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Dance
Reviews, Cabaret Reviews and Film
Reviews are in their own sections
"Flo" by Toby Armour, directed by Joan
Kane
WHat would you sell your soul for? Under the direction of Joan Kane, Toby
Armour’s fantastical satire of the American Dream blends magical
realism with philosophical ruminations about identity, morality, happiness,
and the question whether we are endowed with a soul, and what that means
for each of us in our time that is riven by strife, greed, and corrupt
power. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Red Bull's "Titus Andronicus"
Red Bull Theater’s "Titus Andronicus" arrives like a punch
to the gut—and stays there. This is Shakespeare’s bloodiest
play given a production that understands exactly what it is: a horror
film on a classical stage, rendered by director Jesse Berger with precision,
brutality, and moments of unsettling lightness that make the violence
land even harder. By Lucy Komisar.
Another view of "Flo" by Toby Armour
What if you had access to all the power in the world? What would you do?
Make your self rich? Beautiful? Famous? That’s what happens to Flo
when her devilish friend Max gives her the power to do and be whatever
she wants in this parody. Larry Litt says, let it put a smile on your
face in these rough times.
Henrik Ibsen’s "Doll House" as
told by August Strindberg and adapted by Robert Greer
Robert Greer, Founder/Director of the Strindberg Rep, a resident company
at Theater for the New City, adapted and directed this iteration of “Doll
House” by Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906) as he imagines the play through
August Strindberg’s eyes. This theatrical possibility is perhaps
not too far-fetched since Strindberg in a preface to a story excoriated
the play as too feminist, especially with its dramatic conclusion—the
famous “door slam heard around the world.” By Beate Hein Bennett.
Ulysses
Elevator Repair Service, the downtown troupe known for its marathon adaptations
of literary modernism, has brought “Ulysses” to the Public
Theater. Directed by John Collins and Scott Shepherd, the production gathers
seven gifted actors around a long table, facing the audience, and proceeds
to demonstrate that even live human breath can’t warm up Joyce’s
polarizing prose. By Lucy Komisar.
Chinese Republicans
Alex Lin’s new play, “Chinese Republicans,” presented
by the Roundabout Theatre Company, is ambitious, aiming to dissect the
generational fissures within Chinese-American identity while simultaneously
taking a sledgehammer to the glass ceiling of late-stage capitalism. By
Lucy Komisar.
"Bug"
“Bug” by Tracy Letts is more than a top-tier psychological
horror story. It asks how fantasy metastasizes in peoples’ loneliness
and powerlessness. In an era where conspiracy theories have moved from
the fringe to the mainstream, Letts’s play, first produced in 1996,
feels unnervingly of this moment. It forces us to ask: At what point does
the desperate need for a story—any story—to make sense of
our pain, become a bug we can never pick off? This is a gripping, masterfully
acted production that will cling to you long after you’ve left the
theater.By Lucy Komisar.
The United States vs. Ulysses
At a time of book-banning, what could be more timely than a look back
at the trial of nearly 100 years ago where earlier yahoos were upset at
the 4-letter words in James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” That
probably got a lot of people to read, or at least start the book. And
it is the basis for an engrossing and very entertaining reenactment written
by Colin Murphy, directed by Conall Morrison. By Lucy Komisar.
Antigone in Analysis
Barbara Barclay claims to have had mother problems. So what better way
to work them out than writing a hilarious travesty about an ancient Theban
family and their attempts at some kind of sanity perhaps leading to normalcy.
Let me clue you in. A ‘travesty’ is by definition a burlesque
translation or literary or artistic imitation usually grotesquely incongruous
in style, treatment, or subject matter. Like in the Oxford theater clubs
that spawned Monty Python’s Flying Circus that still rules the world
of television and stage comedy. Yes this is a travesty in the best possible
way. By Larry Littany Litt.
Antigone (This Play I Read in High School)
In Anna Ziegler’s play, directed by Tyne Rafaeli, the conflict centers
on Antigone’s decision to have an abortion, despite Creon’s
recently enacted law making the procedure illegal. A woman’s autonomy
and her right to have control over what happens to her body is a narrower,
but nevertheless important issue, although certainly not one that would
have concerned Ancient Greece. By Paulanne Simmons.
"The Bat"
In "The Bat," playwright Toth reports she is telling a Hungarian
story. Krisztina Toth and director Ilidiko Nemeth are both natives of
that challenging country. The nation looks beautiful and strong on the
outside. Ah, but once our drama starts digging for a soul, what will we
find? I found it to be a universal representation of where our bureaucratic
society has gone wrong. By Larry Littany Litt.
"Tied"
Actor Jason E. Carmichael has found himself a tour de force with "Tied,"a
one-man play by Crystal Rae, which centers on an African-American father
named Daniel whose youngest daughter died in the KKK bombing of the 16th
Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL in 1963. As he reflects on his
life in the aftermath of the bombing, he gives us a lesson in grief and
the constant struggle of a Black man to suppress his feelings and to surrender
to the pressures and demands of white society. Sitting on his porch--a
symbolic space inside his own mind--Daniel recounts his childhood, his
marriage, and the powerful influence of his father and ancestors, whose
voices live within him. By Barney Yates.
"Data"
Matthew Libby’s unnerving new play is about the young engineers
building the surveillance state, one algorithm at a time.Directed with
clinical precision by Tyne Rafaeli, “Data” often feels less
like fiction and more like a documentary that wandered into the theater
by mistake. It taps directly into the ambient dread of our current moment,
evoking the spectral presences of Palantir, ICE, and the Orwellian proliferation
of government data-gathering. This is not a sci-fi vision of the future;
it is a slightly dramatized everyday afternoon. By Lucy Komisar.
"Dust of Egypt"
Two towering black slave women, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, emerged
in the 19th century to join the struggle against slavery and its cruel
dehumanizing effects, notably the separation of families through slave
auctions. “Dust of Egypt” tells the remarkable story of Sojourner
Truth (1797 -1883). Born into slavery as “Bell” on a farm
in upstate New York, she bravely escaped, leaving all her children but
one daughter behind. (In 1827 New York state enacted a law to eliminate
slavery gradually but she was not released by her owner). Under her self-created
name “Sojourner Truth” she became a powerful orator as a migrant
preacher.By Beate Hein Bennett.
Beneath the Ice of the Vistula
“Beneath the Ice of the Vistula” by Roman Freud takes us back
to Warsaw in August 1939, the eve of World War II, to tell the story of
two people. An uncanny present-day parallel offers itself—Ukraine,
February 24, 2022! The theater offers the opportunity to contemplate history
on a visceral level, not through the great scheme of politics, but through
the effects and dramatic predicaments of politics or living history on
human beings and their relationships, social and spiritual. This play
lays bare the dynamics of how an impending sense of doom, undefined at
first, gradually intrudes into formerly fixed expectations of social norms
(or prejudices) and even the sense of Self. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Bill Irwin on Beckett
Bill Irwin loves words—specifically those of Samuel Beckett. In
his one-man, 80-minute tour-de-force, Irwin makes his audience love Beckett,
too (if they didn’t already) while also getting us to give it up
for the performer/creator’s own skills as an observer, respondent,
philosopher, interpreter, rubber-limbed trickster, and raconteur. By Dorothy
Chansky.
"Fog and Ice"
The sea plays, “Ile” and “Fog”, dating from about
1912/14 by Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) are rarely performed theatrical
gems, so it is especially gratifying to see them together with Esther
E. Galbraith’s “Brink of Silence“ in an excellent production
at Theatre Row's Theatre 2, a small intimate space. While the three plays
take place on vast frozen oceans, the plays themselves delve into the
intimate interior of human beings.By Beate Hein Bennett.
