this play could or would open in the United States in light of its pro-Palestinian sympathies, "My Name is Rachel Corrie" emerges as an engaging one-woman show most remarkable for the brave idealist whose life it presents. By Dorothy Chansky. "Miss Brodie" Is Still in Its Prime The influence of good teachers has been celebrated in books and movies many times. The darker side of pedagogy is less frequently explored. But when it is, the result can be powerful. Witness "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." By Paulanne Simmons. "Twelfth Night"… the Russian Way Declan Donnellan's "Twelfth Night" is performed in Russian and bursts with Russian emotion and exuberance. Yet, this "Twelfth Night" seems to get at the heart of Shakespeare infinitely better than many more traditional productions. By Paulanne Simmons. "Mimi le Duck" Needs Less Splashing Around "Mimi le Duck" is a transatlantic fantasy starring the Broadway veteran and veteran seductress Eartha Kitt. By Paulanne Simmons. "Confessions of an Irish Rebel" Is Not for the Irish Only "Confessions of a Rebel" shows playwright, songwriter, novelist and IRA terrorist Brendan Behan working as a pimp in Harry's Bar in Paris while he writes pornography, holding forth in pubs, enduring life in prison and defying the British police. By Paulanne Simmons. Recapturing the Past in a Family Portrait "Portrait of a Stolen Spring" follows Chaja Zimmerman and Moses Kalter's lifetime journey, a journey filled with disappointment, tragedy, faith and love. By Paulanne Simmons. "Yohen" Finds Beauty in Imperfection In Japanese, the word "yohen" is a pottery term for an accident in the kiln producing a flaw in the coloration that may be ugly or beautiful, depending on how the viewer looks at it. In Philip Kan Gotanda's "Yohen," making its East Coast premiere at Pan Asian Repertory, the damaged object seems to the marriage of James (David Fonteno), an African American ex-GI and his Japanese wife, Sumi (Dian Kobayashi). By Paulanne Simmons. Mrs. Gold's Daughter Tells All Although "25 Questions for a Jewish Mother" is based on interviews with over fifty Jewish women of different ages, religious affiliations and occupations, the show seems mostly autobiographical. By Paulanne Simmons.   Irish Rep Revives an O'Neill Classic The Irish Repertory Theatre's fresh and compelling revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape" is directed by Ciaran O'Reilly (Irish Rep's "The Field") and stars Greg Derelian as the ill-fated coal stoker, Yank, whose search for a place where he can belong leads to his destruction. Two views by Paulanne Simmons and Glenda Frank. "Post Mortem" Dies in Second Act A. R. Gurney wrote "Post Mortem," the fourth world premiere of a Gurney play at The Flea, with the premise that neither the political right nor left has the answer to the problems that plague America today. By Paulanne Simmons. "Woyzeck" -- Two Views Paulanne Simmons and Philippa Wehle agree that "Woyzeck," from London's Gate Theatre, combines irony and sincerity, comedy and tragedy, ambiguity and clarity. Adapted and directed by 29 year-old American Daniel Kramer and brilliantly performed by an outstanding cast, it is not to be missed, our mavens say.   The Doctors Are In, The Patients Are Way Out: Two Plays, One Ailment French medical practices and patients expose themselves on New York stages in Novemeber and December with Resonance Ensemble's all-female revival of Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" and a new multi-media examination of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot's treatment of women's hysteria, "Some Historic/Some Hysteric," from the New Stage Theatre Company. If you think American health care is in a major crisis just wait till you see these plays. By Larry Litt. Girl Gone Mild After a tempest in a teapot over whether this play could or would open in the United States in light of its pro-Palestinian sympathies, "My Name is Rachel Corrie" emerges as an engaging one-woman show most remarkable for the brave idealist whose life it presents. By Dorothy Chansky. "Miss Brodie" Is Still in Its Prime The influence of good teachers has been celebrated in books and movies many times. The darker side of pedagogy is less frequently explored. But when it is, the result can be powerful. Witness "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." By Paulanne Simmons. "Twelfth Night." Photo by Richard Termine. "Twelfth Night"… the Russian Way Declan Donnellan's "Twelfth Night" is performed in Russian and bursts with Russian emotion and exuberance. Yet, this "Twelfth Night" seems to get at the heart of Shakespeare infinitely better than many more traditional productions. By Paulanne Simmons. "Mimi le Duck" Needs Less Splashing Around "Mimi le Duck" is a transatlantic fantasy starring the Broadway veteran and veteran seductress Eartha Kitt. By Paulanne Simmons. "Confessions of an Irish Rebel" Is Not for the Irish Only "Confessions of a Rebel" shows playwright, songwriter, novelist and IRA terrorist Brendan Behan working as a pimp in Harry's Bar in Paris while he writes pornography, holding forth in pubs, enduring life in prison and defying the British police. By Paulanne Simmons. Recapturing the Past in a Family Portrait "Portrait of a Stolen Spring" follows Chaja Zimmerman and Moses Kalter's lifetime journey, a journey filled with disappointment, tragedy, faith and love. By Paulanne Simmons. "Yohen" Finds Beauty in Imperfection In Japanese, the word "yohen" is a pottery term for an accident in the kiln producing a flaw in the coloration that may be ugly or beautiful, depending on how the viewer looks at it. In Philip Kan Gotanda's "Yohen," making its East Coast premiere at Pan Asian Repertory, the damaged object seems to the marriage of James (David Fonteno), an African American ex-GI and his Japanese wife, Sumi (Dian Kobayashi). By Paulanne Simmons. Mrs. Gold's Daughter Tells All Although "25 Questions for a Jewish Mother" is based on interviews with over fifty Jewish women of different ages, religious affiliations and occupations, the show seems mostly autobiographical. By Paulanne Simmons.   Irish Rep Revives an O'Neill Classic The Irish Repertory Theatre's fresh and compelling revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Hairy Ape" is directed by Ciaran O'Reilly (Irish Rep's "The Field") and stars Greg Derelian as the ill-fated coal stoker, Yank, whose search for a place where he can belong leads to his destruction. Two views by Paulanne Simmons and Glenda Frank. Sweet Music "Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky" is about a has-been alcoholic country and western singer who is living in his dilapidated car when he meets a talented and eager young lady who wants to make it big. By Paulanne Simmons. Barb Jungr Come Back to 59E59 Theaters British songstress Barb Jungr, last seen at 59E59 Theaters this past summer in the Brits Off-Broadway festival, will kick off the theaters' jazz cabaret series on Dec. 5 with a selection of songs she calls "inspired" from all five of her Linn CDs. By Paulanne Simmons. It Takes One to Know One: Attorney Henry Miller on Clarence Darrow We've all heard about actors who moonlight as bartenders and waiters. Henry Miller is an actor who moonlights as a lawyer, or perhaps a lawyer who moonlights as an actor. Previous work includes "James Joyce Comes Home" and "Alger: a Story." But it is in his current one-man show, "All Too Human: An Evening with Clarence Darrow," that Miller makes use of both his acting and trial skills. By Paulanne Simmons. "School for Wives" Gets and A Moliere's "School for Wives" was written only a few months after the playwright married Armande Bejart, a young actress who was nearly twenty-five years his junior. By all accounts, the marriage was not a happy one. Many believe it was the hard-earned lessons Moliere learned living with Bejart which formed the basis of the 1662 comedy. By Paulanne Simmons. "Regrets Only" Even before the play begins, the seven entrances in the elegant penthouse set by Michael Yeargan at Manhattan Theatre Club announce that "Regrets Only," the latest comedy by Paul Rudnick ("Jeffrey"), is likely to be a farce. And sure enough, as the doorbell rings, Myra Kesselman (Jackie Hoffman) enters, a proper enough maid in a black and white uniform. She greets Hank Hadley (George Grizzard) , THE famous designer and old friend of the McCullough family, with a monologue in brogue, packed with a dozen Irish clichés. By Glenda Frank. Evil Laughter I have to admit, I would most likely never have seen "Evil Dead the Musical" if my husband and son had not insisted on it. I thought that, like the movie, the musical based on it would probably be gross, infantile and crude. In fact it was. But "Evil Dead the Musical" was also clever, quick and often extremely entertaining. By Paulanne Simmons. "Death in Vacant Lot!" "Death in Vacant Lot!," an intriguing new performance piece combining choreography, tanka poetry, live and pre-recorded electric and acoustic music and performance, was presented recently at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Space by The South Wing, an international theater company, founded by Kameron Steele and Ivana Catanese in 2003. Co-produced with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the work was a musical stage translation and adaptation of Terayama Shugi's landmark 1974 film, Death in the Field. This young, very promising theater company showed excellent ensemble work and the fine direction, writes Philippa Wehle. Sweet Music "Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky" is about a has-been alcoholic country and western singer who is living in his dilapidated car when he meets a talented and eager young lady who wants to make it big. By Paulanne Simmons. Barb Jungr Come Back to 59E59 Theaters British songstress Barb Jungr, last seen at 59E59 Theaters this past summer in the Brits Off-Broadway festival, will kick off the theaters' jazz cabaret series on Dec. 5 with a selection of songs she calls "inspired" from all five of her Linn CDs. By Paulanne Simmons. It Takes One to Know One: Attorney Henry Miller on Clarence Darrow We've all heard about actors who moonlight as bartenders and waiters. Henry Miller is an actor who moonlights as a lawyer, or perhaps a lawyer who moonlights as an actor. Previous work includes "James Joyce Comes Home" and "Alger: a Story." But it is in his current one-man show, "All Too Human: An Evening with Clarence Darrow," that Miller makes use of both his acting and trial skills. By Paulanne Simmons. "School for Wives" Gets and A Moliere's "School for Wives" was written only a few months after the playwright married Armande Bejart, a young actress who was nearly twenty-five years his junior. By all accounts, the marriage was not a happy one. Many believe it was the hard-earned lessons Moliere learned living with Bejart which formed the basis of the 1662 comedy. By Paulanne Simmons. "Regrets Only" Even before the play begins, the seven entrances in the elegant penthouse set by Michael Yeargan at Manhattan Theatre Club announce that "Regrets Only," the latest comedy by Paul Rudnick ("Jeffrey"), is likely to be a farce. And sure enough, as the doorbell rings, Myra Kesselman (Jackie Hoffman) enters, a proper enough maid in a black and white uniform. She greets Hank Hadley (George Grizzard) , THE famous designer and old friend of the McCullough family, with a monologue in brogue, packed with a dozen Irish clichés. By Glenda Frank. Evil Laughter I have to admit, I would most likely never have seen "Evil Dead the Musical" if my husband and son had not insisted on it. I thought that, like the movie, the musical based on it would probably be gross, infantile and crude. In fact it was. But "Evil Dead the Musical" was also clever, quick and often extremely entertaining. By Paulanne Simmons. "Death in Vacant Lot!" "Death in Vacant Lot!," an intriguing new performance piece combining choreography, tanka poetry, live and pre-recorded electric and acoustic music and performance, was presented recently at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Space by The South Wing, an international theater company, founded by Kameron Steele and Ivana Catanese in 2003. Co-produced with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the work was a musical stage translation and adaptation of Terayama Shugi's landmark 1974 film, Death in the Field. This young, very promising theater company showed excellent ensemble work and the fine direction, writes Philippa Wehle. My Children! My Africa! Athol Fugard's cri de coeur from the midst of the 1980s South African student protests against apartheid rings loud and clear in Blanka Zizka's spare, intense production of "My Children! My Africa!". Much of the text is undisguised didacticism, but Glynn Turman's performance as the joyous and upright schoolmaster who fights sexism and racism with a love of youth, books, and words, is as good as acting gets. By Dorothy Chansky. "Becoming Adele" Comes Close But No Cigar "Becoming Adele," takes place on the rooftop of Adele Scabaglio's Manhattan apartment. The roof is her refuge and her stage. It is here that she comes to share her anxieties and dreams with the audience. By Paulanne Simmons. "Meet Me in St. Louis" "Meet Me in St. Louis," directed by The Irish Rep's artistic director, Charlotte Moore, is a love story times four. By Paulanne Simmons. Five Playwrights take on a Famous Poem In celebration of the Christmas Season, The Flea Theater commissioned five playwrights, Christopher Durang, Roger Rosenblatt, Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin and Elizabeth Swados, to create short works based on Clement Clark Moore's famous poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." By Paulanne Simmons. This "Oak Tree" Is Hollow As a reviewer I see many shows, Broadway, off-Broadway and off off-Broadway. But I have seldom had as unpleasant an evening