Although the play is graceful and appealing, it is mainly presented in narrative form with Delia played by Julianna Margulies in New York and Peter Gallagher playing Dr. Peter Rutter, her surprise new boyfriend from California, reading their emails to each other from desks at opposite sides of the stage. Left on Tenth, with its episodic nature, and many short scenes, is really a screenplay with the lead actors doing the equivalent of the voice-overs. Susan Stroman, best known for her choreography and direction of musicals, has piloted the play with polish and urbanity, but has not solved all the play’s problems. [more]
Wilder’s experimental play uses no scenery except for two tables, some chairs, a piano and usually two ladders for the upstairs bedroom windows of the young people. Here, however, Leon and set designer Beowulf Boritt have eliminated the ladders for two windows that open in the wooden back wall. Parsons’ description of the town and the street is so vivid that your imagination sees all that is meant to be there. Many of the stage effects are created by Allen Lee Hughes’ subtle lighting plot which takes us back to the end of the last century with lanterns both on the footlights and in Parsons’ hand. Leon has also added another one of the five senses by piping in the odors of heliotrope, vanilla, and bacon, one in each act. Professor Willard is here played by a woman, and as John McGinty playing milkman Howie Newsome is hearing challenged, the other actors speak to him in sign language, a new effect for this drama. [more]
Essentially a cri de coeur, "Vladimir" desperately wants to answer affirmatively; however, Sheffer forthrightly acknowledges that it's a dangerously knotty road to yes, requiring Raisa (Raya in the diminutive form) to not only imperil herself but also possibly cause the deaths of others. In particular, passivity is the much safer choice for Yevgeny (David Rosenberg), a financial analyst who, despite having experienced virulent anti-Semitism while attempting to navigate the Russian educational system, helps Raya link that aforementioned suspicious tax refund to the upper echelons of Putin's corrupt administration. Like Raya, Yevgeny is not purely plucked from Sheffer's imagination, as he also possesses a non-fictional counterpart, Sergei Magnitsky, who, in a tragic similarity to Politkovskaya, savagely lost his life for having the courage to tell the truth about Putin's misdeeds. [more]
Directed by Annette Mees, "Deep History" is a real eye opener but it is not depressing. Finnigan is so upbeat and compelling a storyteller it is not possible not be pulled into events as he describes, telling the history of the world from the point of view of a mythic woman who appears in all eras. The show is punctuated by Australian pop songs that figure in both Finnigan's life and the history he is recounting. The video design by Hayley Egan will sear the proof of climate change into your eyeballs permanently. You will never think about this topic the same way again: a not to be missed enlightening theatrical event. [more]
This stunning theatrical work is a creation of the two-member On The Rocks Theatre Co. (Christopher Ford and Dakota Rose), two ingenious artists who have been at work on "The Beastiary" since they were selected as Ars Nova’s fifth Company in Residence in 2019. Commissioned to create a new show from scratch, a first Ars Nova-produced reading came to fruition in 2021. Adding composer Dorit Chrysler to the team, later 2022 workshops added the theremin score and the puppets to the play. More behind the scenes development, a puppet build residency, and a two-week production workshop built the show that is now at Greenwich House. Ford and Rose have co-written and co-designed the scenic elements. Ford designed the glorious costumes and hand-made puppets and Rose directed the entire production. [more]
Lloyd Suh writes quirky historical plays from a unique perspective as ironic comedies. In "Franklinland," the latest entry in the EST/Sloan Project, commissioning and developing plays about science and scientists, Suh creates a Benjamin Franklin like you have never seen him depicted before. Unlike Howard Da Silva’s iconic and benevolent Franklin in the now classic musical "1776," this Franklin is crotchety, irascible, arrogant and demanding. In the play’s six scenes covering 33 years, we see him in his fraught and contentious relationship with his illegitimate and only son William who though not a great mind or a scientific genius like his father goes on to do well for himself politically. [more]
Comedian Hannah Gadsby became an international sensation with their Netflix Special "Nanette," in which they revealed traumatic episodes from their past along with a slew of jokes. Gadsby's latest, "Woof!," now at the gorgeous Abrons Arts Center, is more focused on laughs than serious matters, but it still has some serious moments. [more]
James Ijames’ new play now at The Public Theater is quite different from his satiric Pulitzer Prizing-winning "Fat Ham" which appeared there two years ago. "Good Bones" is a realistic depiction of black on black gentrification in an unnamed American city, a theme not often represented on our stages. This provocative and timely play also has some intriguing supernatural elements which are not fully dealt with in Saheem Ali’s otherwise polished and urbane production. [more]