"Liberation"
“Liberation” demeans the movement it aims to honor as exploitive
soap opera. By Lucy Komisar.
"The Baker's Wife" at CSC
The bread crisis in the small Provençal town of Concorde is urgent,
existential and entirely self-inflicted. This is the buttery premise of
“The Baker’s Wife,” the charming, stubbornly hokey,
and ultimately satisfying musical that has rolled into the Classic Stage
Company with the comforting aroma of a warm baguette. By Lucy Komisar.
Chess
This play about a politically fraught chess match between an American
and Russian champion in 1979 lasted only two months on Broadway in 1988,
when Ronald Reagan was president. The time of the “evil empire.”
(Plus ça change.) So maybe even then this Russophobic play was
a wrong call. By Lucy Komisar.
Robert Icke's "Oedipus"
Robert Icke at only 43 solidifies his place among Britain’s theatrical
greats with his stunning new production of Oedipus at Studio 54. A master
of turning classic plays into modern parables—from Hamlet to The
Doctor— Icke now takes Sophocles’ 2,500-year-old tragedy and
forges it into a riveting, contemporary political thriller.By Lucy Komisar.
Karin Coonrod directs "King Lear" at
La MaMa
In La MaMa's production of "King Lear," produced in n association
with COMPAGNIA DE’ COLOMBARI, there are several striking aspects
of Karin Coonrod’s directorial conception of this tragedy that emphasize
not only the individual tragedies that happen in the play, but present
the collective political disaster in Shakepeare’s text—the
nihilism that lies in absolute power as it “absolutely corrupts”
not only the person who holds absolute power but is sustained by those
who feed parasitically from being in the aura of this power. By Beate
Hein Bennett.
"Sima" and "E.G." by Leonard
Lehrman
“Sima” is a chamber opera with multiple characters and a small
orchestra on stage. “E.G.” is a monodrama about Emma Goldman
accompanied by a sole pianist who duologues with E.G. as her various lovers.
The plot of “Sima” is an imaginary story about Sima, a poor
Jewish girl that has been orphaned, like many other children, during a
1905 pogrom in the Ukraine. The timeliness of both works is palpable,
given our present political climate.By Beate Hein Bennett.
The Queen of Versailles
According to folklore, Sarah Winchester constantly added to her house,
Llanada Villa, a mansion home in San Jose, to confuse vengeful spirits.
Visitors are puzzled by stairways leading to nowhere and doors that open
onto walls. However, some believe Winchester was not so much fearful of
spirits as intent on building an architectural masterpiece.
Either way, the modern-day incarnation of a woman who couldn’t
stop building is Jackie Siegel. She was once the subject of an award-winning
documentary by Lauren Greenfield’s. And now her life is being reviewed
once again in "The Queen of Versailles," a musical with a book
by Lindsey Ferrentino and score by Stephen Schwartz. By Paulanne Simmons.
"A Christmas Carol, Oy! Hanukkah, Merry
Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan" with Czech Marionettes
Trust Vit Horejs, a master of Czech puppetry, to expand Charles Dickens’s
classic “A Christmas Carol” to include various traditions
celebrated during the Christmas and Hanukkah season, including Kwanzaa
and adding Ramadan for good measure. By Beate Hien Bennett.
Gruesome Playground Injuries
Two handers are demanding. The roles demand agile and varied execution,
and the actors are on stage all the way through. In the revival of Rajiv
Joseph’s 2009 “Gruesome Playground Injuries” at the
Lucille Lortel Theatre , Nicholas Braun and Kara Young raise the performance
the bar -- at time so high, the altitude can make you woozy. By Glenda
Frank.
What if They Ate the Baby?
There’s some so appealing about synchronization. It touches our
sense of order and comedy, and performers Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland,
who also wrote and directed “What If They Ate the Baby?” are
impressively adept at finding its many variations, from gesture to costumes
and props. This is a very welcome out-of-the-box creation, the winner
of three Fringe First awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The SoHo
Playhouse production is its Off-Broadway debut. By Glenda Frank.
Jamie Lloyd's version of "Waiting for Godot"
Jamie Lloyd’s vision of Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,”
is set in the opening of a huge round tunnel where the protagonists Estragon/Gogo
(Keanu Reeves) and Vladimir/Didi (Alex Winer) hang out, sometimes climbing
up and sliding down the circular walls. The set is by Soutra Gilmour.
Usually, one begins by talking about the text of the play and the acting.
In this case, the set overwhelms all. By Lucy Komisar.
Murdoch: The Final Interview
A journalist is interviewing Rupert Murdoch about his life. Except it
is more than it seems. Lucy Komisar figured it out midway but it doesn’t
really matter to say it now: it’s his conscience. Which doesn’t
exist. Otherwise, the interview is quite hokey.
Archduke
Rajiv Joseph’s “Archduke” at the Roundabout is a surreal
and entertaining take on an attempt to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand
of Serbia organized by a soi-dissant military leader who wants to derail
the Austro-Hungarian empire and achieve Serbian independence and Slavic
unification. Joseph is masterful at historical plays, and this is directed
with a combination of realism and absurdity by Darko Tresnjak, who was
born and raised in Zemun where some of the action takes place.By Lucy
Komisar.
Are the Bennett girls OK?
What happens when you mix the characters of a late 18th century novel
by Jane Austin with the sensibility of modern teenage girls who spend
their time on dating apps and 20-something boys who seem stuck in a past
century or are confused about the current one? Inspired by “Pride
and Prejudice,” Emily Breeze’s play with music plays a bit
loose with the text but is a happy romp that could have been set in a
sorority house as much as at a modest estate in the English countryside.
By Lucy Komisasr.
"Kyoto"
This was the most important play you can see this season. Essential to
understanding the current climate conference in Brazil and the malevolent
role the United States has played in the effort to save the planet from
destruction. It is written by Jose Murphy and Joe Robertson, directed
by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, and performed by Royal Shakespeare
Company in the Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi Newhouse. By Lucy Komisar.
"Art"
“Art," a smart surreal comedy by Yasmina Reza, skewers French
intellectuals and questions male friendship. By Lucy Komisar.
“Truman vs. Israel: Abzug and the Undressing
of Truman” by William Spatz
This drama of the fictional encounter between Harry S. Truman and Bella
Abzug displays the full complexity of political life and the persons that
move the world into new directions and solutions, for better or worse,
and all imperfect because the human being is not really made for decision
making on the grand scale that is required of a leader of a state or a
nation.By Beate Hein Bennett.
The Honey Trap
History files our wars away in tidy folders with dates and locations.
But wars ferment well before their starting dates and often they don’t
end with peace agreements, especially for those who lived on the front
lines. It’s not just the trauma or the wounds, but that people don’t
want to let go. They believe that moving on is a failure of loyalty and
love. “The Honey Trap,” Leo McGann’s new play about
The Troubles in Northern Ireland, is a powerful take on guilt, regret,
and revenge. It’s set in the present with flashbacks to 1979, when
young soldiers were sent to Belfast to maintain British Rule. At Irish
Arts. By Glenda Frank.
First Warning
August Strindberg (1849-1912) is not exactly known for writing comedy,
much less farce, unless one considers the farcical elements in his dark
marital tragedies. Thus it is with some expectation that one comes to
see the Strindberg Rep’s American world premiere of "First
Warning," the semi-autobiographical marital comedy (or satire) in
Robert Greer’s translation and in his direction. The play sketches
the vagaries of marital love and jealousy, immature infatuation and languorous
flirtation in a household of four ill-matched characters—three impetuous
women and one rather feckless man. Husband Axel and wife Olga, the elderly
landlady, the Baroness, and her teenage daughter Rosa engage in an ever-changing
pas de quatre of seduction and repulsion. By Beate Hein Bennett.