as I did on December 16 when I saw "An Oak Tree" at the Barrow Street Theatre. By Paulanne Simmons. "Home" In, "Home," a gem of a play about class in England, the story is played out by inhabitants of a mental asylum. Two different views by Lucy Komisar and Paulanne Simmons. "Argonautika: The Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts" Greek myths always offer food for thought. In auteur Mary Zimmerman's hands they are also feasts for the eye and monuments to the imagination. Lookingglass Theatre's "Argonautika" stages Jason's quest for the golden fleece complete with hiphop, puppets, acrobatic skills, a mylar lake, flying and floating goddesses, and irresistible group storytelling. It begins with whimsy, ends with heartache, and frankly makes one wonder why all theatre can't be this inventive. Part of Zimmerman's genius is to make it look easy. By Dorothy Chansky. Kids Show Their Strength in "Power of Ten: Plays that Count" Now in its 25th year, the 52nd Street Project brings together kids from Hell's Kitchen with theater professionals to create original work. Youngsters write plays by themselves and with their mentors in after-school programs and during the summer. The fruits of this labor can be seen at The Public Theater, where the fall 2006 show, "Power of Ten: Plays that Count" will be presented Dec. 8, 9 and 10. By Paulanne Simmons. "High Fidelity" Scores High In a Broadway season that's offering more than the usual number of revivals of varying quality, "High Fidelity" may be the big winner and the musical to see this year. The reasons are many: the music, the lyrics, the direction, the acting. By Paulanne Simmons. My Children! My Africa! Athol Fugard's cri de coeur from the midst of the 1980s South African student protests against apartheid rings loud and clear in Blanka Zizka's spare, intense production of "My Children! My Africa!". Much of the text is undisguised didacticism, but Glynn Turman's performance as the joyous and upright schoolmaster who fights sexism and racism with a love of youth, books, and words, is as good as acting gets. By Dorothy Chansky. "Becoming Adele" Comes Close But No Cigar "Becoming Adele," takes place on the rooftop of Adele Scabaglio's Manhattan apartment. The roof is her refuge and her stage. It is here that she comes to share her anxieties and dreams with the audience. By Paulanne Simmons. "Meet Me in St. Louis" "Meet Me in St. Louis," directed by The Irish Rep's artistic director, Charlotte Moore, is a love story times four. By Paulanne Simmons. Five Playwrights take on a Famous Poem In celebration of the Christmas Season, The Flea Theater commissioned five playwrights, Christopher Durang, Roger Rosenblatt, Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin and Elizabeth Swados, to create short works based on Clement Clark Moore's famous poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." By Paulanne Simmons. This "Oak Tree" Is Hollow As a reviewer I see many shows, Broadway, off-Broadway and off off-Broadway. But I have seldom had as unpleasant an evening as I did on December 16 when I saw "An Oak Tree" at the Barrow Street Theatre. By Paulanne Simmons. "Home" In, "Home," a gem of a play about class in England, the story is played out by inhabitants of a mental asylum. Two different views by Lucy Komisar and Paulanne Simmons. "Argonautika: The Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts" Greek myths always offer food for thought. In auteur Mary Zimmerman's hands they are also feasts for the eye and monuments to the imagination. Lookingglass Theatre's "Argonautika" stages Jason's quest for the golden fleece complete with hiphop, puppets, acrobatic skills, a mylar lake, flying and floating goddesses, and irresistible group storytelling. It begins with whimsy, ends with heartache, and frankly makes one wonder why all theatre can't be this inventive. Part of Zimmerman's genius is to make it look easy. By Dorothy Chansky. Kids Show Their Strength in "Power of Ten: Plays that Count" Now in its 25th year, the 52nd Street Project brings together kids from Hell's Kitchen with theater professionals to create original work. Youngsters write plays by themselves and with their mentors in after-school programs and during the summer. The fruits of this labor can be seen at The Public Theater, where the fall 2006 show, "Power of Ten: Plays that Count" will be presented Dec. 8, 9 and 10. By Paulanne Simmons. "High Fidelity" Scores High In a Broadway season that's offering more than the usual number of revivals of varying quality, "High Fidelity" may be the big winner and the musical to see this year. The reasons are many: the music, the lyrics, the direction, the acting. By Paulanne Simmons. My Children! My Africa! Athol Fugard's cri de coeur from the midst of the 1980s South African student protests against apartheid rings loud and clear in Blanka Zizka's spare, intense production of "My Children! My Africa!". Much of the text is undisguised didacticism, but Glynn Turman's performance as the joyous and upright schoolmaster who fights sexism and racism with a love of youth, books, and words, is as good as acting gets. By Dorothy Chansky. "Becoming Adele" Comes Close But No Cigar "Becoming Adele," takes place on the rooftop of Adele Scabaglio's Manhattan apartment. The roof is her refuge and her stage. It is here that she comes to share her anxieties and dreams with the audience. By Paulanne Simmons. "Meet Me in St. Louis" "Meet Me in St. Louis," directed by The Irish Rep's artistic director, Charlotte Moore, is a love story times four. By Paulanne Simmons. Five Playwrights take on a Famous Poem In celebration of the Christmas Season, The Flea Theater commissioned five playwrights, Christopher Durang, Roger Rosenblatt, Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin and Elizabeth Swados, to create short works based on Clement Clark Moore's famous poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." By Paulanne Simmons. This "Oak Tree" Is Hollow As a reviewer I see many shows, Broadway, off-Broadway and off off-Broadway. But I have seldom had as unpleasant an evening as I did on December 16 when I saw "An Oak Tree" at the Barrow Street Theatre. By Paulanne Simmons. "Home" In, "Home," a gem of a play about class in England, the story is played out by inhabitants of a mental asylum. Two different views by Lucy Komisar and Paulanne Simmons. "Argonautika: The Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts" Greek myths always offer food for thought. In auteur Mary Zimmerman's hands they are also feasts for the eye and monuments to the imagination. Lookingglass Theatre's "Argonautika" stages Jason's quest for the golden fleece complete with hiphop, puppets, acrobatic skills, a mylar lake, flying and floating goddesses, and irresistible group storytelling. It begins with whimsy, ends with heartache, and frankly makes one wonder why all theatre can't be this inventive. Part of Zimmerman's genius is to make it look easy. By Dorothy Chansky. Kids Show Their Strength in "Power of Ten: Plays that Count" Now in its 25th year, the 52nd Street Project brings together kids from Hell's Kitchen with theater professionals to create original work. Youngsters write plays by themselves and with their mentors in after-school programs and during the summer. The fruits of this labor can be seen at The Public Theater, where the fall 2006 show, "Power of Ten: Plays that Count" will be presented Dec. 8, 9 and 10. By Paulanne Simmons. "High Fidelity" Scores High In a Broadway season that's offering more than the usual number of revivals of varying quality, "High Fidelity" may be the big winner and the musical to see this year. The reasons are many: the music, the lyrics, the direction, the acting. By Paulanne Simmons. The Burial at Thebes The La MaMa production of "Burial at Thebes" by Seamus Heaney, directed by Alexander Harrington, attracted both Ellen W. Lytle and Paulanne Simmons to review. Lytle praised the production, writing "Alexander Harrington and poet/playwright Seamus Heaney make a marvelous match." Simmons called Heaney's version of Sophocles' message "every bit as up-to-date and pertinent as if it had been written yesterday." By Paulanne Simmons & Ellen W. Lytle. A Spanish Play For a decade, teams of exceptional American actors have been assembled to bring French-writer Yasmina Reza's New York audiences. "Art" (1998), starring Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina, received Tony and Drama Desk awards for best play and ran for almost two years. John Turturro, Linda Emond, Helen Hunt and Brent Spiner starred in "Life (x) 3." "A Spanish Play," now at CSC, is another role call of talent. Under the adept direction of John Turturro, Zoe Caldwell (four-time Tony winner). Katherine Borowitz ("Illuminata"), Linda Emond ("Homebody/Kabul"), Denis O'Hare ("Take Me Out"), and Larry Pine ("Stuff Happens") realize some of their finest performances. By Glenda Frank. Reconsidering Shortnin' Bread Michelle Matlock deconstructs Aunt Jemima in this smart, surprising, funny, and informative look at the stereotype that won't die. Aided by film clips, songs, knickknacks, and a commanding voice, Matlock is an assured but humble guide. And if you knew that the prototype for Aunt Jemima was a white man in drag (blacked up as part of a minstrel show circa 1890), go to the head of the class. By Dorothy Chansky. "Must Don't Whip 'Um" Is an Edgy Triumph "Must Don't Whip 'Um," now at St. Ann's Warehouse, is part documentary, part concert, part memoir. In the show, Mary Fern, the narrator, revisits the last concert her mother, singer Cameron Seymour, gave before she disappeared. By Paulanne Simmons.   Alfred Jarry Meets William Shakespeare in "The Polish Play" With the help of puppets ranging from miniature marionettes to grotesque Grand Guignol, and the clever and comic sound effects Bart Fasbender creates onstage, "The Polish Play" tells the story of the idiot tyrant Pere Ubu. By Paulanne Simmons.   "Toys in the Attic" Is Masterful But Mild " Toys in the Attic" presents 24 hours in the life of a New Orleans family, the proud and poor Berniers. Anna (Robin Leslie Brown) is the older, wiser and more cynical sister. Carrie (Rachel Botchan) is younger and seemingly more innocent, until it becomes apparent that she harbors a not very sisterly longing for her brother Julian (Sean McNall). By Paulanne Simmons. The Magic Flute Julie Taymor's staging and direction of "The Magic Flute" ("Die Zauberflote") is exquisitely beautiful -- as if she had discovered how to translate Mozart's phrases into movement, shape and lighting. Following the lead of innovators like Peter Sellars in his contemporary staging of Mozart's Da Ponte trio, Taymor insists that opera too is theatre. In her hands, the collaborative arts – costumes, set, choreography, acting – interpret and enhance the power of score and libretto. By Glenda Frank. The Country Wife The deviousness of Harry Horner, a womanizing seducer extraordinaire, is the basis for all romantic sex comedies since The Country Wife's fIrst performance in 1675. Watching and laughing at HonKBarK!'s brilliantly energetic full dress production, I was reminded of why romantic comedies from Hollywood almost never make me laugh. Sighs of recognition and frustration yes. Side splitting guffaws, no. By Larry Litt. Todd Conner Channels Ovid Todd Conner's "Metamorphoses" starts with the creation, goes on to the deluge and the recreation of the world, and concludes with the myths of Phoebus and Daphne, Actaeon, Ceres and Persephone, and Orpheus and Eurydice. By Paulanne Simmons. Puppets with a Purpose "The Rapture Project" is an ironic look at fundamentalism as it is practiced by Muslims, Christians and Jews in the United States today. The show takes audiences from a Creationist tour of the Grand Canyon to the Hassidim in Brooklyn, and from Muslim squatter punks in Buffalo to an oil rig in Houston. By Paulanne Simmons.   I'll Be Seeing You…Love Songs of World War II ''I'll Be Seeing You…Love Songs of World War II.'' by Andrea Marcovicci will include the songs of Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer and Jule Styne, the songs ''people are yearning for.'' By Paulanne Simmons. Translations The Manhattan Theater Club's revival of Brian Friel's 1980 play ''Translations'' is a stunning and moody production that examines the use of language to bond and to divide in both a personal and a political sense. It also becomes a symbol of patriotism and conscience as it plays into the conflicts and connections among the occupied and the occupiers in Ireland in 1833. The play is beautifully staged by Irish director Garry Hynes with a sympathy that extends to people on all sides in that quarrel. By Lucy Komisar and Margareth Croyden. Hattie McDaniel Tells Her Story ''(mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story,'' part of Emerging Artists Theatre's second annual Triple Threat, is a one-woman show written by Joan Ross Sorkin and performed by Broadway star Capathia Jenkins. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Adrift in Macao'' Theatergoers used to Christopher Durang's dark comedies will see another side of the playwright in his new venture, a collaboration with composer Peter Melnick in a highly enjoyable parody of film noir, ''Adrift in Macao.'' By Paulanne Simmons. ''The Frugal Repast'' Ron Hirsen's ''The Frugal Repast'' is a debate about art and society, and as such it is a play of ideas. But seldom is such a play as light, lively and interesting as Hirsen's. By Paulanne Simmons. ''The Vagina Monologues'' Growing up I never liked the word 'vagina' , none of us did! In fact it wasn't until I saw the original Vagina Monologues (with Audra McDonald) that I was even slightly comfortable with the term. That was about eight years ago. Still, not particularly liking the play, but afterwards hurrying down 42nd street towards a subway on a frigid evening in 1999, I suddenly recognized what a ground breaking piece of work Eve Ensler had created. The Vagina Monologues eight years later, directed by Larry Waxman and produced by Nicole Cicerani and Ushma Pandya. A review by Ellen W. Lytle. ''The Cave Dwellers'' ''The Cave Dwellers'' features Carol Schultz as ''The Queen,'' a washed-up actress who sleeps away what's left of her life; Robert Hock as ''The King,'' a former clown in a sad state; and Marcus Naylor as ''The Duke,'' a prizefighter who was defeated in the ring because he was afraid of hurting his opponent. The dilapidated theater they live in (set design is by Harry Feiner) evokes the worn-out, hopeless state of the people who have made it their home. By Paulanne Simmons. When Bill Met Bob A play about the two hopeless drunks who founded Alcoholics Anonymous is an intriguing idea and it could have been quirky, moving or hilarious. ''Bill W. and Dr. Bob,'' is having its off-Broadway premiere at New World Stages. Paulanne Simmons assesses the realisation by Rick Lombardo. ''Journey's End'' R.C. Sherriff claimed ''Journey's End'' was inspired by the men who had served with him in the 9th East Surrey Regiment on the Western Front during World War I. He insisted it was not an anti-war play. London audiences who saw ''Journey's End'' first at the Apollo Theatre in Nov. 1928 and a few weeks later at the Savoy Theatre, thought differently, and so it will be with this latest production, which comes to New York City from London, just when we need it most. By Paulanne Simmons   Sealed for Freshnes Doug Stone's ''Sealed for Freshness'' is dedicated to all those desperate housewives of the sixties whose emotional and sexual energy was funneled into that gala social event of the season, the Tupperware party. Stone, who also directs, presents five women in his over-the-top comedy of female frustration. By Paulanne Simmons. La Vie Noir This is a play about adults, for adults, and surprisingly in this age of youth worship by an adult mind. It's wit and word play, lack of youthful angst and multilayered characterizations create an evening of mature delight. Neu subtly asks existential questions such as: are there lessons we can actually use from our love affair with Hollywood? Are some of us physically and psychically trapped in dialogues with characters from our favorites movies. By Larry Litt. ''The Vagina Monologues'' Growing up I never liked the word 'vagina' , none of us did! In fact it wasn't until I saw the original Vagina Monologues (with Audra McDonald) that I was even slightly comfortable with the term. That was about eight years ago. Still, not particularly liking the play, but afterwards hurrying down 42nd street towards a subway on a frigid evening in 1999, I suddenly recognized what a ground breaking piece of work Eve Ensler had created. The Vagina Monologues eight years later, directed by Larry Waxman and produced by Nicole Cicerani and Ushma Pandya. A review by Ellen W. Lytle. ''The Cave Dwellers'' ''The Cave Dwellers'' features Carol Schultz as ''The Queen,'' a washed-up actress who sleeps away what's left of her life; Robert Hock as ''The King,'' a former clown in a sad state; and Marcus Naylor as ''The Duke,'' a prizefighter who was defeated in the ring because he was afraid of hurting his opponent. The dilapidated theater they live in (set design is by Harry Feiner) evokes the worn-out, hopeless state of the people who have made it their home. By Paulanne Simmons. When Bill Met Bob A play about the two hopeless drunks who founded Alcoholics Anonymous is an intriguing idea and it could have been quirky, moving or hilarious. ''Bill W. and Dr. Bob,'' is having its off-Broadway premiere at New World Stages. Paulanne Simmons assesses the realisation by Rick Lombardo. ''Journey's End'' R.C. Sherriff claimed ''Journey's End'' was inspired by the men who had served with him in the 9th East Surrey Regiment on the Western Front during World War I. He insisted it was not an anti-war play. London audiences who saw ''Journey's End'' first at the Apollo Theatre in Nov. 1928 and a few weeks later at the Savoy Theatre, thought differently, and so it will be with this latest production, which comes to New York City from London, just when we need it most. By Paulanne Simmons   Sealed for Freshnes Doug Stone's ''Sealed for Freshness'' is dedicated to all those desperate housewives of the sixties whose emotional and sexual energy was funneled into that gala social event of the season, the Tupperware party. Stone, who also directs, presents five women in his over-the-top comedy of female frustration. By Paulanne Simmons. La Vie Noir This is a play about adults, for adults, and surprisingly in this age of youth worship by an adult mind. It's wit and word play, lack of youthful angst and multilayered characterizations create an evening of mature delight. Neu subtly asks existential questions such as: are there lessons we can actually use from our love affair with Hollywood? Are some of us physically and psychically trapped in dialogues with characters from our favorites movies. By Larry Litt.   ''Bouffon Glass Menajoree'' When commedia dell' arte walks arm-in-arm to mate with grand guignol then comes calling on that pathetic warhorse of a southern American white trash tragedy, "The Glass Menagerie," I need to see this perfect theatrical storm. In this version of The Glass Menagerie the cast of three actors have chosen to mega-supersize their characters' personnas. They succeed. By Larry Litt.   ''Tea and Sympathy'' When Robert Anderson's ''Tea and Sympathy'' was first performed at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1953, its explosive subject matter catapulted the playwright onto immediate fame. At that time, no one could have imagined how dated his play about coming of age and adolescent sexuality would become little over half a century later. By Paulanne Simmons. "Ruff Love or What You Will" Kings County Shakespeare Company's ''Taming of The Shrew,'' retitled ''Ruff Love,'' dilutes the anti-feminist message by turning Baptista, the girls' father, into the girls mother (ably played by Mary Lou Kylis), but otherwise leaving Shakespeare's comedy for the most part intact. There are no bells and whistles here, but with little else besides a wood-paneled stage and elegant Elizabethan attire, director Deborah Wright Houston creates the intimate atmosphere of a luxurious residence in Padua. At the end of this season, Houston will be retiring as artistic director of Kings County Shakespeare. She is certainly leaving in a theatrical blaze of glory. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Taming of the Shrew'' Modern directors can either present Shakespear's ''the Taming of the Shrew'' at face value and risk the wrath of modern audiences or employ a variety of techniques to mitigate the message. Edward Hall, whose all-male company, Propeller, has brought its version to BAM's Harvey Theater, turns the comedy into a fantastical burlesque that stresses the comedy but takes the punch out of the more problematic elements. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Five By Tenn'' The Tennessee Williams in ''Five By Tenn'' is not the same playwright made famous by Marlon Brando yelling ''Stella'' or the tender and tragic gentleman caller scene. It is a Williams he never seems to have wanted on stage. Perhaps it was a Williams he himself wanted to forget. By Paulanne Simmons.   ''Defender of the Faith'' Ciaran O'Reilly directs this ''Defender of the Fait'' with passion and compassion. The play begins with the two brothers, Danny (Matt Ball) and Thomas (Luke Kirby) playing an innocent game of make believe. Then their father (Anto Nolan) walks into the house, and with him comes the tension that builds and never lets up until the explosive ending. By Paulanne Simmons ''The Further Adventures of Uncle Wiggily: Windblown Visitors'' Crystal Field directs with her usually combination of puppets, masks and a multigenerational, multiracial cast as 35 men, women and children take the audience from hurricane devastated New Orleans to New York City and back again. Theater for the New City's street theater goes indoors for the winter with its staging of ''The Further Adventures of Uncle Wiggily: Windblown Visitors.'' Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons.   ''Katrina: Voices of the Lost'' A few days ago composer Michael Sahl and librettist/ poet Margaret Yard enjoyed a one- night- stand of their joint effort, ''Katrina: Voices of the Lost'' at The Flea Theater, 41 White Street, in Tribeca. The musical composition played by a ten piece orchestra with strains of discordant, a few disconnected, and many long threads of excitingly melodic brass and strings along with a very cool percussionist, was gorgeously conducted by the delicate force of Mary Rowell. By Ellen W. Lytle. ''The Pirate Queen'' ''The Pirate Queen,'' the long-awaited musical commissioned by ''Riverdream'' producers Moya Doherty and John MColgan and created by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, the duo behind ''Les Miserables'' and ''Miss Saigon,'' has arrived. By Paulanne Simmons.   ''Persephone'' Noah Haidle's ''Persephone'' considers what it is to be a timeless beauty as well as a reluctant witness. Mythical Demeter is a classically elegant statue who can talk. She travels from the sixteenth century studio where she was created to present-day New York. Divas and dealers meet vino and vermin as the words and moods ricochet and reverberate. Is there a dues ex machina in the house? By Dorothy Chansky. ''Blood and Rum'' The Nazis are back. And this time they're filled with rum and blood. Ian L. Gordon's new play, named for those same two evocative liquids, has a bit of ''Key Largo,'' some of ''African Quee'' and lots of ''Casablanca.'' By Paulanne Simmons. ''Rearviewmirror'' The theme of ''Rearviewmirror'' is the search for spiritual fulfillment. Penn is a wannabe screenwriter and film fanatic. He has a thing for orthodox Jewish girls. By Paulanne Simmons.   ''1918: A House Divided'' ''1918: A House Divided,'' with book and lyrics and direction by Barbara Kahn and score by Allison Tartalia, has treasures to be discovered: beautiful music, an excellent cast and a story that we can all understand and identify with in some way. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Talk Radio'' starring Liev Schreiber Everyone knows that Liev Schreiber is a good actor. He appeared in numerous movies, won Tonys and other acting awards, and is much in demand. Everyone in theater knows that Eric Bogosian's "Talk Radio" was produced by the Public Theater in 1987 when the great Joe Papp was running the place. Margareth Croyden ascertains how the two forces match in the current revival at the Longacre Theater.   ''Face the Music'' In 1933, Irving Berlin and Moss Hart's ''Face the Music'' closed and was lost to the American public for 75 years. This season it has been revised in a ''concert version'' for NY City Center's Encore! series under the light-stepping direction of John Rando. It is a stunning theatrical experience that gives a glimpse of the glory that was once Broadway. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Katrina: Voices of the Lost'' A few days ago composer Michael Sahl and librettist/ poet Margaret Yard enjoyed a one- night- stand of their joint effort, ''Katrina: Voices of the Lost'' at The Flea Theater, 41 White Street, in Tribeca. The musical composition played by a ten piece orchestra with strains of discordant, a few disconnected, and many long threads of excitingly melodic brass and strings along with a very cool percussionist, was gorgeously conducted by the delicate force of Mary Rowell. By Ellen W. Lytle. ''The Pirate Queen'' ''The Pirate Queen,'' the long-awaited musical commissioned by ''Riverdream'' producers Moya Doherty and John MColgan and created by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, the duo behind ''Les Miserables'' and ''Miss Saigon,'' has arrived. By Paulanne Simmons.   ''Persephone'' Noah Haidle's ''Persephone'' considers what it is to be a timeless beauty as well as a reluctant witness. Mythical Demeter is a classically elegant statue who can talk. She travels from the sixteenth century studio where she was created to present-day New York. Divas and dealers meet vino and vermin as the words and moods ricochet and reverberate. Is there a dues ex machina in the house? By Dorothy Chansky. ''Blood and Rum'' The Nazis are back. And this time they're filled with rum and blood. Ian L. Gordon's new play, named for those same two evocative liquids, has a bit of ''Key Largo,'' some of ''African Quee'' and lots of ''Casablanca.'' By Paulanne Simmons. ''Rearviewmirror'' The theme of ''Rearviewmirror'' is the search for spiritual fulfillment. Penn is a wannabe screenwriter and film fanatic. He has a thing for orthodox Jewish girls. By Paulanne Simmons.   ''1918: A House Divided'' ''1918: A House Divided,'' with book and lyrics and direction by Barbara Kahn and score by Allison Tartalia, has treasures to be discovered: beautiful music, an excellent cast and a story that we can all understand and identify with in some way. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Talk Radio'' starring Liev Schreiber Everyone knows that Liev Schreiber is a good actor. He appeared in numerous movies, won Tonys and other acting awards, and is much in demand. Everyone in theater knows that Eric Bogosian's "Talk Radio" was produced by the Public Theater in 1987 when the great Joe Papp was running the place. Margareth Croyden ascertains how the two forces match in the current revival at the Longacre Theater.   ''Face the Music'' In 1933, Irving Berlin and Moss Hart's ''Face the Music'' closed and was lost to the American public for 75 years. This season it has been revised in a ''concert version'' for NY City Center's Encore! series under the light-stepping direction of John Rando. It is a stunning theatrical experience that gives a glimpse of the glory that was once Broadway. By Paulanne Simmons. "Radio" "Radio" is the story of a young man, Charlie Fairbanks, who was born on June 30, 1950, in the exact middle of the century, in the "forgotten little town of Lebanon, Kansas," the geographic center of the United States. By Paulanne Simmons. "Elvis People" Behind every legend there is the person, but there is also all those people who made that person into the legend. Doug Grissom's new play, "Elvis People," explores the motives and emotions of the many people whose lives were in some way touched by "The King." By Paulanne Simmons.   ''Penetrator" With "Penetrator" at The American Place Theatre, Working Man's Clothes Productions presents an engulfing, discomforting, and delicious encounter that touches upon not only war and its effect on soldiers, but other pertinent themes of our lives today. Is "Penetrator" really about war at all? Could it be about homophobia? Or sexual betrayal? Or bullyism? How about everyday male rivalry? Or modern man's emotional numbness? By Brandon Judell. "Pirates" With Benjamin's additional book and lyrics, McDaniel's arrangements and orchestration, and Greenberg's direction, "Pirates!" takes Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta from a rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall to the Caribbean, where the fastidious English pirates become rowdy and raucous churls. By Paulanne Simmons. ''The Rules of Charity'' ''The Rules of Charity'' is filled with parallel couples who have love/hate relationships. L. H. loves Monty but has no intention of living the life of a ''faggot.'' Loretta is devoted to Monty. She refuses to put him in a nursing home, but is overwhelmed by his needs and angry at the limitations they put on her life. Horace loves Loretta, but he is not capable of getting his life together to give their relationship a future. By Paulanne Simmons. ''The Prodigal Son'' ''The Prodigal Son,'' the ne'er-do-well younger son, Eustace (think useless) Jackson (Roderick Hill, in a role he effortlessly slinks into) appears, ragged and apparently unconscious, on the doorstep of his parents' home just when ''the governor,'' Samuel Jackson (Richard Kline), is standing for parliament and Eustace's older brother, Henry (Bradford Cover), is about to ask for the hand of Stella Faringford (Margot White), the daughter of the aristocratic but impoverished Sir John and Lady Faringford (Lee Moore and the imperial and impressive Kate Levy). By Paulanne Simmons. ''Beyond Therapy'' ''Beyond Therapy,'' Christopher Durang's satire on blind dating and way-out psychotherapy, has a right to feel a little creaky in the joints. It premiered in 1980 to resounding applause and two years later moved to Broadway for a disappointing 21 performances. It's hard to know what went wrong. Durang revivals have been surfacing here and there this season – ''The Vietnamization of New Jersey,'' ''Adrift in Macao,'' ''Laughing Wild'' – but few have emerged with their dark humor fully burnished and ready to take on all comers. The production by the New York Deaf Theatre is the exception - an over-the-top delight, and some of that has to do with the signing. By Glenda Frank. Giving Up the Ghost with Nazis Turtle Shell Production's new musical,''Fritz and Froyim,'' opens with a ventriloquist (Fritz) trying to deal with his renegade, loud-mouth dummy (Froyim). It soon turns out, however, that Froyim is not a wise guy dummy but a wise guy ghost who was once a comedian that Fritz, a Nazi officer in charge of a concentration camp, had killed during the Holocaust. By Paulane Simmons. ''The Scarlet Letter'' The myriad students who have ploughed through The Scarlet Letter might be surprised to learn that the high school perennial has dramatic possibilities. But Stuart Vaughan has created a dramatic version of Hawthorne's novel that can hold its own not only with the venerable classic, but also with the finest of theatrical pieces. By Paulanne Simmons. ''Gaslight'' The formidable Charlotte Moore is at her best in ''Gaslight.'' She directs with a firm and steady hand, never losing track or letting up on the mood of genteel terror that pervades this script. By Paulanne Simmons. ''God's Ear'' Banality is risky business in the theatre. Brand names, bickering, and brattiness rarely add up to the memorable. But in the right playwright's hands, the everyday can take on depth and luster. Jenny Schwartz is the right playwright. Her new play, ''God's Ear,'' finds poetry in the trite tried and true by which we shield ourselves from pain and sometimes recognize others in theirs. The New Georges production finds a compelling visual analogue for the playwright's zingy language. By Dorothy Chansky.     "10 Million Miles" "10 Million Miles," a new musical premiering at Atlantic Theater Company, features a pair of losers at loose ends who pack up their few belongings and leave their hometown in a red pickup truck. By Paulanne Simmons. "Old Acquaintance" Like any good writer of drawing room comedy, John Druten supplies the plot of "Old Acquaintance" with a good deal of unexpected twists, many precipitated by the romantic exploits of Mildred's ex-husband, Preston (Stephen Bogardus). But for the most part what makes this comedy work is the excellent repartee between the two (mostly feuding) friends, Kit (Margaret Colin) and Mildred (Harriet Harris). By Paulanne Simmons. "Evolution of Me" Van Slyke has broadened his repertoire to include light as well as more soulful music. He sings a medley of sentimental, serious and funny songs that show off his considerable versatility. By Paulanne Simmons. "The Brig" What's first impressive about the current revival of Kenneth H. Brown's antiwar play -- in the new (heralded or notorious, depending on your perspective) Living Theatre -- is how fresh it feels. Much of that has to do with the precision and delicate touch of Judith Malina, who directed it at its premiere in 1963 as protest against the Viet Nam war. This production is a must-see not only for its frighteningly timeless political statement but also for its perverse beauty and clarity -- a high aesthetic that transcends and enhances the political. By Glenda Frank.   "Surface to Air" "Surface to Air"' is the poignant story of a Long Island family finally coming to terms with the death of their brother and son. By Paulanne Simmons. "The Quick-Change Room" Subtitled "Scenes from a Revolution," Nagle Jackson's "The Quick-Change Room" is the fictional account of what happens to one St. Petersburg theater, the Kuzlov, during the Gorbachev era. By Paulanne Simmons.   "Whoop-Up" "Whoop Up" is about Glenda, a tough and savvy woman who runs a saloon half-on and half-off the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation, and how she gets her man, the sexy, over-confident Joe Champlain, son of the French Canadian half-breed, Louis Champlain and Mama Champlain. By Paulanne Simmons. "The People vs. Mona" Every once in a while a musical comes along that has everything – a score that mines all the most successful musical genres, lyrics that are funny and appropriate, quick and clever dialogue, and a director and cast that know how to make the most of the marvelous material with which they have been entrusted. By Paulanne Simmons. "The Street" Powerful women in business have been the subject of many books, plays and films. Most of theses creative efforts end with the same message: even the most ambitious and successful women are best off with a good man. "The Street," a new musical at Workshop Theatre "Mainstage," is no different. By Paulanne Simmons. "Following the Yellow Brick Road…Down the Rabbit Hole" "Following the Yellow Brick Road…Down the Rabbit Hole" may mix its metaphors, but there is no confusion in its message. It captures most of the pain and uncertainty of growing up, the deliberate, disingenuous and sometimes unintended cruelty of adults, and the hope that springs eternal in young breasts. By Paulanne Simmons.   The Lincoln Center Festival Attending the Lincoln Center Festival each year is always a pleasure. The productions presented are unavailable on Broadway or any other venue and always begin when the Broadway season closes, so we can enjoy another month of theater going. This year the Festival director, Nigel Redden, concentrated mostly on international productions--a welcome gift. Not many people travel to Japan, China, or Russia to catch the theater, which are countries well represented in this festival. By Margaret Croyden. Luca Veggetti and the Cincinnati Ballet at Works & Process, the Guggenheim Museum. ''The Black Dahlia'' -- The Bloom is Off Glenn Loney at the 2007 Humana Festival ''Broadway Bares XVII-Myth Behavior.'' Imagine Bacchus with a bunch of juicy grapes lowly hanging in front of the navel. Or a horned Neptune with two percent body fat. Or a leggy dancer dressed up as a fiery Medusa sporting shiny tassles. The naked gods of Broadway are poised to descend Mount Olympus for this year's Greek-themed edition of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' annual event Broadway Bares. Staged for the second year in a row by choreographer Denis Jones, the popular benefit-strip event, in which dancers strip for two performances June 17, assumes a new kitschy theme, ''Broadway Bares XVII-Myth Behavior.'' By Randy Gener. Photography Exhibit on Filipino American History Debuts Off-Broadway in SoHo A new exhibit,''Positively No Filipinos Allowe'': The Lives and Loves of Filipino Migrant Workers in the U.S., offers visitors and playgoers an informed and aesthetic look at life in the Pinoy (Filipino American) community in California in the 1920s and 1930s. The display is curated by Randy Gener, senior editor of American Theatre magazine in New York City, and designed by Eric Ting, artistic associate of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. Other Awards This Season (2006-7) "Whoop Up" at the Duplex "Surface to Air" at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theatre "The Quick-Change Room" at The York Shakespeare Company "Deuce," "Crazy Mary" and more Over the Net with Lansbury & Seldes, Prodigal Returns to Mint on West 43rd, Reinhold Niebuhr & Rinde Eckert on the Horizon, Playwrights Horizon Frees Crazy Mary, An Inspector Calls: Brian Murray in Angel Street, Memory at 59E59: Do Arabs vs Israelis Compute with the Holocaust? Rosebud: Orson Welles Lives Again!/Neil LaBute’s Psychotics In a Dark Dark House, Country & Western at the Atlantic: 10 Million Miles.   The Annual Village Halloween Costume Ball There is no better place to spend Halloween than at The Annual Village Halloween Costume Ball at Theater for the New City. Professional sculptors, painters and scenic designers transform the whole building into a series of Halloween environments while performances of every theatrical kind are held throughout the night. By Yvonne Hespos.   John Zorn and favorites jam their hearts out at 'The Stone' I never know what to expect when my husband Mike Lytle has a gig. But playing with his long time colleagues John Zorn and Eugene Chadbourne and four others, had him pulling me along in case it turned out great- And, It did. It seemed the standing-room only audience thought so too. By Ellen Lytle. "Snapshots"-- Photo by Carlos Damocles. "Snapshots" The women in Diverse City Theater Company's evening of one-acts, "Snapshots," are in their 50s, 60s and 70s. In other words they're of an age when our society is not much interested in them. By Paulanne Simmons.   "La Vie" There is a new breed of circuses in town, designed to appeal to the imagination and for adults (only). Not that it doesn’t have its share of aerial daring, breath-taking gymnastics, clowning around, and center-ring bravado, but it assumes most of us, although we are bored with the kid stuff, still harbor an appetite for the big top. A little X-rating and banter go a long way. This year a new “Absinthe” (covered in another review) has been joined by “La Vie,” The Seven Fingers premiere, at the Spiegeltent on Pier 17 at South Street Seaport. By Glenda Frank. Douglas Rees, Richard Topol, David Beach, and Michael Laurence in "Opus" by at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters. The cast also features Mahira Kakkar. Photo by James Leynse. "Opus" Michael Hollinger, who majored in viola at Oberlin Conservatory, has drawn extensively on his musical knowledge, but he is also a sensitive playwright who knows that drama is all about relationships. And under Terrence J. Nolen’s capable direction "Opus" becomes an exploration of how people work, live and love together. By Paulanne Simmons. Awards of the Season Now that the 2006-7 season is ending, the New York Theatre Wire is carrying an awards page with listings of many of the honors that were bestowed, including our own "Top Ten." "Accomplice: The Village" "Accomplice: The Village" begins like any other tour of Greenwich Village…well, sort of. Yes, the tour guide is a bit unusual and she does make some atypical requests. But, even so, when the tour takes a strange twist, the participants are taken by surprise. By Paulanne Simmons. ''A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Comic Jewish Satire.'' Photo by Koen Machielse. ''A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Comic Jewish Satire'' For most of us, upon hearing ''A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' our next thought isn't, ''Oh, a comic Jewish satire.'' According to a new theory of the provenance of the Shakespeare plays offered by British polymath John Hudson, however, that association should be automatic and, trumping the strategies of most who advance arguments in what Bardolators know as the ''Authorship Controversy,'' they're putting on a show to prove it. By George Stevenson.   Simon Lovell Has the Magic Touch "Simon Lovell's Strange & Unusual Hobbies" at the Soho Playhouse combines a steady flow of ribald banter, card tricks, audience interaction and feats of daring. By Paulanne Simmons. Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Jacques Brel Is [Still] Alive and Well and Living in Paris When "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" was first performed at The Village Gate in the late 60s, M. Brel was still alive and well, although not necessarily living in Paris, as he was often on tour. Now, as the show opens at The Zipper Theatre, the Grand Jacques has been dead for 27 years, but he left behind a rich musical oeuvre consisting of ballads, tangos, waltzes and many songs that defy definition. By Paulanne Simmons.   Rebooting & Getting-Started for the NYC Season 2007-2008 Red-Necks & Trailer-Trash on Parade/Sibling-Squabbles in Horton Foote�s Dividing the Estate/Three Dramas of Desperate Irish Lives/Cherry-trees in Russia, Coffee-trees in Guatemala/Sir Ian McKellen�s Mad Lear at BAM/Cell-Phones & Plasma TV-Panels for Moli�re�s Misanthrope!/Roller-skates on Broadway: Xanadu!/Sam Walton�s Severed-Head: No Wal-Mart Endorsement for Walmartopia!/Toni Morrison�s Beloved Becomes an Opera/Remembering Beverly Sills/LaMaMa Celebrates 46 Off-Broadway Seasons/90th Anniversary for Manhattan School of Music. Cyrano with Kevin Kline Pygmaleon in the Roundabout John Jesurun's Philoktetes Night Over Taos "Electra" from National Theatre of Greece at City Center "All The Help You Need" "Sive"at Irish Rep Wheeldon's Morphoses Pamina Devi: A Cambodian Magic Flute and Zélindor, Roi des Sylphes Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White M's World -- Dance on Camera Festival, Walter Reade Theatre Gorgeous (Comme T'y Es Belle!) Dominique Swain: Lolita Has a Tattoo   "Fielday," choreographed by Naomi Goldberg Haas Three European Contemporaries "The Round of Pleasure" by Werner Schwab her at the Vineyard The Piano Teacher at the Vineyard The Constant Couple at the Pearl Richard III at CSC ''A Voice Without a Face'' by Assaf Basson at NY Sephardic Film Festival Spoleto/Charleston: Performing-Arts from Both Home & Abroad! "Opus" at 59E59 Theater "Accomplice: The Village" "The Street" at Workshop Theatre "Mainstage" ''Eiko and Koma: Cambodian Stories Revisited" at the Danspace Project ''Portuguese Thunderstorms'' at Joyce Theater "Is He Dead" by Michael Blakemore Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad "Rock 'N' Roll" by Tom Stoppard ''Rome Rather Than You'' : A Film to Recommend Highly to Your Enemies "The Seafarer" by Conor McPherson "The Tempest" at Wings Theater "The Devil's Disciple" at Irish Rep Pele Bauch's "-ism" Michael Helland Dresses Up for the Theater Through Modern American Ballet History with American Ballet Theatre ''The Bubble," directed by Eytan Fox ''Waitress'' written and directed by Adrienne Shelly Hot Fuzz: The Good, The Bad, and the Inane John Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet Festival! Sin City Revealed A Tale of Two Shakespeare Cities Four Days of "Applause" "Glimpses of the Moon" Is Jazzy and Juicy "Apartment 3A" opens doors of hope "Maudie and Jane" at the Living Theatre "The Maddening Truth" makes words count Godlight illuminates "Slaughterhouse-Five" Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps," adapted by Patrick Barlow "Happy Days" at BAM Barb Jungr is Smokin' at The Metropolitan Room "Spoken Word Extravaganza" at Bowery Poetry Club "Grace" at the Lortel Four Days of "Applause" "Glimpses of the Moon" Is Jazzy and Juicy "Apartment 3A" opens doors of hope "Maudie and Jane" at the Living Theatre "The Maddening Truth" makes words count Godlight illuminates "Slaughterhouse-Five" Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps," adapted by Patrick Barlow "Happy Days" at BAM Barb Jungr is Smokin' at The Metropolitan Room "Spoken Word Extravaganza" at Bowery Poetry Club Melissa Fenley: " Strength and Sensibility" Hiroshi Koike: "Ship in a View" Tero Saarinen's Communal Austerity The New York Butoh Festival Rides Again Summers, Solomons, Soto, and Chuma Show Their "60s Snapshots"   The Little Flower of East Orange On Naked Soil - Imagining Anna Akhmatova "Gypsy" is back "Juno" Is Well-Worth a Second Look "Betrayed" by George Packer "The Conscientious Objector" - the Man Behind the King Myth "Parlor Song, " a familiar tune   A High Note From Paulanne Simmons Symphony Space Celebrates 30th Birthday Something special happened at Symphony Space on January 10. And for those of us present, the evening was unforgettable. On that Thursday night, Symphony Space celebrated its 30th birthday with a display of talent that was truly remarkable: actors, singers, musicians, essayists, humorists and writers, all paying tribute to an institution they love and value.The event had something for everyone: from the traditional Gershwin standard "Our Love Is Here to Stay, " sung by Andrea Marcovicci to Isaiah Berlin's rewrite of Jerome Kern and P.G. Wodehouse's classic "Bill" now titled "It's My Turn Bill, " and sung by Ivy Austin as Hillary Clinton.The evening concluded with the entire cast onstage fervently singing "There's a Space for Us, " Isaiah Berlin's version of Bernstein's "West Side Story" classic "Somewhere." Happy Birthday Symphony Space. May you live and be well forever.     "Endgame"at BAM "The Importance of Being Earnest" "A Catered Affair" "How Theatre Failed America" by Mike Daisey "The Brain" - Einstein with puppets Attorney for the Damned: Rock Musical "The Day The Whores Came Out To Play Tennis" by Arthur Kopit "Chamber Music" by Arthur Kopit "Candide" at City Opera Another Vermeer   "Around the World in 80 Days" in Two Delightful Hours Bette and Boo walk down memory lane at the Roundabout "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Paper Mill Playhouse "EST: MARATHON 2008, SERIES B" at the Ensemble Studio Theatre "Top Girls" by Caryl Churchill "Reasons to be pretty" "STRETCH (a fantasia)" "The Great American All Star Traveling War Machine" "Prisoner of the Crown" "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" "Cherry Docs" "Boeing-Boeing" "The Devil and Tom Walker" "Cry-Baby" "Kiss Me Kate" William Forsythe's "Impressing the Czar" at Lincoln Center SummerDANZ at Dance Theatre Workshop "Sunday, Again," by the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet "Vanishing Point" Tom Pearson and Zach Morris "Ballet Biarritz" at the Joyce Theater "Appearance – A Suspense in Being" "La Voix" Scapino Ballet Rotterdam NY Theatre Ballet: Antony Tudor Centennial Celebration King Arthur: Amiable, Although Invisible Dreaming Along With Paul Taylor Wendy Osserman Dance Company with Iva Bittová Kansas City Celebrations Ballet de Monterrey New York City Ballet: Two Premieres and a Farewell Trisha Brown: The World Beyond the Wings "The Clarities of Christopher House" by Jeremy Laing "Inhabit" by Lingo "Rite" by Cedar Lake The Edinburgh Festival 2007 Salzburg Festival 2007: Jürgen Flimm & The Night-Side of Reason! The Bayreuth Festival 2007 National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa Britain and Britten in Bregenz Festival 2007 Festival Season in Munich 2007 Festival TransAmériques in Montreal "Broken English" -- Parker Posey is Unloved Sydney White Splinter: Boyz in the Hood Redux "Introducing the Dwights" -- True Love vs. Killer Mom "Surrender" is not surrender! "A Man for All seasons" at The Roundabout Theater "The Pumpkin Pie Show" at Under St. Marks "The Fourposter" at The Clurman Theatre "Revealed" at Under St. Marks Diverse City Theater Explores "Passing" Workdays with Maury "What To Do When You Hate All Your Friends" "Buffalo Gal" "Some Americans Abroad" at Second Stage "Hillary: a Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending" "The Grand Inquisitor " "Gang of Seven" "Pucelandia" Is a Colorful Show for the Whole Family ''Catch 22'' at Lucille Lortel Theatre "Saturn Returns" Sin Cha Hong's "Godot" Oh, Those Beautiful Weimar Girls! BAM’s 2008 Next Wave Festival "Blue Bird" Takes Flight "Shrek The Musical" "Silent Heroes" "Women Beware Women" "Pal Joey" "Equus" "Speed the Plow" New translation of "Uncle Vanya" "All My Sons" Brandon Judell Josh Radin. Joshua Radin: His "Sundrenched World" Columbia Records has a new star in the making in Joshua Radin. Yes, watching this striking brunet rehearse at Joe's Pub for his set later that night, you can only wish you were the guitar he was strumming. Afterwards, interviewing him in the intimate Manhattan performance spot's lobby, staring into his piercing brown eyes and watching those gentle lips move, you can only wish to be with him or be him, depending on your persuasion. By Brandon Judell.     Other Contributors Whitney Live; Nick Didkovsky Not since Yoko Ono took a hammer to a Ming vase, shattering it in hundreds of pieces, in order to avenge the cancer that ravaged her college friend, and cellist, Charlotte Moorman, has the Whitney Museum heard such a configuration of sound. But last month composer, guitarist, and band leader /musician Nicholas Didkovsky jumped on the backs of three of his bands and led them to the Whitney's downstairs cave breaking the silence of visual art. By Ellen W. Lytle. Eric Bentley receives Lifetime Achievement Award Eric Bentley received a Robert Chesley Foundation 2007 Gay and Lesbian Playwriting Award for Sustained Achievement on May 7th at the New School in Manhattan. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the annual Publishing Triangle Awards, which honor the best lesbian and gay fiction, non-fiction, and poetry published in 2006. Bentley, born September 14, 1916 in Bolton, Lancashire, England, is renowned for his work as a playwright, translator, editor and teacher. By Koen Machielse.   Humor No rest for this Chaperone. Re-running Shows The period between a hit show closing and its return to Broadway has been shrinking over the last decade. Now it will be easier for theater-goers to get tickets to two of Broadway's hottest musicals. Producers of "The Drowsy Chaperone" and "Jersey Boys" are expected to announce this week that revivals of both shows will be up and running by October. While this is the first time that a play will be revived while the original is still running, it is, in fact, the culmination of a long time trend. By guest columnist Curt Schleier.   Film, Stage & ShowBiz Expo ShowBiz Expo 2008. Photo by Steven Rosen A Taste of Entertainment Featuring Endless Varieties of Flavors On Sunday, September 21, entertainment professionals gathered at the NY Hilton for the Film, Stage & ShowBiz Expo.The unique event was a conglomeration of passionate filmmakers, creative marketing professionals, aspiring actors, theatrical organizations, and anyone who is, or desires to be involved in the entertainment industry. By Jana Black.   Galapagos in Williamsburgh becomes Public Assembly in Dumbo Is Williamsburgh's loss Dumbo's gain? The mission statement of Galapagos Art Space reads, "The most basic function of the arts is to be relevant in the advancement of society." It seems like Galapagos' job is done in Williamsburgh. Or more accurately, Williamsburgh's loss is Dumbo's gain. The Galapagos Arts Space has moved to Dumbo (16 Main Street, in Brooklyn). As the organization changed its location, it also changed its name to a more generic-sounding, "Public Assembly." (The name was the product of a "name our space" contest on their website.) Williamsburgh had been its location since its creation in 1995. In Dumbo, the institution formerly known as Galapagos will still be presenting avant gardist work along with innovations in the world of art. By Amelie Fillaudeau.   A Talk With The Playwright: Theresa Rebeck by Glenda Frank Theresa Rebeck keeps testing the water and growing as an artist. For the past 15 years, her plays have been consistently inventive, provocative, and contemporary. She is a multi-talented writer--of plays, novels, comic essays, scripts for television, and a doctoral dissertation on Victorian melodrama. Her loyal following will tell you about the comedies featuring contemporary women almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown – what with their uncomfortable spike heels, unexpected pregnancies, manipulative roommates, and stalking men.   My Youth Envy by Larry Litt My Youth Envy In 1970 I was 24 years old, a healthy, draftable, ex-student, arrested, released, anti war protestor, artist, actor, writer, party animal, wild boy. In short I was an idealistic romantic anarchist. I learned how to live in NYC for free from the Yippie Manifesto "Fuck The System" by George Metesky aka The Mad Bomber, or was written by Abbie Hoffman. Abbie the 1960s counter culture trickster, political activist whose words and actions inspired us to, well, fuck the system.   Chez Melinda Annulla: What If Women Governed the World? Melinda Guttman revisits Emily Mann's "Annulla, " hoping to express how Annulla's language, intricately and artfully edited by Mann contains the enormous intellectual and emotional vocabulary to expand the audience consciousness of the scope of living through the holocaust and its lifelong consequences. By Melinda Given Guttman.     "Tonight Lola Blau" "Shekinah" "The Surprise" Rory Raven’s Brainstorming Two Kindred Spirits: Neil Sedaka and Jim Van Slyke "Guys and Dolls" "Ruined" brings Mother Courage to Africa "The Cripple of Inishmaan" seeks love under mean spirited cruelty. "The American Plan" "Billy Elliot, The Musical" "Raised in Captivity" is a big step for a new company. Loss and Departures : "The Cherry Orchard" "The Cherry Orchard, " again "Forbidden Broadway goes to Rehab" Lynn Redgrave in "Earnest" "Woolf at the Door" "Exit the King" "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" "All Aboard the Marriage Hearse" "Kooza" "Happiness" "Waiting for Godot" "33 Variations" Viva Patshiva (Long Live the Party "Why Torture is Wrong, and the people who love them" "The Cody Rivers Show" "The Liar show" "Angela's Mixtape" "Chasing Manet" "An Oresteia" "Walking from Rumania: a journey to freedom in 1899" "God of Carnage" "Miss Evers' boys" "She Said, She Said" The Actors Company in "Incident at Vichy." “Heroes”, three French WWI veterans imagine their lives "Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used to It)" The Air That I Breathe by Jieho Lee A Tree Grows in Israel: Joseph Cedar and his Beaufort "The Brave One, or Why the Nice Vigilante Shot Up the Big Apple"   "Zero Hour" "Search and Destroy" "Finian's Rainbow" "The Emperor Jones" "Circle Mirror Transformation" "Wishful Drinking" "The Understudy" "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play" "This" is a witty play about the angst of thirty-somethings. "Fascinating Aïda - Absolutely Miraculous" "Ragtime" "Love's Labour's Lost" "Santa Claus Is Coming Out" "Superior Donuts" "So Help Me God" "A Streetcar Named Desire" "Shrek The Musical" "Memphis" "The Brother/Sister Plays" by Tarell Alvin McCraney "Lord Buckley & Marilyn" at The Richmond Shepard Theatre "On the Town" at Paper Mill Playhouse "Creature" "The Age of Iron" "My Wonderful Day" "A Quarreling Pair" "Nightingale" "The Emperor Jones" at Irish Rep "God of Carnage" "Such Things Only Happen in Books" "The Royal Family" "A Steady Rain" "After Miss Julie" "Broke-ology" "Hamlet" Two Views of "Imelda" Barb Jungr at Metropolitan Room Burn the Floor Tin Pan Alley Rag "Look after You" by Louise Flory "Viral" by Mac Rogers "Time's Scream and Hurry" “Way to Heaven” (“Himmelweg”) by Juan Mayorga The Irish Rep Presents “Father Knows Best” – Take Two "Facespace" "Play it Again, Boys" “Bartholomew Fair New Jersey: a Comedy in Verse” “Requiem for a Marriage” "The Norman Conquests" "Blithe Spirit" "Our House" "Waiting for Godot" “The Wiz” at City Center is a Wow! "The Full Monty" at Paper Mill Playhouse "Preparation Hex" "Pure Confidence" "Billy Elliot the Musical" Richard Alston Dance Company "A Light Convesation" "Burn the Floor" "Sundowning" "Songs of Ascension" Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui: "Orbo Novo" The Lucidities of Lucinda Childs New Russian Choreography at the Storefront Discovering Tulsa Ballet Gabrielle Lansner's Human Scenery Paula Mann's Dancing Thoughts Shen Wei Hits the Silk Road New Russian Choreography: An Informal Showing Mark Morris's Shakespeare Captain Petronio on the High Seas Goode, with twist Two Second Companies Mandance Plus Women Plus Horse The Pleasures of Isadora Duncan Berlin 36 Harry Potter Needs a Shave "Irangeles": Will Romeo Get Circumcized for Love? "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" An Interview with Director Virginia Reticker "The Caller" You Don't Necessarily Have to Hang Up Roman de gare by Claude Lelouch Films of Jacob Burckhardt Under the Sun of Sarasota Roundup in the Washington, DC and Arlington Area "L'Orestie" d'Eschyle in Paris "Low:Meditations Trilogy Part 1" at the Adrienne Arsht Center Studio Theatre in Miami Glenn Loney in Jordan Twyla Tharp in Miami "The Emperor Jones" "Circle Mirror Transformation" "Wishful Drinking" "The Understudy" "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play" "Memphis" "Enemy of the People" "The Jackie Look" "Lear" "Fanny" "Venus in Fur" "Il Mondo Della Luna" "The Garage" "Woodworm" "Zero Hour" "Search and Destroy" "Present Laughter" "River" "Lost in Yonkers" The Bard, From Scratch, For Laughs. This January New York plays host to Chicago's hugely entertaining Improvised Shakespeare Company. The title says it all: Shakespeare, sans the script. Sound impossible? We spoke to the group's founder Blaine Swen about the ins and the outs of their hey nonny nonnies. By Georgia Clark. "Auto Da Fe" The always-ambitious International WOW kicks off the new year with "Auto Da Fe", a realization of the classic Odysseus story. With a 30-strong cast onstage, the tale is told as if the hero of Homer's epic poem has returned to his homeland but it's been replaced by an industrial wasteland called the Memory Pit, that's being run by the History Processing Operation. The play, originally produced in Kyoto and Tokyo, is a dreamscape of collective amnesia, life during wartime, the self-conscious erasure of history and national identity, and a search for meaning and beauty. We spoke to ensemble member Melissa Chambers about the creation of this adventurous new work. By Georgia Clark. "Mortal Engine" Contemporary Australian dance company Chunky Move return to New York this December with a new show, "Mortal Engine". The performance uses movement-and-sound-responsive visual projections to portray an ever-shifting, shimmering world. We chatted with director and choreographer Gideon Obarzanek about the process of creating this compelling new work. By Georgia Clark. "Highly Evolved Human" Nick Ross turns his experience with cancer into an underground comedy hit with "Highly Evolved Human" at Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater. By Georgia Clark. An Ocean of Longing: "Halt!" "Halt!" is a free dance piece for the Whitehall Ferry Terminal where you might find yourself part of the action. By Georgia Clark. And Then There Was Light. A new interdisciplinary work, "She Turned on the Light," finds connections between memory, and different generations. Georgia Clark delves into the inspiration for Wendy Woodsons production in this interview. Not Your Average Punch and Judy When is the last time you saw a good puppet show? The characters in "A Quarreling Pair" are far more than your average Punch and Judy. Drawing from boho American writer Jane Bowles' great literary work, this unique show proves that this art form isn't strictly for children. We spoke to Cynthia Troup, writer and a founding member of the always intriguing Aphids Arts Company from Australia, who are bringing the production to La MaMa. Balaton There's nothing like good family drama. Throw in multiple generations, death, and a rich culture and you've got "Balaton", the world premiere play by Ashlin Halfnight. Directed by Kristjan Thor, "Balaton" jumpstarts the new season at Electric Pear Productions. We spoke with playwright Ashlin Halfnight for a behind-the-scenes look at this show.   A new Web site collects the writings of the late dance journalist Burt Supree. In honor of this excellent writer, Burt Supree's friends and colleagues created a Web site, www.burtsupree.com, to save his work and pay tribute to Supree. You can find two decades of his wonderful work, his biography, moving pictures of him and his friends, and his unpublished poetry. It is also an opportunity to discover or rediscover more than five hundred reviews written by Supree for the Village Voice. By Suzanne Trouve Feff.   Randy Gener. Photo by Nadia Kitirath. Randy Gener receives the George Jean Nathan Award on an Inspiring Night Filipino-American playwright, director and critic Randy Gener received the 2007-08 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism March 9, 2009 at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. By Nadia Kitirath. The voice specialst coached an attendee at Edge Studio & the Voice Design group booth in Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo on March 29, 2009. Photo by Nadia Kitirath. Dreams overflow at Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo On a rainy afternoon Sunday, March 29, the weather outside in midtown Manhattan seemed unfriendly. In contrast, the Hilton Hotel in New York seemed sunny with optimistic entertainment industry professionals from film, stage, television, fashion, concerts and live events who waited in long lines to get into Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo. By Nadia Kitirath.       Letters to the Editor A Dramaturgical Response to the Public Theater's "Twelfth Night" John Hudson presents a dramaturgical analysis on the allegories of religious foolishness within Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," explaining how this should influence the acting, costumes, and staging of the performance, and asserting that Public Theater's production in Central Park this summer missed the point.   Peculiar Works Project in "Can You Hear Their Voices?" "Sondheim on Sondheim" "Magus" with Carey Harrison at Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock "A Little Night Music" "Peter Pan" at Paper Mill Playhouse Gordon Edelstein's "Glass Menagerie" at the Roundabout "Restoration" with Claudia Shear "The Forest" "Gabriel" "Mark Twain's Last Stand" "Dr. Knock, or The Triumph of Medicine" "Decades Apart: Reflections of Three Gay Men" "Sondheim on Sondheim" "A Behanding in Spokane" "The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams" "Ovo" "Uncle Vanya" at BAM Krystian Lupa A Dialogue with the Polish Master Krystian Lupa In Europe, the Polish stage director Krystian Lupa is considered a theatrical giant. As attested by the 13th Europe Theatre Prize that was bestowed upon him this past April, Lupa is ranked alongside such major world figures as Harold Pinter, Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine and Pina Bausch. A director, stage designer and writer, Lupa has been honored with an Austrian Cross of Merit in 2001 and the French Order of the Fine Arts and Humanities in 2002. As my interview with Lupa below shows (conducted with a Polish translator), Lupa is deeply aware that many gurus are emperors with no clothes—that often actors blindly follow a great artist by simple virtue of their charisma. In his most recent works, particularly Factory 2 and Persona, Lupa seeks to expose the irony of the phenomenon of personality, and he doesn’t mind besmirching the sacred idols to prove his point. By Randy Gener. The voice specialst coached an attendee at Edge Studio & the Voice Design group booth in Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo on March 29, 2009. Photo by Nadia Kitirath. Dreams overflow at Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo On a rainy afternoon Sunday, March 29, the weather outside in midtown Manhattan seemed unfriendly. In contrast, the Hilton Hotel in New York seemed sunny with optimistic entertainment industry professionals from film, stage, television, fashion, concerts and live events who waited in long lines to get into Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo. By Nadia Kitirath. Burt Supree. Photo by www.burtsupree.com.   A new Web site collects the writings of the late dance journalist Burt Supree. In honor of this excellent writer, Burt Supree's friends and colleagues created a Web site, www.burtsupree.com, to save his work and pay tribute to Supree. You can find two decades of his wonderful work, his biography, moving pictures of him and his friends, and his unpublished poetry. It is also an opportunity to discover or rediscover more than five hundred reviews written by Supree for the Village Voice. By Suzanne Trouve Feff.   Randy Gener. Photo by Nadia Kitirath. Randy Gener receives the George Jean Nathan Award on an Inspiring Night Filipino-American playwright, director and critic Randy Gener received the 2007-08 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism March 9, 2009 at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. By Nadia Kitirath.   Loney's Show Notes December, 2010 Roundup Edna O'Brien's HAUNTED, Inspector Sands' IF THAT'S ALL THERE IS, Isabel Allende's LA CASA DE LOS ESPIRITUS, Will Eno's MIDDLETOWN, Craig Wright's MISTAKES WERE MADE, Making Music at New York Theatre Workshop: Burkhardt, Duffy, & Malloy's THREE PIANOS, Giacomo Puccini's LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST, Claude Debussy's PELLEAS ET MELISANDE, Lee Hoiby's SUMMER & SMOKE, Claudio Monteverdi's RITORNO DI ULISSE IN PATRIA; Avant Garde Theatre Lives Again at Ellen Stewart's LaMaMa E.T.C.: John Kelly's PASS THE BLUTWURST, BITTE, Ildiko Nemeth's MAPPING MOBIUS; At the Park Avenue Armory: Peter Greenaway's THE LAST SUPPER, Across the River & into BAM: Gardarsson, Farr, & Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS, Victorious at the New Victory: Mayumana's MOMENTUM. November, 2010 Roundup THE RIDE Will Take You for a Ride Around Midtown You Won't Soon Forget!, Vince Lombardi Wants Winners! Big City Reporters, Beware!, John Guare Strikes Again! A Free Man of Color Is a Louisiana Hayride Through Drama Lit!, The Last Castrato Sings Again! Why Aren't the Monks Still Castrating for the Vatican Choir?, G-d Speaks To Those Who Will Listen--But Neil LaBute Warns Us of the Consequences…, Charles Busch Takes the Veil: A Superior Mother Superior at St. Veronica's Convent!, Pee Wee Herman Lives Again--But Only for a Limited Run at the Steve Sondheim Theatre., In The Wake--Not of the Red Witch--But of Recent Political Disasters: Unearned Empathy?, What Do You Mean: Grand dad was a Commie Spy? After the Revolution & Then Some…, What Can Be More Boring Than a Family Reunion Dinner? A Dysfunctional Family Buffet…, Orphaned Welsh Demon Twins Drive Godmother to Distraction & Death: Don't Drink the Punch!, Lingua Franca: Teaching British--not American--English To Italians in Firenze…, Al in a Tallis: But Don't Forget That He's the Money Lender, Not the Merchant of Venice!, Watch Out for That White Horse! Trouble Down at the Mill Race for Rosmer in Rosmersholm., That Wasn't Vanessa Redgrave We Saw? Maureen Anderman Played Miss Daisy?, Three Weeks of ReHab in Mt. Siniai's Klingenstein Pavilion: Déjá Vu with Wings., Tony Kushner's "Gay Fantasia" Is Nothing Like Walt Disney's Fantasia…, Get the DVD of Pedro Almodóvar's Women Fully To Appreciate the New Musical Version!, Sing Along with Genocidal Andrew Jackson: Free Up the Frontier for Real Americans!, ELF--Will Ferrell, Where Are You, Now That We Need You?, You Threw the Wrong Baby in the Fire, Azucena! How Could a Mother Make Such a Mistake?, Open Casket for Bernstein's Quiet Place: Sex Angst of Dysfunctional Suburban Family., You Idiot! Why Dress Like Drusilla? Nero's Men Will Kill You: Heroes Never Wear Heels…, That Guy Who Looked Like Charlie Chaplin--Was He Twins or Something? No: He's Raoul!, BAM Books a Show from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Ping Chong's Throne of Blood!, Do Not Squirm at the Squirm Burpee Circus: Do Have a Great Time!, Scott