Clearly, Hwang’s playwright-within-the-play has been on a colorful journey, full of characters that amuse, anger and move him. Hwang’s genius here is his ability to spin his real life into a fascinatingly entertaining work using all these events and characters. He is artful in balancing the lighthearted with the sardonic and the dramatic, the result being a colorful portrait. The flier for "Yellow Face" shows its handsome star Daniel Dae Kim holding a mask of his smiling face away from his own scowling visage, a witty take on the Greek Comedy/Drama masks, a shorthand for "Yellow Face"’s richness. Of course, having Daniel Dae Kim in the central role embodies his character with depth and subtlety. [more]
"Ashes & Ink," a new play by first time playwright Martha Pichey, is getting an excellent production at the AMT Theater in Manhattan. Tony-nominated actress Kathryn Erbe leads a strong cast smoothly directed by Alice Jankell. [more]
While "Sump’n Like Wings" is a lovely little play about a feisty 16-year-old girl who wants her independence in the 1913-16 period just after Oklahoma became a state, unfortunately Raelle Myrick-Hodges’ production is limp and undramatic, not making a good case for restoring this play to the American repertory. Ironically, while the fact that Riggs was gay and a Native American is being publicized by this production, neither of these themes appear in this play. The use of Junghyun Georgia Lee’s unit set for all five scenes makes the play seem thinner than it is and the beautiful poetry and high flown language of "Green Grow the Lilacs" (made available in the collection "The Cherokee Night and Other Plays" from University of Oklahoma Press) is nowhere in evidence in this play. Most of the important events take place offstage, unlike some of Riggs' other plays. [more]
In a theatrical era when "full-length" works often fail to exceed 90 minutes, the English playwright Jez Butterworth dares to dubiously dramatize for approximately twice that span. His previous Broadway epic, "The Ferryman," conflated The Troubles with anachronistic paganism, a disturbed old woman's fear of banshees, and lots of boozing, earning Butterworth much critical acclaim, as well as Olivier and Tony Awards, for this bold mix of pretentiousness and unabashed Irish stereotyping. "The Hills of California," Butterworth's latest overhyped synthetic slog teeming with underdeveloped characters, is basically a tale of two postwar entertainment cities: Los Angeles, the world's dream capital, and Blackpool, England, a fading resort town that's become uniquely fit for delusions. [more]
As in Ayad Akhtar’s plays "Disgraced," "JUNK" and "The Who and the What," all of which have been produced by the Lincoln Center Theater, "McNeal" is always interesting, always arresting. Unfortunately, in McNeal each scene seems to bring up a new theme and never completely finishes with the previous one. The individual confrontations are fine, but they never coalesce into a unified whole other than to depict the messy life of a famous author which can’t be the author’s sole purpose. Is the message that Artificial Intelligence is dangerous or only in the hands of the wrong people? [more]
“Lust, jealousy, and personal politics” are the punches promised by the publicity tag line for award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi’s new play "People of the Book," currently on the boards at the intimately compact Urban Stages. The story centers around three high school friends, one of which has returned from the Middle East with a new bride and his newly written, soon-to-be-a-major-motion-picture celebrated book. Themes of competition, morality, and judgment are all bandied about in this ambitious play. [more]
Director Jared Mezzocchi uses the proximity of the actors to the audience to its best advantage. We don’t even question when one of our ranks is pulled out to play Young Sunny. It adds to the sense of community that is the cornerstone of this production. Kudos to Mezzocchi and the four actors in intuitively divining who in the audience is most right for participation. As the play dashes back and forth in time, the actors are kept moving, narrating as they go along. Again physical life clearly dictates whether they are in character or in narration mode. Mezzocchi incorporates projection design to complement the telling of the history of the ever-changing neighborhood. It provides a welcome steady stream of point-of-reference when one considers the land was once dry tundra in the shadow of a glacier twice the height of the Empire State Building. [more]
Welcome to 'Lakeplay," a character study-play written by Drew Valins and directed by Hamilton Clancy. It is billed as “a terrifying adventure” but does not live up to that description. There are moments of suspense, but not terror-filled. If being frightened by a story is what you are looking for, this is not the show for you. The show is more of a work in progress with issues relating to the venue, sets, and unevenness of some of the scenes. [more]