"Mexodus"
There’s a lot of what sounds like hype about “Mexodus,”
but it’s all true. It is high octane, high quality, poignant and
funny. The combination of history and original music, “Mexodus”
was probably inspired by “Hamilton,” but it is definitely
next generation, not musical theatre although it’s theatre with
16 integrated songs, not audience participation although the audience
is part of the process, not much of a story line although story is its
thread. At its heart are two talented tricksters, writer-performers who
touch dozens of emotions without even losing their sense of the absurd
and tongue-in-cheek humor. By Glenda Frank.
A Distinct Society
In Kareem Fahmy’s “A Distinct Society,” recently closed
in Weston, VT, but likely soon to enjoy quite an afterlife in regional
and university theatres, the line in the sand is the border between the
United States and Canada. Specifically, it is that bit of the border that
runs through the center of the Haskell Free Library (an actual public
library) in Derby Line, the actual Vermont town that straddles the border.
(The Canadian side is Stanstead, Quebec.) Set Designer Alexander Woodward
makes the line through the library’s reading. The moral? Boundaries
are useless when curiosity, generosity, and love are involved. By Dorothy
Chansky.
The Life and Death of King John
One of Shakespeare’s rarely performed history plays about the turbulent
“Troublesome Reign” of King John (1199-1216) has found its
way onto a New York stage with multiple resonances to our turbulent political
era under “King” Donald J. Trump and his stacked House of
Cards. The Smoking Mirror Company under the direction of John Gordon tackles
this difficult script of convoluted historical events with multiple characters
of questionable ethics playing with people’s lives, all in the arguable
legitimate interest of a deadly ‘game of thrones.’ By Beate
Hein Bennett.
The Animals Speak
Playwright Cameron Darwin Bossert, a multi-talented artist and founder
of Thirdwing, depicts in his play, Part 3 of a trilogy entitled “A
Venomous Color,” select scenes from the 1941 tour that took Walt
Disney and his wife Lillian to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.Thirwing has
an interesting new theater concept. The Wild Project is to be commended
for supporting innovative companies and new theater concepts in its great
theater space. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Theater for the New City's 2025 Street Theater
tour
The point of "Home Sweet Home or A Life in New York" is to spend
an afternoon being entertained by a provocative and historical theater
event about New York and its hard working immigrants. You will not just
be entertained with what are essentially patriotic songs but you will
walk away singing about our city, our “Home Sweet Home.” By
Larry Litt.
"Midsummer Night's Dream" in a Parking
Lot
Beate Hein Bennett celebrates The rilling Company's production of Shakespeare's
most popular comedy, which runs for three weeks in a Lower East Side parking
lot. She calls for a longer run.
LUCY KOMISAR SPECIALS
The Ungodly
This'll take you back to a time when conspiracy theorists murdered
innocents. The villains of this play were early conspiracy theorists
who used techniques that have never gone out of style: viz the U.S.
1920s Red Scare, the 1950s McCarthy time and of course today when
people with “wrong” ideas are jailed or deported. It’s
where the phrase “witch hunter” comes from. The Red
Rose Chain, a nonprofit theater in Ipswich, England, presented a
chilling theatrical recollection of this time at 59E59 Theaters.
By Lucy Komisar.
Real Women Have Curves
Lucy Komisar didn’t like the part where audiences are told
it is fine to be fat and even obese in spite of never mentioned
medical results, including diabetes and death.
Just in Time
Jonathan Groff in “Just In Time” is as good as the Bobby
Darin he creates. Groff is a terrific performer – singer,
actor, dancer. The script is clichéd; it’s Darin’s
life but done cartoonishly. This show will do well in Vegas. By
Lucy Komisar.
“Maybe Happy Ending”
Welcome to a silly sci fi musical about two sentient robots. By
Lucy Komisar.
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
tells how the U.S. military brainwashes recruits to kill, kill,
kill
This sci fi play is an allegory of how the U.S. military brainwashes
recruits to make them kill even when they don’t want to. How
it takes “normal” young men and turns them into killer
“monsters.” By Lucy Komisar.
"Boop! The Musical"
“Boop! The Musical” is still a cartoon, but a star turn
for Jasmine Amy Rogers. Just forget the sillly story. By Lucy Komisar.
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Glengarry Redux
David Mamet’s play, staged on Broadway in 1984, getting a revival
with movie star Kieran Culkin, pits a collection of real estate salesman
against each other as if they were in an MMA combat. (That is mixed martial
arts, for the non-cognoscenti.) A punch here, a kick there, blood on the
ground. That is to say that under Patrick Marber’s direction, it
is overwrought, overacted and implausible. To switch metaphors, the office
and inhabitants resemble a mental institution more than a tough, competitive
real estate sales office. This forty-year old play doesn’t age well.
By Lucy Komisar.
“Death Becomes Her”
This clever, comic surreal satire about fixation on beauty is what Lucy
Komisar usually doesn't like. But she liked it.
Floyd Colllins
Why would one want to do a play about a man trapped in cave in rural Kentucky
in the winter of 1925? A true story. The book is by Tina Landau who also
directed and presented it first in 1994 in Philadelphia. The Lincoln Center
production is the Broadway premier. By Lucy Komisar.
"The Wash"
The play “The Wash” by Kelundra Smith, based on historical
fact, is set in Atlanta in 1881 and portrays the remarkable resourcefulness
of a group of Black laundry women who demand fair wages for their work
and initiate a strike to fight for their just demands against their mostly
white employers who routinely stiff them of their wages. By Beate Hein
Bennett.
Leni's Last Lament
To compress the long complex life of Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003), one
of the most revolutionary film makers and controversial personalities
of the 20th century into a brief 80 minutes takes a thought-experiment
sort of approach. The playwright Gil Kofman does that at The Paradise
Factory with an imagined post-mortem Leni Riefenstahl who rallies all
her seductive manipulative powers to present fragments of her life as
an artist while justifying her choices as a human being. By Beate Hein
Bennett.
Those Who Remained
Sophia Gutchinov, the author and performer of “Those Who Remained”
has delved deeply into her own mixed heritage of Kalmyk-Mongolian and
Italian origins to retrieve the sources of her private being and public
persona. Born in New Jersey and living in NYC, she is the very embodiment
of the American immigrant experience. By Beate Hien Bennett.
Good Night and Good Luck
“Good Night, and Good Luck,” the smartly-staged story of how
news reporter Edward R. Murrow helped bring down the malicious “junior
senator from Wisconsin,” Joseph McCarthy, occurred in the early
1950s but could have been set today. By Lucy Komisar.
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Sarah Snook is brilliant as Dorian Gray and all the other 25
characters in this morality play about the decadent British upper class.
The Oscar Wilde novel, written in 1890, is about a young self-centered
fop who doesn’t want to grow old, and, after his portrait is painted
by a friend, makes a pact with the devil (as it were), to have his face
stay the same while the ravages of time and his excesses are shown on
the painting secreted in his childhood playroom. The stage adaptation
is by Kip Williams, who is also director. By Lucy Komisar.
Dakar 2000
This slow-moving political thriller sets a State Department official in
Senegal (or does she work for another agency?) against a young Peace Corps
volunteer who “reallocated” U.S. government bags of concrete
to help build a community garden instead of fortifying his house against
deep state expected Muslim terrorist attacks. (They haven’t happened.)
She will send him home unless he cooperates on a plan to catch a purported
terrorist. By Lucy Komisar.
Redwood
“Redwood,” a soap opera about people who climb giant trees,
writes out activist who protested corporate logging. By Lucy Komisar.
The Antiquities
Lucy Komisar speculates that playwright Harrison threw a bunch of dates
and events (invention of first computer, warnings that AI threatens society)
at an AI writing app and this is what came out. Oy.