Siegel's Broadway Unplugged: Vintage Songs Uncorked by Experts! Annual Munich Festival at the Bavarian State Opera, Plus Powerful Productions at the Second Tier Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz Figaro in a White Box!, Tosca, Fresh from the Metropolitan!, Colorful Watering Cans for L'Elisir d'Amore!, Meanwhile, Across Town at the Gärtnerplatz Theater, Bert Brecht & Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. Two Wolfgang Wagner Sisters--Eva & Katharina--Give the Bayreuth Festival a New Look & New Directions… HUGE LAB RATS ENGULF ELSA & LOHENGRIN IN NEW BAYREUTH STAGING! Genetic Engineering Gone Wrong & Plucked Swans? / GERMAN HISTORY: 1870 TO POST WORLD WAR II SOCIO POLITICALLY REPRISED IN BAYREUTH PARSIFAL! Or an Opera about a Big Bed in the Middle of Haus Wahnfried? / A SECOND LOOK AT KATHARINA WAGNER'S DIE MEISTERSINGER From the Show Notes Archives: / What Really Happened in Nuremberg? / Hans Sachs: Painter & Poet Versus Sixtus Beckmesser: Avant garde Artist! / Katharina Wagner's Bayreuth Beckmesser Bombshell! / Theoretic Bases for This Wagner Innovation? / What Looked Different in Meistersinger 2010? / Two Wagner Song Contests--Quasi Comic vs. Religio Tragic: Basic Prize Concept: The Winner Is Supposed To Get the Girl! / Wagnerian Opera for Kids: Find the Pink Flamingo! / WHAT TIME'S THE NEXT SWAN? / AGAIN, ECHOES FROM THE LONEY BAYREUTH ARCHIVES: / BACKGROUND: / The Great Opera Debate: Who Will Be the Artistic Director of the Bayreuth Festival? / Is There a Katharina Campaign? / The Other Wagner Candidates: / Should the Bayreuth Season Be Longer? / Could Bayreuth Become an International Opera Festival City? / The Wagner Family Inheritance & The Gremium: / Is the Bayreuth Festival Sexist? Only Two Women Have Staged Wagner in His Festspielhaus / Is Katharina Wagner's Meistersinger Her Meisterstück? / What's Blowing in the Bayreuth Festival Winds: Is the Wind Vane Beginning To Turn? Fragments of the Shattered Statue of Liberty Rise Up Out of Lake Constance for Bregenz Aida! Festive Opening of the Bregenz Festival 2010 / DIE PASSAGIERIN: Honeymoon on an Ocean-Liner Becomes a Horror-Story! / Mieczyslaw Weinberg [1919-1996]: A Great Modern Composer, Virtually Unknown in the West! / STATUE OF LIBERTY SMASHED INTO FRAGMENTS--POSSIBLY BY TERRORISTS--FOR BREGENZ-FESTIVAL AIDA PRODUCTION! / Not Only Performing-Arts in Bregenz: Also Art in Kunsthaus-Bregenz & Antony Gormley's Iron-Men in the Alps! / French-Revolution To Take Center-Stage on Lake-Constance: Giordano's André Chénier To Rise Out of Bodensee-Waves in Festival 2011! The Obergammau Passion Play 2010 Jesus' Last Week on Earth--the Passion of the Christ--Is Recreated in the Bavarian Alps Every Ten Years! / A New Look for Oberammergau: Passion-Play 2000 With New Sets & Costumes / Robert Wilson's Oberammergau Installation: A New Vision of The Stations of the Cross. Denver, the Mile High Culture City! Two World-Premieres for Colorado New Play Summit!, Show Tickets Start at $18, Amazing Versatile Ensemble at Denver Theatre Center, Artistic-Director Kent Thompson Innovates, Young American Playwrights in the Spotlight, Laika & Yuri Gargarin adrift in Outer-Space!, Will Prayer Save a Marriage & a Family When Dad Is a NASA Astronaut?, Can Tang Make a Difference even in a Pie?, Why Did Those Two Old Bachelor Rancher-Brothers Never Marry?, Should Small-Children Be Taken-Away from Dim-Witted Parents?, Do Incompetents Deserve Food-Stamps: Won’t they Squander the Tax-Payers’ Subsidies?, Free-Rides on 16th Street Mall Buses, Denver’s Post-Post-Modernist Art-Museum: the Daniel Libeskind Addition, Allen True’s Art-Deco Murals, Frank Ghery’s Stunning Denver Public-Library, Get High a Mile High: Denver Medical Marijuana! February Show Notes David Mamet's Simplistic Race: Oleanna Recycled?, Laura Linney Is Wounded War Zone Photographer in Time Stands Still, Hot Audition for Ives' Venus in Fur, Audience Enters Martin Luther King jr's Motel Room #306 at 59E59, "Minor" Blow Job & Fan with a Mind of Its Own: Sam Shepard's Two Hander from Dublin's Abbey Theatre, Rough Sketch Needs Firmer Hand, Orphan Boy Marries in Horton Foote's Tri Partite Texas Saga, Sweet Marcus at the Public: Brother, Sister Plays, Very Likable As You Like It at BAM, Fabulous Art Deco Apartment for Dynamic Cast in Present Laughter, Offstage Plane Crash in City Center Basement Pearl: Shaw's Misalliance, Chicago's Maureen Watkins' Other Play Mint Fresh, Liev Schreiber IS Eddie Carbone: Miller on the Bridge, Not Much Nutcracker or Klezmer in Klezmer Nutcracker, Twenty Two Years of Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic!, Replaying A Little Night Music Graced by Angela Lansbury, Oscar Wilde Sings! Ernest in Love at Irish Rep, Charming Finian's Rainbow: Sudden Crock of Death on Broadway, Flahooley aka Jollyanna Rains Dolls at Theatre for the New City, Look Where It Comes Again! NY G&S Players Repeat Mikado Pinafore & Ruddigore, Grand Opera & Grand Spectacle at the Met: Boccanegra Stifellio & Turandot, Odysseus Ulysses Returns to Ithaca & Pénélope at Manhattan School, Rossini's Barber in Bleecker Basement with Amato Survivors, "Porn Flakes" for Accidental Pervert Goffman, Belgian Teens Go Wild at Duke, Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever Set in West Hollywood not in Greenwich Village!, Webmaster of NYTheatre Wire.com Shows Acting Skills in Dual Role at New City!   Shinn sketch of David Belasco Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre: From Tiffany treasures to Roman Catholic Confessionals. The irrepressible Glenn Loney, still recovering from a dangerous fall, scales perilous hights to report on the renovation of Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre history and the dangers of restoring it. Back to work in October James Bond & Wolverine Together on Broadway!/Carrie Fisher Tells All & More!/Jude Is a Law Unto Himself!/Iraqui Aftermath: Damaged People & Ruined Lives!/Impressive Irish Drama Revivals: John Millington Synge's Playboy & Lennox Robinson's Is Life Worth Living?/Broadway's Contemporary Aristocrats Multi Star in The Royal Family/Murder the Protestants! Mexico City Troupe Musically Recreates Religious Horrors in Anjou/Robert Lepage's Ex Machina Marathon: Not Liposuction but Lipsynch. Brain Hemorrhages and Performing Arts Reportage Photographing Golden-Gate-Bridge w/Trick-Lens/Disastrous-Fall on Historic-Gun-Emplacement/Subdural-Hematomas: Can you have a History of Brain-Hemorrhages: How many of them before you Definitively-Die?/Wonderful Anne Hathaway in Central-Park Twelfth-Night!/Sir James Galway & Hundreds of Flautists Break Guinness-Book-of-Records Mass-Concert-Record!/Music-Critics of North-America: Last-Conference at the OK-Corral: From Print-Reviews to Internet-Blogs? "San Francisco, Open Your GoldenGates!,"or: "I lost my Balance in San Francisco!" A Regretful-Report on the Perils of Photographing The Golden-Gate-Bridge From a Cliff on Land’s-End, When One Is Over Eighty-Years-Old, But Still Feels Seventeen Inside…   Poster for Broadway's revival of "Hair" The Season Ends with a Bang, Revivals hit the Broadway Stage and the Outer Critics Circle's Nominations and Awards for 2008-2009 Season Season's-End Now New Season's-Beginning, Geyser of Vomit in God of Carnage!, Neil LaBute's Now OK with Women in reasons to be pretty, Torture can be Fun in Chris Durang's New Crazy-Family-Drama: Why Torture Is Wrong, Sigmund Freud & Olympia Dukakis in Craig Lucas' Singing Forest at the Public, Jane Fonda Back on Broadway To Pursue Beethoven-Research in Bonn-Archives: 33 Variations, Tovah [Golda Meier] Feldshuh Plays a Righteous-Gentile in Irena's Vow, Lack of Chemistry onstage in Impressionism, White-Haired Jane Alexander Escapes Old-Folks-Home in Chasing Manet, Born-Again-Christian vs. Catholics in Savannah-Disputations, Only a Shadow of Dr. Martin Luther King in The Good Negro, Inked-Baby Needs Focus, Fired Wall-Streeter Joins The Dishwashers, Wordy Play on Words/John Cullum in Heroes, George Orwell's 1984 a Warning for Our Times!, The Cambria: Fugitive-Slave Frederick Douglass Escapes to Ireland!, Baghdadi-Bath at LaMat02053t.htm">indexing tag | Bette Bourne is back in "A Life In Three Acts" "Equivocation" "Clybourne Park" by Alexander Harrington "A View From the Bridge" "Time Stands Still" "Clybourne Park" by Lucy Komisar The Dybbuk Old Hickory "Sam Cooke: Where You Been Baby?" "All Singin' All Dancin'" "Manhattan Transfer" "Searching for Soula" Diverse City Theater Company's Pearl Project Theater Festival "FUHGEddABOUDIT" "The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik, Deep Sea Explorer" "The National Diet of Japan" and "L.A. Party" "Batman & Robin In The Boogie Down"     "Million Dollar Quartet" "Love is my sin." "Looped" The Miracle Worker Ching Chong Chinamen The Orphans' Home Cycle T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party" by Actors Company Bring A Weasel And A Pint Of Your Own Blood Mac Wellman's groundbreaking Brooklyn College MFA Playwrights adapt stories from The Apocrypha. Written and produced by playwrights from Mac Wellman's groundbreaking Brooklyn College MFA program, the Weasel festival is fast becoming an exciting platform for America's rising playwrights to create experimental, irreverent and explosive new work. Each playwright will riff off the stories of The Apocrypha – the infamous religious texts that didn't make the Bible's cut. Not decreed to be divinely inspired, the Apocrypha books are ancient Greek texts that were ripped and pasted back into the Bible throughout history. Filled with luminous stories of prophets, angels, intrigue and heresy, the off-the-record Apocrypha is the perfect inspiration for a festival of peculiar plays by playwrights working outside the canon. We talk to playwright Corina Copp about her play "Waltz". By Georgia Clark. "The Starship Astrov" The year is 3047. A diplomatic mission brings a professor, his lovely alien wife and his faithful doctor aboard "The Starship Astrov"… Asking the question, will humanity stay the same, or will the future change us, award-winning playwright Duncan Pflaster ("Prince Trevor Amongst The Elephants") returns to the Midtown International Theatre Festival with another classic-bender fantasy: a mashup of Chekhovian comedy and science fiction! We spoke to the playwright about this mixed genre madness he's bringing to the famed MITF. By Georgia Clark. Clubbed Thumb's Summerwork series The Obie-award winning Clubbed Thumb is gearing up to launch their quirky off-Broadway summer series in Soho. It's their 15th annual Summerworks festival, a selection of new work that's known for being, well, a little odd. This year sees "Dot" by Kate E. Ryan, "Five Genocides" by Samuel D. Hunter and "The Small" by Anne Washburn find their feet at the Ohio Theater. We spoke to Artistic Director Maria Striar about this year's plays, imagination as theme, and why the pipeline between the underground and the mainstream is "kind of broken." By Georgia Clark. "Red Mother" "Red Mother," featuring the co-founder of Obie-award-winning Spiderwoman Theater collective, Muriel Miguel, is the tale of Belle, an old Native woman who, with her horse Blue Fred, travels across what was once the people's land. Inspired by "Mother Courage," this one-woman show weaves Brechtian themes with Kuna demon tales and traditional stories with a contemporary soundscape. Featuring multimedia projections, fabric hangings, and music, "Red Mother" is a unique expression of the Native American community, told from a woman's perspective. We spoke to the Off-Broadway veteran about what led her to create this bold new work. By Georgia Clark. "The Irish Curse" Size matters to the Irish-American guys who meet every Wednesday night in a support group... for men with very small penises. Martin Casella's new comedy "The Irish Curse" at The Soho Playhouse examines the fundamental question on the minds of men since the beginning of time: "How do I measure up to the next guy?" By Georgia Clark. "Synesthesia 2010" I have an idea. I show you this idea. That gives you an idea. You show someone your idea, they show someone, they show someone, and so on. Thus forms the basis of Electric Pear Productions unique new show, "Synesthesia 2010." In October 2009, a composer/lyricist team was asked to select a fortune cookie. They created a musical theatre piece based on the fortune. Two weeks later, they presented their work to another artist. This artist then had two weeks to create a piece based on the work shown to him (never having seen the fortune), and then presented his art to the next artist in the series. She then created a piece…and then another artist, and then another artist… eventually, eleven in all. We spoke to a handful of the multi-disciplinary artists involved in this year's production. By Georgia Clark. "Up in the Air" For the past year, four experimental artists have been exploring and crafting innovative new work as Artists-in-Residence at BAX/ Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Each resident is awarded 200 hours of prioritised rehearsal space, a $1,000 stipend, and ongoing meetings and open rehearsals with BAX staff. As a result, the four perfromers had the luxury of both time and space to take risks, explore intuitive ideas, and work outside their comfort zones, all within a structured year of ongoing support. Now, over April and May, they present their work to the public in the Air Festival 2010. We spoke to the four artists about this highly supportive program and the new work they ended up creating. By Georgia Clark. "Bass for Picasso" In Kate Moira Ryan's new play, a food writer for the NY Times is recreating the recipes of Alice B Toklas for story, and invites over some of her friends for dinner. Comedy ensues. We spoke to Kate about writing for differently abled people, and what it's like working with actresses who threaten to "take their leg off and chase the other characters around the room with it." "Sojourn at Ararat" It's been called 'timely and timeless': "Sojourn at Ararat" is the unheard voice of an unknown people and the telling of their unknown story through poetry. Based on the English translations of Armenian poetry spanning 2000 years, the message it conveys is universal: love, human tragedy, the futility of war and violence, but ultimately, hope. "Sojourn at Ararat" finally comes to New York after first coming to life in the late 1980s, so we spoke to co-creator performer Nora Armani about this moving and much acclaimed piece of theater. By Georgia Clark. Letters to the Editor The Women’s Initiative It’s a good time to be a woman in the arts – or rather, it’s a better time. On Sat. Dec. 4, the Women’s Initiative, composed of members of the Dramatists Guild, will hold its first symposium titled “Women in Theater: Achieving Gender Parity” at the Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South (at 20th Street), New York, NY from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  Two years ago at a Town Hall meeting of the New Dramatists, playwrights Julia Jordan and Sarah Schulman gave speeches that inspired a new wave of activism. While 46% of the members of the Dramatists Guild of America are women, only 13% of all produced plays are written by women. The Women’s Project and the League of Professional Theatre Women, both founded by Julia Miles, have been fighting for equity since their incorporation in 1978 and 1986. By Glenda Frank. A Dramaturgical Response to the Public Theater's "Twelfth Night" John Hudson presents a dramaturgical analysis on the allegories of religious foolishness within Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," explaining how this should influence the acting, costumes, and staging of the performance, and asserting that Public Theater's production in Central Park this summer missed the point.   