Despite this obvious shortcoming of The Counter, Anthony Edwards, a growing New York stage presence after much TV and movie fame, resolutely ignores it, never letting Kennedy's contrived writing come between him and the character (as a frustrated fan of ER, I've seen this steadfastness before). The scraggly bearded Edwards portrays Paul, a retired firefighter from far upstate New York whose geniality occasionally gives way to pronouncements about the monotony of his remaining days and the unfairness of his former ones. Although these gnawing thoughts are "secrets," he shares them with Katie (Susannah Flood), a fairly new transplant to the area who is also a waitress in the diner he frequents when nobody else is around. That's essential for Kennedy's ludicrous plot, because Paul's inner turmoil manifests itself in a grave request for Katie to do something that, if overheard, would cause any sentient adult to immediately contact the authorities, resulting in the play ending not too long after it begins, unless Kennedy felt like keeping the story going through a depiction of Paul's psychiatric treatments. [more]
Gabriel Kahane’s pair of song cycles are a welcome throwback to when lyrics were poetry and told great stories. Think of the 70's when the airwaves were blessed with the voices and songwriting of Harry Chapin, Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens and you will have a basic understanding of what Kahane has successfully put together here. [more]
Barry Primus’ "Soup in the Second Act" is described in press materials as a "dramatic comedy" but it's more drama than comedy. The humor comes from old-fashioned actor jokes such as this one: "Two actors bump into each other on Times Square. 'God, where have you been? I haven't seen you in such a long time.' 'I'm doing a one man play all over the country.' So the other says, 'That's great. That's great. Anything in it for me?'" If you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy "Soup in the Second Act" (which is itself the punchline for another actor joke). [more]
While the play is compelling, the question is what is the message? Is the play asking would we have done what the son did? The father is quoted by the son as calling him a traitor while the son defends his action as that of a patriot who was appalled by his father’s attacking the Capitol. The play is, to a great extent, preaching to the converted as only people who consider what happened on January 6th an insurrection would attend the play, while MAGA proponents will not view it that way. The ending is somewhat predictable though the twists and turns of the story do not always take the expected path. [more]
"Dickhead," written by Gil Kofman and directed by Richard Caliban, is a story about the patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the midst of a near-total disintegration. The action is centered on Richard (Ezra Barnes), an abrasive, abusive lawyer who is rightly called “a dick” by his wife and just about everyone who interacts with him. He is also called Dick, as a nickname for Richard. The only time he is called "Dickhead" is midway through the action, in a maybe friendly comment by his oldest friend Howard who is given a solid portrayal by Chuck Montgomery. In the opening scene, Richard is in the office of his therapist Dr. Adams (Frank Licato) on a cell phone call with a tech support person at the internet company. This action provides a portrait of Richard’s personality: nasty, abrasive, ego-centric; a real dick. It also indicates that things are not going well in Richard's home life and job. Barnes' performance is well-tuned to the character, although, at times, getting close to being too much of a dick. Licato effectively embodies the therapist who is not as balanced as he appears to be in the opening. Licato gives a good performance of another character late in the play, the doctor’s wife. [more]
Four hardened male plainclothes police officers are being coached for a “suppression hearing” – that is a court proceeding prior to trial to challenge the legality of the evidence taken from the crime, whether it be drugs, statements, or identification. In "The Witness Room," there are two bags of cocaine that were removed from the crime scene, but the sloppiness of the affidavits filed by the four police officers means some “rehearsal” is necessary for all four men to be in agreement on what actually happened months earlier when a man was arrested. This is not as dense as "Rashomon." In place of the exquisite storytelling that offered subjective, alternative and somewhat contradictory versions of the same incident, "The Witness Room" gives us a very real situation where the slightest discrepancy either frees a criminal or sends an innocent person to jail. [more]
"The Goldberg-Variations" by George Tabori (written in 1991, now having its belated new York premiere) is a confused and confusing conflation of Bible stories and backstage bickering amongst a playwright, his director, designer and actors. Now at the Theater for the New City, the overlong production, directed by Manfred Bormann keeps the audience scratching their heads as each part of the Good Book is explored. [more]