Sunset Boulevard
The best thing about the revival of “Sunset Boulevard” (book
and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton) which starred Glen Close
in 1993 and 2017 is the singing by Nicole Scherzinger as the faded film
star Norma Desmond. The second best is her famous final line: “I’m
ready for my closeup,” now in common parlance. Not so good is the
over-the-top camp acting or script. By Lucy Komisar.
Forbidden Broadway
Lucy Komisar writes, the performers in Gerard Alessandrini’s “Forbidden
Broadway” are routinely as good or better than those they mimic
and satirize, and this year’s is no exception.
Fatherland
This play unintentionally exposes the mainstream political fakery about
the January 6 protest by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. And also
the treachery of a son who turns in his father to the FBI even though
he knows the father, distraught at a downturn costing his job, drinks,
takes Zantac for anxiety and is prone to exaggerate. By Lucy Komisar.
We Live in Cairo
This powerful musical drama is about a group of artistic friends –
musicians, wall spray painter, photographer – who, prompted by the
political radical among them – organize participation in the 2011
“Arab Spring” movement in Egypt that brought down U.S.-supported
dictator Hosni Mubarak. It was written by Daniel and Patrick Lazour, brothers
who grew up in Massachusetts.
The Hills of California
The hills of California in Jez Butterworth’s engrossing feminist
play are not real but mirages in a story of working-class dreams and desperation.
It’s 1955, and Veronica (Laura Donnelly) is consumed with making
her four young girls a worldclass music success. Like many a Mama Rose,
her chief goal appears to be liberation from her own life. By Lucy Komisar.
Our Town
In 1938, there were many current themes unacceptable on the stage, so
ordinary life endorsing the choices of audiences (almost everyone gets
married) would be a success. And this is interesting as part of the American
theater canon. But, today, in spite of the woke direction by Kenny Leon,
it’s a period piece that pales, according to Lucy Komisar.
A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
Louis Armstrong was a sublime performer. This play is a great recreation
of his music with terrific dancing, but it’s more vaudeville show
than drama. It shifts quickly through his career as a black artist. Some
interesting stuff about dealing with gangsters and Hollywood racism but
too much about his four wives. Best is James Monroe Iglehart as Armstrong
who has brilliantly copied his gravelly voice.
The Road Ahead
Inspired by The Twilight Zone, Barbara Kahn has written and directed "The
Road Ahead," a play that takes a young, gay couple on a journey of
self-discovery. With a certain mysterious woman as the Guide (Steph Van
Vlack) they are able to set their marriage and their lives back on the
right track. By Paulanne Simmons.
Old Friends
Paulanne Simmons writes, "I am not a huge Sondheim fan. But 'Old
Friends,' the fantastic Sondheim revue now at The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre,
is one of the best shows I’ve seen on Broadway in a long time. It
is produced and devised by Cameron Mackintosh, who came up with the idea
with Sondheim during the pandemic. And it consists of songs from the shows
he and Sondheim worked on together with their friend, Julia McKenzie."
Four Evangelists Walk Into a Fog
Beae Hein Bennett reports, "If you like to see and hear a play of
ideas with lively dialogue and a wink-of-the-eye that brings great ideas
that have moved the world into a human scale where we can appreciate the
historical legends and myths as an effort to exert social influence (for
better or for worse), come see 'Four Evangelists Walk Into a Fog'—the
fog of bigotry will lift, I promise."
That's (Not) All She Wrote...
In the down under Cabaret space of Theater for the New City, a collective
of feisty middle-aged women writers, known as the Westchester Collaborative
Theater of Ossining, performed a series of stories to an appreciative
intimate audience of mainly ‘mature’ women with a few men
among them. The stories appeared to be based on personal experience, and
they touched the nerve of any woman who grew up in America in the 50s,
reaching young adulthood in the 60s and 70s. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Café Resistance
In these dark times of our own homegrown would-be “great dictator”
and his collective of sycophants with increasingly repressive notions,
the idea of “Café Resistance” would seem to be a timely
theatrical entertainment, and it is. Roberto Monticello’s concoction
is set in a Parisian low-class bordello on the eve of the German occupation
in 1940, purportedly based on actual stories about the French Resistance
which had its cells in many underground places, such as bordellos where
the occupiers could regale themselves to sex and liquor. And where informants
from both sides could operate and become (literally) strange bedfellows—with
information traveling “under cover” of darkness. By Beate
Hein Bennett.
“Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.”
“Glass,” “Kill,” and “What If If Only”
are smart Caryl Churchill plays, surreal metaphors of how people live
as individuals and in societies. Of course, they are metaphors, and it
takes Churchill’s inventiveness and director James MacDonald’s
direct realistic portrayals to make them engage you. By Lucy Komisar.
A Black Hole where the Soul Vanishes: “Blackbird”
by David Harrowe
This particular production of a difficult play by one of the most renowned
present British playwrights demonstrates that the best theater in New
York can often be found in hidden spaces. By Beate Hein Bennett
Ibsen's "Ghosts" at Lincoln Center
Moral hypocrisy never goes out of style, and Norwegian playwright Hendrik
Ibsen was a master at demolishing it. “Ghosts,” then called Gengangere
(“the ones who return,”) published in 1881 and presented at
that time in Norway and the US, aroused the fury of the smug burghers
on both sides of the Atlantic with its searing portrait of an honorable
gentleman as sexual predator. Perhaps because Ibsen not only took on forbidden
subjects such as sexual abuse and venereal disease, but because pillars
of society such as clergy were shown to share guilt for the evil done
to “polite” society’s victims. By Lucy Komisar.
Buena Vista Social Club
“The Buena Vista Social Club” is about a Cuban band founded
in 1996 made up of musicians that had played decades earlier, in the late
1950s, importantly on the cusp of the 1960 Cuban revolution. Their album
released in 1997 became an international success. Some performed in the
U.S. and Europe, and the band was the subject of a Wim Wenders documentary
in 1999. Marco Ramírez has taken the songs and written a story
to tie them together, moving between the 90s and flashbacks to the 50s,
though the people of the story are no longer alive. By Lucy Komisar.
"Purpose"
“Purpose” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has more twists than a
corkscrew. Though the drinks here are hard liquor, not wine. And director
Phylicia Rashad, also a fine actor, keeps the pace so fast but smooth
that you almost run to keep up. It is a not-to-miss play by an author
who has become one of today’s not-to-miss playwrights. By Lucy Komisar.
Chekhov in Brooklyn and Washington
“Rich or poor,” goes a family adage, “it’s nice
to have money.” This could be the watchword for virtually all the
characters in “Uncle Vanya” and “The Cherry Orchard,”
two reliably malleable staples in the oeuvre of Anton Chekhov. Chekhov
is thriving in the world of re-imagined classics, enjoying a deserved
place beside Shakespeare, Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes,
and Molière. No more obligatory black dresses, overflowing samovars,
lugubrious hand-wringing (maybe a little), fussy gardens, or fusty translations.
Gone are the days of needing to look up or Google “boiled sweets”
or “accoucheur,” begins Dorothy Chansky.
Swallows
Larry Litt writes, "I know I’m supposed to think that playwright
Jill Pangallo’s retro dramedy is about sad characters that she wraps
in her own brand of irony and sarcasm. But I’m sorry I don’t
think that at all. I had too much fun to think that the reality of aging
rockers with secrets is going to change my mood. This is a play for those
who want a bit of everything contemporary thrown into a high speed blender
and out comes a super cool delicious smoothie that will blow your head
off with wit and spice."
According to Howard
Howard Hughes was an aerospace engineer, wealthy entrepreneur, film producer
and philanthropist. He was also charming, ruthless and very eccentric.