NYTW Email Our version of Hotmail and Yahoo Mail By using your NYTW mail account, you'll be telling the world you support the dramatic arts. It's private and efficient. User's tip: you can set up our mail page as your home page, making it easy to check your Email and access all departments of the NYTW from one screen. "Mrs. Warren's Profession" at Roundabout Theatre Van Itallie's "America Hurrah" adds new chapter at La MaMa "Lomardi" at Circle in the Square "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman at NY Theater Workshop Albee's "Me, Myself & I" "Trio" by Mario Fratti "Orlando" by Sarah Ruhl Michael Frayn's "Alphabetical Order" "The Pitmen Painters" Laurie Anderson's "Delusion" Ivo van Hove stages "Little Foxes" Exit/Entrance "The Revival" A Cabaret Evening of Brel & Piaf Phoenicia Festival of the Voice "Everyday Rapture" "Fences" in 2010 "Nunsense" "Red" Bathing by Moonlight "Come Fly Away," Twyla Tharp meets Frank Sinatra Larry Keigwin: City Choreographer "Xenakis and Japan" "Armory Show" Richard Alston Dance Company "A Light Convesation" "Burn the Floor" "Sundowning" "Songs of Ascension" Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui: "Orbo Novo" The Lucidities of Lucinda Childs New Russian Choreography at the Storefront Discovering Tulsa Ballet Gabrielle Lansner's Human Scenery Is Open Source good for theaters? You bet! Many theater organizations are hard pressed for cash to upgrade computer systems. Linux expert cum playwright Jens Porup offers advice to theaters and all arts organizations who wish to extend the life of their ''legacy'' hardware. Learn how to stop paying the ''Microsoft Tax, '' avoid windows viruses, prevent system crashes and gain access to free, smooth running software. By Jens Porup. "Finian's Rainbow" "West Side Story" "Hair" Three views of "The Scottsboro Boys" "Spy Garbo" by Sheila Schwartz "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" by Tennesse Williams "Kings: The Siege of Troy" at WorkShop Theater "American Idiot" on Broadway "The Witch of Edmonton" at Red Bull"The Witch of Edmonton" at Red Bull Primary Stages' "Black Tie" by A.R. Gurney at 59E59 Three Sisters at Classic Stage Theodora Skipitares' Lysistrata Molly Sweeney at the Irish Repertory Theatre Richard Skipper is Carol Channing In Concert The Inventor, The Escort, The Photographer, Her Boyfriend and His Girlfriend Spelling Bee at P-A-P-E-R M-I-L-L P-L-A-Y-H-O-U-S-E A Fable to Reflect On "Brief Encounter" "La Bête" "With Aaron's Arms around Me" and "The Mire" "Benefactors" by Michael Frayn "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson"   Wehle's World Shining through the Gloom thanks to BAM’s 2008 Next Wave Festival BAM’s Next Wave Festival’s 2008 season began with two exciting productions that proved to be great antidotes to the depressed mood that pervades so much of our lives these days.What better way to come out of the doldrums than to take a trip to BAM to discover such treasures as The Reykjavik City Theatre and Vesturport’s adaptation of Buchner’s “Woyzeck” with original music by Australian rocker Nick Cave and Bad Seed’s violinist Warren Ellis? By Philippa Wehle. "Surrender" is not surrender! "Surrender" is a masterful achievement on all fronts. Not only have Josh Fox and The International WOW Company succeeded in producing an important piece about the war in Iraq, but the interactive nature of the show allows both soldiers and observers to get a much closer look at what it means to volunteer for duty, to train, kill and be killed, than we ever get from televised reports of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.. How they manage to harness the energies, dedication and enthusiasm of a new group of amateur players each time the show is performed is equally remarkable. Unfortunately, this memorable show only runs for three weeks. I can only hope that it will find other sponsors and another space so that many more people can observe war close up. By Philippa Wehle.       ART AND DANCE AT FLUSHING TOWN HALL -- "Prison," choreographed by David ChienHui Shen, was one of seven dances in Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America's "Traces: Variations in a Foreign Land." Art and Dance at Flushing Town Hall David ChienHui Shen is Chinese, Mica Bernas is Filipino and Kyla Barkin and Aaron Selissen are native-born Americans. They met while dancing together in the New York City community and have collaborated as choreographers in "Traces: Variations In A Foreign Land," presented by Yangtze Repertory Theater." As they all have different choreographic styles, they were eager to collaborate together and dance in each other's pieces to learn about each other's cultures and dance techniques. By Zita Bradley.   Finian's Rainbow Yet another Broadway musical closes even though it recieved high rated reviews. Can a Broadway show continue today without Hollywood or TV Stars? By Margret Croyden. Brighton Beach Memoirs This has been a strange season indeed. Shows close unexpectedly, shows are postponed unexpectedly, and actors are thrown out of work without much notice, but how did Neil Simon's production of Brighton Beach Memoirs only manage to last 3 days? By Margret Croyden. The Royal Family "The Royal Family" by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, produced by the Manhattan Theater Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, is the latest addition to the spate of revivals that has characterized contemporary theater in the Times Square area. Can Rosemary Harris make this one succeed? By Margaret Croyden.   Look Where it Comes Again! Shakespeare & More in Oregonian Ashland! Not about Harvey Milk: Ghost Light The Aftermath of the Murder of Mayor Moscone; Four Venues in Two Weeks: Tracy Letts' August, Osage County Finds Its Groove!; Julia Caesar Returns to Haunt Brutus: A Great Woman Has Power Beyond the Grave; All Hands on Deck! Cornish Pirates Board the Good Ship Shakespeare!; Deaf Signing in Henry IV, Part 2: Odd Effect When Only Prince Hal & Poins Do It; Get Well Quick Card for Ashland's Ailing Imaginary Invalid?; American Theatre Critics Do Their Thing: How Do I Get My Reviews on the Internet? San Francisco and Nevada Wagner's RING West of the Rockies: Leland Stanford as Wotan?; SF Symphony Almost 100: Tilson Thomas, Yuja Wang, & Swan Lake!; Double Bill at UC/Berkeley's Zellerbach: Afghan Music & Dawsn Upshaw in Crumb's Winds; ACT SF Premieres Musical Version of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City; Piper's Opera House in Virginia City: More Preservation Needed Now! Time was, when May 31 arrived, the Season was at an end. Not now. Reality Challenged Male Has Affair with Fantasy Girl friend in Love Song!, Angry Old Brooklyn Commie Wants Out of Life: Tony Kushner's Latest…, Alzheimers Is No Fun: A Disoriented Julia at 59E59…, Banned Belarus Free Theatre at La MaMa: State Terror & Harold Pinter., Molière's Misanthrope Transmuted into School for Lies, by David Ives…, The Ex First Lady of New York City--Donna Hanover--Is in Picked at the Vineyard!, The Soul Leaves The Body in Tremendous Farts: Hannoch Levin's Winter Wedding!, Lynn Nottage's Newest: Blacks in the Movies--Do Meet Vera Stark, Down at the Public Theatre: Knickerbocker, in Which Bob Dishy Returns!, Target Tempest Not in a Tea pot, but at HERE, in a Candle lit Victorian Theatre!, Derek Jacobi's Lear at BAM: Every Inch a King!, Irish Villains Foiled Again by Irish Heroes: The Shaughraun, at Irish Rep!, George Bernard Shaw Sings Again! Candida Transmuted into A Minister's Wife., Newsical the Musical Brings You Recycled TV Newscasts & More…, Lucky Guy: This Hilarious Show Is The Book of Mormon for Country & Western!, Improve Your Yiddish with Fiddler on the Roof Sound Alike: Hershele Ostropolyer, Rally Round Herne's Oak! Charming Mannes College Falstaff at the Kaye Theatre., Kurt Weill & Lotte Lenya: Together Again on [Upper] Broadway in September Songs., Boys Made of Cheese May Have Some Survival Problems…, Karen Kandel Deserves a Tony©™ for Her Remarkable Role in Peter & Wendy!, Avant Garde Down in the Vaults at 14 Wall Street: Monk Parrots' Gay Rodeo By Laws, First It Was the Jersey Boys, But Now, It's Jersey Girls: Loose Screws…, Tovah Feldshuh, David Dinkins, & Scott Siegel Help Town Hall Celebrate Ninety Years!, Town Hall Celebrates Broadway Musicals of 1982 with the Mark Stuart Dance Theatre!, Linda Eder Almost Back on Broadway--Two Blocks Away, at Town Hall, in Concert! Jungr does Dylan Speaking of Our Mothers... "The Little Prince" Is a Royal Treat Temporal Powers Woody Guthrie and Kaddish Staging "Astys" "Benito Cereno" Is a Stage-worthy Tale of the Sea Dally with the Devil Dublin by Lamplight The Invested Hell's Belles "The Lapsburgh Layover" "Dust to Dust" "The Select ( The Sun Also Rises)" "Hero: The Musical" at Lincoln Center Fringe review: "Three Times She Knocked" "Jerusalem" with Mark Rylance "Master Class" at Manhattan Theatre Club "Unnatural Acts" by Classic Stage Company Cristina's Vision--"Manipulation" at Cherry Lane Theater "Measure for Measure" at Shakespeare in the Park Irish Rep Give "Tryst" a Different Twist "All's Well That Ends Well" at Shakespeare in the Park Unproduced Tennesse Williams Piece, "One Arm," Performed at Theatre Row "The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith" "11 O' Clock Numbers at 11 O' Clock" at Feinstein's in The Regency Hotel "Born Yesterday" with "According to Jim" star Jim Belushi and Nina Arianda "The House of Blue Leaves" with an All-Star Cast "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" with Robin Williams "King Lear" by William Shakespeare   The 65th Annual Tony Awards at the Beacon Theater The American Theatre Wing's 65th annual Tony Awards ceremony was held on Sunday June 12 at the Beacon Theater in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. Neil Patrick Harris, who hosted the 2009 awards, returned to host this year's ceremony, which honored Nick Stafford's "War Horse" for Best Play, "The Book of Mormon" for Best Musical, "The Normal Heart" for Best Revival of a Play, and "Anything Goes" for Best Revival of a Musical. By Clarissa Marzán. The 67th Theatre World Awards A May 10 announcement honored twelve actors for Outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway Debut Performances during the 2010-2011 theatrical season and announced the winners of the inaugural award for Lunt-Fontanne Award for Ensemble Excellence as well as the winners of the third annual Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence. The invitation-only Theatre World Awards presentation took place on Tuesday, June 7 and was hosted by Peter Filichia. The ceremony also presented a tribute to John A. Willis, the founder of the Theatre World Awards, who passed away in June 2010. By Clarissa Marzán. The 56th Obie Awards A big crowd from Off and Off-Off Broadway gathered for the Obie Awards Ceremony to celebrate the art of Theater at Webster Hall on Monday May 16 in Greenwich Village. S. Epatha Merkerson and David Hyde Pierce co-hosted the ceremony, accompanied by big stars such as Alec Baldwin and Liev Schreiber introducing the awards and the winners. By Agate Elie. The 61st Outer Critics Circle Awards "Anything Goes" and "The Book of Mormon" received the most accolades from the Outer Critics Circle Awards when the results were released on Monday May 16, preceding the celebratory awards dinner to be held on May 26 at Sardi's Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. With both productions winning four awards apiece, "Anything Goes" won Outstanding Revival of a Musical and "The Book of Mormon" received Outstanding New Broadway Musical. By Clarissa Marzán. The 76th New York Drama Critics Circle Awards The winners of the 76th annual New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards were honored at the celebratory dinner at Agnus McIndoe in Midtown Manhattan on Monday May 16. The panel of theater critics struggled to choose the winner of Best Play, as they underwent four rounds of voting before finally conferring the award to David Lindsay-Abaire's "Good People." By Clarissa Marzán.