"Honor," a one-act play, written and superbly directed by T.J. Elliott, explores the conceptual nuances of “honor” within the context of a corporate investigation into a case of harassment and intimidation brought against a corporate executive. It is a clashing of privilege and ego between executives, revealing some ugly truths about corporate management while also dealing with the ambiguities of personality and individual perceptions. The play is short and solidly to the point, and I don’t see how expanding it will add anything to the mix. It is a beautifully executed production and will resonate with anyone with a passing familiarity of executive corporate culture. [more]
Quintero who obviously knows his Greek plays and Greek mythology is extremely faithful to the original myth and to Euripides’ play. What he has added is a contemporary vernacular all in rhyme, music played by two guitars and a beatbox, and the odes of the chorus presented as song. This gives the 2,500 year old story a modern sensibility, often lacking in productions of Greek tragedy. Although Quintero has had a career as an actor, particular at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival the last five summers, what is most remarkable is that this is his first work for the theater, both as playwright and composer. Medea Re-Versed looks and sounds like the work of an experienced dramatist of many years standing. [more]
There is no program for the event nor a press script, which makes sense, since "The Spirits’ Speakeasy" is less theater and more experience. There are missed opportunities for the actors to move the attendees around so they experience more of what is going on in both rooms. My companion and I thoroughly enjoy catching up with each other, so much so that when Margery finally arrives in the lounge to give a few lackluster readings (based on the billets dropped into the box but presumably not seen by her, and half of the guests names she calls out do not answer anyway) we are unfazed. Finally, Houdini bursts into the room, challenges Margery’s authenticity by calling her a fraud, and insists she participate in a mysterious magic box trick, which was dramatic and fun. All told, although the activities of the evening are infrequent, we do not feel the evening is a disappointment at all. [more]
Of course, with Farrow and LuPone under the direction of six-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien, this is an occasion for cheering although this comedy drama, a cross between a female version of "The Odd Couple" and "Breaking Bad" is both predictable and razor thin. However, it is also a scenario for two consummate actresses to strut their stuff. The roles are not a great stretch for either of them – Farrow has often played grown-up waifs and LuPone has often been seen in recent years as a New York sophisticate, but these are the kind of performers that hold your attention at all times, making you afraid to look away and miss anything. [more]
Under Igor Golyak's hyper-inventive direction the production's form is masterfully daring, ignoring the barriers of past, present, and future, as well as performance and life. Golyak's double disrespect for temporal and fourth-wall distancing is most evident in the actors' frequently unsettling playfulness, including a foreboding sing-a-long with the audience during a pretend Jewish wedding. Smilingly staged by both Catholic and Jewish classmates when such interreligious bonhomie was still possible, the echoes of these characters' younger, imaginative selves continue to linger as some of them mature into monsters, their brutality imbued with an anachronistic childlike quality that strengthens the devastating sense of a lost innocence. [more]
In this return engagement of the site-specific "The Voices in Your Head" we are often asked to give pause in order to consider how differently we all process our grief. Earlier this summer another play, someone spectacular, tackled the same subject matter but in a more predictable way. With that play, we never forgot we were in a theater watching a support group navigating their weekly session (but for that evening without the benefit of their group leader). While that was presented in thrust staging (the audience surrounding the actors on three sides), The Voices in Your Head created by Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee welcomes us as new members to the group. [more]
While "Counting and Cracking" is an unforgettable epic of a family and a country, it is also a study of the fight for democracy and the lengths people will go to fight for their beliefs. The title comes from Apah’s definition of democracy: “Democracy means the counting of heads, within certain limits, and the cracking of heads beyond those limits.” The play could not be more timely as we go into the last weeks of this fraught election campaign. Counting and Cracking will be one of those evenings in the theater that will become legendary both for its storytelling, its staging and its message. [more]
"In Search of Elaina" is a story by Kara Ayn Napolitano that digs into the weeds of a remembered past. It explores what happens when the life left behind catches up and crashes into the carefully laid-out landscape of now. Joy Donze skillfully directs a strong ensemble on this journey into the clash of the now with the memory of then. [more]