Surely this is the stuff of great drama. But somehow According to Howard,
the third and last of York Theatre Company’s season of New2NY musicals,
doesn’t exactly soar. By Pulanne Simmons.
Who is Jimmy Pants?
If you missed A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, or The Cher
Show, or Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, have no fear. Now there’s
Who Is Jimmy Pants? a new musical that summarizes and satirizes all those
jukebox musicals Broadway, if not always the critics, loves so much. By
Paulanne Simmons.
Platinum Dreams
The first production of York Theatre’s Spring 2025 “New2NY”
series is Platinum Dreams, a three hander about Lila Halliday, a 1940s
movie star and singer planning to stage a comeback with the help of record
producer Jamie Stiles (Jovan E’Sean). This doesn’t seem to
be a particularly new idea and unfortunately book writer Stevie Holland
adds nothing special to it. By Paulanne Simmons.
"Café Resistance"
This WWII story by Roberto Monticello, directed by Lissa Moira, of French
prostitutes' resistance to the Nazi occupation hits a nerve in our time.
Eric Uhlfelder writes, "Café Resistance is the most ambitious
Off-Off Broadway I’ve ever seen," adding "Big stars are
currently holding stage on Broadway these days. But for theatergoers looking
for something less glamourless, less polished, and a far more personal
experience, I recommend stopping by the Blue Parrot."
Last Call
Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) and Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) may
be two of the most renowned conductors of the 20th century. Both certainly
were the most visible in the classical orchestra world and perhaps the
most controversial in terms of their personal style and reputation. In
1988 the two met accidentally in Vienna in the Blaue Bar [Blue Bar] of
the Hotel Sacher before Karajan’s performance with the Berlin Philharmonic
in Vienna and Bernstein receiving an award from the City of Vienna. That
meeting proved to be their last. "Last Call" by Pater Danish
is a look back at it. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Fog and Filthy Air
What does an aspiring playwright living in New York City on subsistence
between restaurant jobs and hope do when his mother makes an emergency
call to come and pick up his parents and their car from the Hound Dog
Motel, a per hour rental flee-bag on the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee?
He is to drive them back home to Staten Island! A nice son obliges and
takes a twenty hour bus trip to…purgatory! He arrives to find his
parents with bags packed ready to go but, as he is to find out quickly,
his father is in some strange state of mind unable to drive. And from
here on the family drama unravels in a brisk sketch of personal problems
that touch on the social ills behind the American Dream. Tom Diriwachter
tells us all about it in "Fog and Filthy Air." By Beate Hein
Bennett.
Lists of Promises
The question: Is “A Room of One’s Own” enough to satisfy
the ever increasing demands of the creative female mind? This quote from
Virginia Wolff’s 1928 long and fundamental university lecture of
the same name kicks off this wildly imaginative performance. However "Lists
of Promises" claims another origin story and inspiration from sculptor
and art historian Merlin Stone’s equally important 1976 feminist
exposition, “When God Was a Woman.” The creative team is quoting
two of feminism’s most famous thinkers. Yet this performance is
about so much more, at least from Larry Litt's male gaze.
"Above Ground—Not Exactly a Comedy"
If you feel like dancing, go ahead --you’re never too young or too
old, and if/or when you are old(er), you certainly don’t care what
anybody else might think of you. That is the moral of an ensemble of ten
actors, ages 74—98, and their two directors, Nancy Gabor and Paul
Binnerts who assembled and choreographed this delightful and thought provoking
performance “Above Ground—Not Exactly a Comedy.” By
Beate Hein Bennett.
The Magic of Light
The Yara Arts Group, in residence at La Mama E.T.C., is producing an exquisite,
though strenuously complex seventy-minute, multi-media show through March
16th in La Mama’s Downstairs theater. It showcases spoken-word theater
and poetry, instrumental music (on the ancient Ukrainian bandura, a kind
of cross between a portable harp and a zither, used to accompany oral
epics) and songs, puppetry (both rod puppets and shadow puppets), videos,
and, of course, delicate effects of lighting. By Mindy Aloff.
"The Magic of Light"
While American and European newspapers are providing daily news about
the present Russian aggression and decimation of an entire nation whose
legitimate independent existence is being denied, the people’s spirit
at home and abroad finds sustenance in its cultural traditions. The latest
offering by the Yara Arts Group under the founding leadership of Virlana
Tkacz connects to this spirit and fulfills a mission by unearthing and
presenting the work of artists that have shaped Ukrainian consciousness
and sensibility. By Beate Hein Bennett.
The Village Theatre Group in Arthur Miller's
"The Price"
It has become a rare occasion to see a modern classic, especially one
that resonates loudly in our mercurial times where the newest news and
information are stumbling over each other and leave us stunned by the
chaos. “The Price” by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) is such a
modern classic. It originally premiered in New York in February 1968,
another chaotic period. The present superb production proves the perennial
validity of Arthur Miller’s dramatic exploration into the American
psyche as it plays out within the nuclear family. By Beate Hein Bennett.
"Garside's Career" at the Mint
"Garside’s Career" is a play about the early 20th century
rise of a young artful orator who had just earned his coveted BA that’s
enhanced his prospects as an engineer. Instead, he jumps at the chance
to fill a newly opened Labour seat in British Parliament.By Eric Uhlfelder
The Best Brother
There are many internal and external circumstances that can sever family
bonds--divorce, discord, cultural divergences, convictions, ambitions
and life-style choices. These various causes of conflict are underlying
Victor Vauban Júnior’s play about the lives of two brothers:
Daniel, the older brother and Paulo, his younger brother by two years.
After their parents’ divorce, the father takes Daniel back to Angola,
his country of origin, while Paulo stays with the mother in Harlem. Twenty
eventful years pass before the two brothers meet each other again under
confounding circumstances. By Beate Hein Bennett.
"Night Sings Its Songs" by Jon Fosse
Jon Fosse, the contemporary Norwegian poet/novelist/playwright who received
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2023, touches a raw nerve with his play
“Night Sings Its Songs.” If COVID made us sensitive to social
isolation and mutual alienation, this play is for our post-pandemic times.
By Beate Hein Bennett.
"A Knock on the Roof"
It’s challenging to write about war. Many writers settle for recreating
skirmishes and battles, telling stories about the soldiers or the corollary
damage of victims caught in the crossfire. Khawla Ibraheem, both writer
and sole performer of “A Knock on the Roof,” now at New York
Theatre Workshop, brings us a Gazan woman who chooses an active stance,
and that perspectives makes a dramatic difference. We experience the danger
with Miriam. In every choice, we feel her terror and resourcefulness.
English
The women have head scarves and speak Farsi in “English” by
Sanaz Toossi, an Iranian-American who won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for
drama with this play. Set in 2008, the characters are taking a class in
Iran to perfect their English to go to America for various reasons: study,
get a job, see family. It might seem prosaic, but the heart of this story
is about language as identity. As one says, it’s to speak to our
souls. By Lucy Komisar.
Gypsy belongs to Audra McDonald
From the moment Audra McDonald enters to blasting horn music this is her
show. Forget the great actors of the past, Merman to LuPone. With superlative
acting and a stunning soprano, in every number her voice soars. McDonald
is not just a singer who acts, with deep feeling and expressive moods,
but an actor who sings, and it takes the play to a whole new dimension.
By Lucy Komisar.
Bodas de Blood
Federico Garcia Lorca (1899-1936), one of Spain’s most renowned
20th century playwrights and poets, left at his death by execution during
the Spanish Civil War a body of dramatic work that resonates with intensity
to this day, albeit his work is too rarely seen on stage in this country.
And so it should be much appreciated that two young ensembles are presenting
a bi-lingual version of Lorca’s powerful tragedy “Blood Wedding.”
Director and Adaptor Celeste Moratti (Founding Director of First Maria
Ensemble) has brought together an international ensemble of young actors
from Argentina, Italy, Poland, Colombia, Venezuela, Armenia, the Netherlands,
and the USA, all of whom have made their home here in New York and perform
this highly poetic play that plumbs the very depth of the human soul.
by Beate Hein Bennett.
Slap!
“Slap!” is a cabaret by Yara Arts Group on Ukrainian Futurist
painter David Burliuk. It takes the audience on a concentrated journey
through the world of art, through global history, and even the global
world of NYC’s East Village, traditionally a place of immigration
from Eastern Europe, more particularly Ukraine (note nearby Veselka, a
supporter of the production, and the Ukrainian National Home Restaurant).
If you want to breathe the air of (almost) yesteryear, come down to 9th
Street between First and Second avenues, climb down those hidden steep
stairs into the basement--and enjoy a special treat! By Beate Hein Bennett.
"Swept Away"
Tales of survival intrigue us. Perhaps because they bring out the best
and worst in humanity. The story of The Mignonette, told in "Swept
Away" on Broadway, is a fine example.
"Welcome to the Big Dipper"
The interaction of a bunch of strangers brought together by unusual circumstances
is a tried-and-true theme in musical theater. With fewer, better developed
characters and a more interesting score this big dipper might begin to
shine. By Paulanne Simmons
Strategic Love Play
Welcome to “Strategic Love Play,” a sharp, comic two-hander
by Miriam Battye, the ups-and-downs of the evening directed by Katie Posner.
Heléne has arrived with an agenda. No small talk, nothing but what
she wants and how to make him want it too. He wouldn’t mind a little
sympathy or stroking. She is as overwhelming as a gestating spider with
her mate. Coming on strong and direct is how Heléne masks her insecurity.
By Glenda Frank.
Fowl Play
One wouldn’t think that there are any connections to be made between
an allegorical epic poem by the 12th century Persian Sufi poet Farid Us-Din
Attar and our times but the Czech children’s book artist Peter Sís
has re-imagined it for our times (Penguin, 2011). That text with illustrations
by Peter Sís is the inspiration for the present world premiere
CAMT production, directed by Vít Horejš as an “object theatre rock
opera” with music and lyrics composed by Avi Fox-Rosen and choreography
by Martha Tornay. Vít Horejš, whose puppet productions have delighted
audiences of all ages for decades, has tacked with his production of “Fowl
Play: Conference of the Birds” into the ancient mystic realm of
human quests for spiritual fulfillment. By Beate Hein Bennett.
“Gatz” at The Public shows, after
100 years, F. Scott Fitzgerald got it right
Film director Joan Micklin Silver once told me that making a film from
a book, she had to pull the movie out of the book. But here director John
Collins has run the entire text of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The
Great Gatsby as a reading of Nick Carroway’s narrative, with
drama when dialogue pulls in the dozen actors. Even so, GATZ grabs you
so you cannot leave a 6 1/2-hour production. By Lucy Komisar.
It was worth stopping for "Gatz"
“Gatz” is one of those New York events that people travel
distances to view, an eight hour marathon devoted entirely to a story
theater presentation of “The Great Gatsby” by the Elevator
Repair Service. Over a decade ago, in 2010, ERS began presenting segments
of this show. The current marathon is in honor of the upcoming centennial
of the publication of this American classic. And it is marvelous! By Glenda
Frank.
Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library
The stakes are high. It is 1933 and Mrs. Stern is charged with treason,
a capital offense in the Third Reich. The newly established bureau for
political crimes is expanding exponentially. Mrs. Stern, known to us more
familiarly as Hannah Arendt -- one of the most influential political
theorists of the 20th century, who coined the phrase “the banality
of evil” at Adolph Eichmann’s trial -- has only her wits to
save her. The ninety minute play, directed by Ari Laura Kreith of Luna
Stages, is essentially a confrontation between the prisoner and the young
officer. By Glenda Frank.
Yellow Face
In “Yellow Face” a twist about anti-Asian racism turns a fiction
into reality. The under-story of David Henry Hwang’s play is more
important than the obvious story line. By Lucy Komisar.
McNeil
Lucy Komisar imagines what it would be like to invoke AI to write a review
about a play that has a writer using AI to pen his script.
Yellow Face
There’s an interesting and moving play somewhere in David Henry
Hwang’s "Yellow Face," but it is drowned in so many authorial
ticks and turnarounds it would take a sleuth with Holmesian ability to
find it. The comedy/farce/drama was originally produced in 2007 at the
Public Theater, directed by Leigh Silverman. Now the play has opened at
Broadway’s Todd Haimes Theatre, again directed by Silverman. By
Paulanne Simmons.
Vladimir
Good propaganda is subtle. You don’t know it’s propaganda.
Erika Sheffer’s play “Vladimir” is as subtle as a sledgehammer.
She hates the new state of Russia with a passion. Her play “Vladimir,”
presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club, is a pastiche of the attacks
the West has launched against Russia since the American neocons led by
Dick Cheney post-Glasnost decided (first quietly, now openly) to conquer
and divide it into weak mini-states, as if she were throwing mud at the
characters and hoping some of it would stick. By Lucy Komisar.
"Sump’n Like Wings"
Written soon after Oklahoma became a state in 1925, "Sump’n
Like Wings" by Rollie Lynn Riggs, which is not political in any way,
is about an anonymous family and a forgotten time, which may be the way
many folks in the flyover states may think the rest of the country see
them, who struggle to partake in the prosperity enjoyed by many who had
ventured out west at the turn of 19th century. This kind of quiet tale
speaks to the subtle enduring appeal of Mint productions and artistic
director Jonathan Bank’s perpetual search for lost plays, revealing
times past that speak to a contemporary audience. Bank has built a faithful
following over the thirty years the Mint has been bringing the past to
the stage just blocks away from Times Square. By Eric Uhlfelder.
"Lakeplay"
Drew Valins' play "Lakeplay" is a mixtape of romantic love with
comic touches plus mystery and psychological horror, set in a lakefront
cabin during the chilly months of early COVID. By Beate Hien Bennett.
"Dickhead"
In his kooky, spooky new play "Dickhead," Gil Kofman introduces
an ensemble of characters who have a few toes in reality and the rest
of them out there in cyber-fantasyland. Its unpredictability and
offbeat characters had Paul Berss always engaged and entertained.
"The Marriage" by Witold Gombrowicz
As the world has been roiling in ever expanding wars and people are fighting
for their very existence, this rarely performed play by Witold Gombrowicz
(1904-1969) about a young soldier returning home from war resonates with
immediacy. By Beate Hein Bennett.
The Goldberg-Variations
In "The Goldberg-Variations," now having its American premiere
at Theater for the New City, George Tabori’s “variations”
on the complex yet familiar condition humaine in Manfred Bormann’s
sharp staging is a welcome serious theatrical event for which Crystal
Field and TNC should be gratefully acknowledged. By Beate Hein Bennett.
KS6: Small Forward
The Belarus Free Theatre, founded and led by Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai
Khalezin, exemplifies the voice of protest while in forced exile in London,
but it also shows the possibility of theater artists creating a network
of support for those suffering the consequences of their protest actions
inside and outside Belarus, even extending their assistance to Ukrainian
and Russian dissenters and their families. An example of their commitment
to the cause is the present production of “KS6: Small Forward,”
a multimedia event that is centered on the biography of the Belarusian
basketball star Katsiaryna Snytsina, now living in exile in London, of
how she evolved from living the exclusive international life of a sports
star to becoming a prominent voice of protest against the brutal regime
of Putin friend, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, a country
that borders Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Russia. By Beate Hein Bennett.
"Honor"
Roberta Pikser tell us that "Honor" at the Gene Frankel Theatre
suggests that such a thing as honor is all but impossible, at least in
a corporate setting, or perhaps that the concept is so totally subjective,
that no one really knows what it is.
JOB
Max Wolf Friedlich’s “JOB” is a riveting psychological
detective story that blurs the lines between truth and deception, sanity
and madness. And evil. This taut two-hander, subtly directed by Michael
Herwitz, keeps the audience on edge. By Lucy Komisar.
The Roommate
In “The Roommate,” by playwright Jen Silverman, we are thrust
into a mismatched living arrangement that teeters on the precipice of
absurdity, leaving audiences questioning the credibility of its characters
and narrative. Directed by Jack O’Brien, this production features
the formidable talents of Patti LuPone as Robyn and Mia Farrow, splendid
as Sharon, yet even their seasoned performances struggle against a script
and mood that often feel more suited for a sitcom than a stage play. By
Lucy Komisar.
The Outsiders
This is TV stuff. It starts out hokey and it ends hokey. The actors are
talented. Also good dancers to choreography by Rick Kuperman and Jeff
Kuperman. They deserved a better script. But teens will like it. By Lucy
Komisar.
Hell's Kitchen
With a book by Kristoffer Dias and music and lyrics by singer Alicia Keys,
this is presented as Keys' own story. At least that her "songs and
experiences growing up in NY inspire a story made for Broadway."
It turns out "inspire" can be interpreted many ways. By Lucy
Komisar.
Stereophonic
“Stereophonic” confronts the often-glossed-over misogyny of
the rock world. Behind many records, there may be stories of exploitation,
abuse, and shattered dreams. It’s a sobering counterpoint to the
nostalgia often associated with the era. By Lucy Komisar.
Water for Elephants
“Water for Elephants,” book by Rick Elice, music and lyrics
by Pigpen Theatre Company, transports audiences to the rough glamour of
a Depression-era traveling circus. Based on Sara Gruen’s novel,
this musical adaptation is a charming, if somewhat hokey spectacle that
relies on stunning choreography and circus acts. By Lucy Komisar.
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Rebecca Frecknall’s “Cabaret” shifts the focus from
political to sexual decadence and prioritizes shock value over nuance,
reminding how quickly a society can descend into self-centered moral bankruptcy
and remain blind to encroaching fascism. There is more to politics than
what you do with your sexual parts. By Lucy Komisar.
Theatre Will Not Prepare You For Death
Olga Lvoff and co-director Elena Che have created a piece of theatrical
poetry with this production. Taking their cue from the playwright’s
inspiration of a dream and her interest in “magical realism,”
they have guided five actors and five dancers in full Tibetan head masks
into a coherent ensemble moving seamlessly between realistic moments of
family squabbles and the imaginary world of the dead as described in the
Tibetan Book of the Dead. Six performances over four days are not enough
for this fine production which deserves a longer or another run. By Beate
Hein Bennett.
Once Upon a Mattress
In the latest Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress,”
Sutton Foster reigns supreme, solidifying her place in the pantheon of
American musical theater greats. By Lucy Komisar.
"Job"
"Job," Max Wolf Friedlich‘s new drama, which has transferred
to the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway, from the Connolly Theatre, where
it moved after its Off-Broadway premiere at the SoHo Playhouse, begins
with the distraught Jane (Sydney Lemmon) aiming a gun at Loyd (Peter Friedman),
her therapist. Jane has recently been fired from her job with a Bay Area
tech company after a hysterical outburst that went viral, and the company
wants Loyd to decide whether she is fit to return to her old job. There
is a good play hiding somewhere in Friedlich‘s work, writes Paulanne
Simmons.
Issue #9
This musical, written and directed by Briana Bartenieff with music by
J.H. Greenwell, tackles a subject that has brought grief and sickness
to young women and their families: losing weight and body-shaming. The
evening was, for the most part, quite engrossing, and writer Bartenieff
did not sugar-coat her serious subject: the tragedy of self-hatred and
the unrelenting pressure to conform to a certain image. By Paul Berss.
The World According to Micki Grant
It takes dedication, persistence, and enduring quality to give a thoroughly
enjoyable and valuable history lesson to a New York audience that tends
to look for the new original talent in the perennially ephemeral art of
theater. Leave it to Woodie King Jr. and Elizabeth Van Dyke to unearth
the generally forgotten but once celebrated black theater artists of past
generations. With “The World According to Micki Grant” they
have resurrected Micki Grant, an irrepressible personality, poet/ lyricist,
and performer who succeeded to break through the white walls of Broadway,
the “Great White Way” in the early 70s into the 80s after
which the Broadway curtains tended to remain once again closed to much
black theater.
An Enemy of the People
This play by Ibsen “En folkefiende,” written in 1882, was
perhaps the West’s first environmental political play. Amy Herzog’s
smart adaptation over a century later fits America today perfectly. It
is about the utter corruption of a society where making money by powerful
interests takes easy precedence over the health, even the death, of citizens.
Lucy Komisar calls it one of the most important theatrical events of the
season.
Uncle Vanya
Chekhov’s play was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre,
directed by Konstantin Stanislavski. It has gone way downhill to Lincoln
Center’s production, says Lucy Komisar.
"Sally & Tom"
Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Sally & Tom” subtly but brilliantly
dissects the story of Jefferson and with it the founding mythology of
the United States. By Lucy Komisar.
"In Crocodile's Lair"
In JC Augustine's animal fantasy, The leadership of competing animal gangs,
call them packs or herds if you like, all have the same enemy. You know
them. What to do about the demonic humans who are established in the vicious
but food laden surface world? Larry Litt writes that the show is over-the-top
staged fun in that subaltern way that makes him think that queer theater
is high comedy. He says, If it comes around again, don’t miss it.
“Bring Them Back, a Dark Comedy”
David Willinger wrote “Bring Them Back, a Dark Comedy.” It
is a semi-autobiographical paean to all the people that he has lost to
death in the course of his life time. He invokes in his “meta-comedy”
(as he calls it) the most recent shared experience of COVID, but also
AIDS, the other “plague” that ravaged New York City in the
80s and 90s. By Beate Hein Bennett.
The Heart of Rock and Roll
Paulanne Simmons writes, "Let me confess. Before entering the James
Earl Jones Theatre on May 7, I had never heard of Huey Lewis or the News.
But after seeing the musical, The Heart of Rock and Roll, inspired by
the band, Huey Lewis and The News, and featuring songs from their
catalog, I was impressed by the music, the dance, and the talent and enthusiasm
of the cast."
In the Common Hour
Trend setting director Ildiko Nemeth deliciously and daringly thrusts
disparately alienated characters into a smokehouse of desparately hanging
flanks of meat. For me it was like experiencing the intimate and personal
gender bending battles one has when seeking a place to let off steam.
Only this smokehouse is actually a roadhouse in the great Western American
desert where we find little comfort for the forlorn. By Larry Littany
Litt.
The Great Jones Rep revives their "Medea"
Zishan Ugurlu and the Great Jones Repertory Company have re-conceived
a beautiful work of theater, originally directed by Andrei Serban with
music by ELizabeth Swados, that connects us to the long tragic human history
of collective displacement and betrayal by connecting one of the oldest
works of theater with the immediate traumas of our own time. One could
only hope that it stays in the repertoire of La Mama ETC to be revived
after this too short run.
In the Common Hour
When, in our lives, if ever, do we assess the path we find ourselves on?
Is that confrontation, if it happens, an awakening, or is it part of an
ongoing dream? Ildiko Nemeth’s new multi-media work takes place
inside the projection of a painting of a Southwest motel, isolated in
the desert, where seven strangers find themselves and play out the roles
that exemplify each others’ insecurities, secret desires, and confrontations.
At bottom, the play, written by Marie Glancy O’Shea, asks us to
consider the meaning of our lives: Is life a carnival, a walk in the woods,
a discovery, a torture, or a charade? Is there love, or only betrayal?
Or is it all these things at once? At the end of the performance, we must
really confront ourselves, whether in our dreams or in our realities.
By Roberta Pikser.
"The Wiz" returns
Whether you’re a fan of the original 1939 film or the original 1975
Broadway musical, you’ll most probably enjoy the new revival of
William F Brown (book) and Charlie Smalls’ (music and lyrics) The
Wiz, directed by Schele Williams. By Paulanne Simmons.
Doubt, a Parable
Roundabout is presenting a very fine revival of John Patrick Shanley’s
play, which opened in 2004, but is set forty years earlier in 1964. It
deals with complex themes of suspicion, faith, and morality surrounding
the possibility of child sexual abuse. By Lucy Komisar.
Corruption
“Corruption” is the most important play in New York this season.
In a mesmerizing true crime narrative, it documents the takeover of the
UK by sleazy media, bought or cowed political leaders and even top paid-off
law enforcement officials. No, this is not fiction. By Lucy Komisar.
Orson's Shadow
Austin Pendleton’s play "Orson's Shadow" is theatre about
theatre. He explores the vexing problems for a performer who had attained
fame at a young age and now must contend with aging and being eclipsed
by younger talents. It's a script built around famous theatre personalities
(and one not at all famous): Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier (before “Sir”),
Vivien Leigh, young Joan Plowright, acerbic critic Kenneth Tynan, and
Sean, a young theatre hanger-on who serves as a down-to-earth foible who
knows nothing about theatre (or any other) history. By Beate Hein Bennett.
American Rot
“American Rot” by Kate Taney Billingsley, directed by Estelle
Parsons, is a masterful dramatic compendium of collective pain and the
production a powerful rendering of the collective ills within American
society and history. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Pharaoh
Trust Theater for the New City to give space to surprises and small gems
of theater art, in this case an amazing fusion of a modern retelling of
the Jewish Passover story, the Exodus from Egypt, with Kathakali, the
ancient South Indian performance art from the Kerala region. However,
the playwright/actor/rabbi Misha Shulman turns the narration on its head
and tells the story through Pharaoh and the catastrophe of the Ten Plagues
that befall Egypt. By Beate Hein Bennett.
Days of Wine and Roses
Lucy Komisar says, the acting is excellent. And you will love the voices.
Two Views of "The Ally"
Paulanne Simmons writes, "For the most part, I don’t like plays
about 'iissues.' I’m also not fond of plays that are based on the
beliefs of the characters rather than their actions. But somehow Itamar
Moses’s The Ally, now making its premiere at The Public Theater,
blew all those opinions away." Lucy Komisar adds, "If you don’t
have the time to read or listen to every argument about the Israeli-Palestinian
question, spend an evening at the Public Theater production of 'The Ally'
(ie America’s ally, Israel) and you will get it all. In an entertaining
and succinct fashion."
Make Me Gorgeous!
Theatre thrives on synergy, and nowhere is it on better display than in
“Make Me Gorgeous” by writer/director “Donnie”
(Donald Horn) at Playhouse 46. The inspiration for the one-person play
was Kenneth/Kate Marlowe, one of those indomitable, overlooked LGBTQ trailblazers,
a bundle of irrepressible creativity who remade themselves over and over.
Marlowe is resurrected by Darius Rose, aka the charismatic Jackie Cox,
one of the top five contenders on the 12th season of RuPaul’s Drag
Race. In less accomplished hands, “Make Me Gorgeous” could
have been simply a history lesson, but the show is filled with extraordinary
performances. And then there are the stunning costumes. By Glenda Frank.
A "Henry V" in the raw
A young ensemble, with high octane “raw” energy, fast moving
lips and words tumbling out, performs William Shakespeare’s “Henry
V” (1599). The production is in all respects “raw,”
meaning minimalist and practically unrehearsed. Hold on to your hats,
says Beate Hein Bennett.
Bronx Opera Company
Larry Litt reviews Bronx Opera Company in Rossini's "Il Signor Bruschino"
and Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" and decides it's worth getting
on their mailing list so you can discover real opera without spending
a months salary on tickets.
This is not a time of peace
Each of us harbors private demons but there are also demons embedded in
our public and national psyches. All swirl about, at times loudly and
other times quietly gnawing at us. Until we collapse or explode! Deb Margolin’s
play "This is not a time of peace" deconstructs these “epigenetic”
(as she calls it) demons in a powerful mash-up in the lives of two generations,
that of a father-daughter relationship and a daughter’s troubled
marital relationship. By Beate Hein Bennett.
This is not a time of peace
In the center of the stage is a bed – the marital bed where Aline’s
husband (Simon Feil) falls asleep when she talks, and the rough and tumble
adulterous bed, where no one falls asleep. “This Is Not a Time of
Peace” by Deb Margolin, founding member of Split Britches Theatre
Company, now playing on Theatre Row, is about guilt: Alina’s guilt
for betraying her husband whom she claims to love, and her father’s
supposed betrayal of his country. By Glenda Frank
Deadly Stages
“Deadly Stages” is a delicious comic bon bon, a gender-bending
homage to the movies of the 1940s and 50s, now playing on Theatre Row.
This back stage, murder-mystery stars Marc Castle, co-writer with
director Mark Finley, as the charming Veronica Traymore, an aging
theatre legend who has been cast in a new play with a temperamental
young film actor. The plot is familiar. The delight is in the performances.
By Glenda Frank.
Russian Troll Farm
Lucy Komisar writes, "If I was writing this review as a drama, where
I could make things up, I would say “Congratulations to the Deep
State (aka CIA & Co), which has moved from propaganda films into propaganda
theater. However, Langley guys, you need some theatrical help."
Prayer for the French Republic
Through the lens of one Jewish family in Paris, “Prayer for the
French Republic” delves into the thorny issues of identity, racism,
and anti-Semitism. And to what country you belong. Seen from an intimately
human perspective, these divisive political debates couldn’t be
more pointed or timely. The work by Joshua Harmon premiered off-Broadway
two years ago and reopened on Broadway last month. By Lucy Komisar.
Jonah
“Jonah” by Rachel Bonds is about a woman who may be an author
and a dysfunctional family. The realistic opening scenes show us a blooming
romance at an exclusive boarding school between Ana, the protagonist,
and Jonah, who is still mourning his mother’s death. Hagan Oliveras
as Jonah is vulnerable and very endearing. Their discussions are tender
and funny, but they also raise troublesome questions about Ana’s
behavior, which the play does not immediately address. Later we find out
why. Ana has a fondness for inventing stories, and the romance with Jonah
may have been a fantasy. By Glenda Frank.
"Appropriate"
The most interesting character in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ "Appropriate,"
now making its Broadway debut, never appears onstage. He is the pater
familias of the Lafayettes, whose death has brought his children together
at the family estate, an Arkansas plantation that could have come out
of a Tennessee Williams play.By Paulanne Simmons.
"Crime and Punishment" for the stage
It’s too bad this adaptation has done its run here in New York City.
It’s worth a bring back for the ever experimental and successful
Phoenix Theater. By Larry Litt.
Two views of "Our Class" at BAM
Lucy Komisar writes, “'Our Class' by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, one of
Poland’s most important playwrights, is a powerful and dramatic
exploration of the impact of anti-Semitism and betrayal in a Polish village
during and after World War II. Paulanne Simmons adds, "Our Class
makes considerable demands on both the cast and the audience. It is three
hours long. The cast holds up its end magnificently. Those in the audience
must be willing to be at various times puzzled, overwhelmed and horrified.
They will not be bored."
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