Gregory Fletcher

TWO GINGER SNAPS UP FOR THIS PARENT TRAP PARODY The subtitle for Ginger Twinsies, the new Off-Broadway comedy which opened last night at the Orpheum Theatre, reads: “The Parent Trap parody (legally speaking).” Having never seen Nancy Myer’s 1998 Disney film starring Lindsay Lohan, it gave me pause; I wondered if I’d spend the evening…

JOY TO THE WHIRL For every inventive soul who’s ever heard “no,” “pass,” or “next,” Joy is for you. Based on the life of Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano, this briskly staged musical delivers an energetic blend of domestic chaos, entrepreneurial grit, and interior musical theater gold to keep it well fueled for its two-hour…

A WESTERN WORTH REVISITING The Onomatopoeia Theatre Company, in collaboration with the Gene Frankel Theatre, brings back The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in a compelling and timely revival. Presented in two acts and running 110 minutes, the production benefits from the intimacy of a theater that seats fewer than 50. The result is a…

JOYFUL, JERKY, AND JUST WHAT OFF-BROADWAY NEEDS There are two powerful reasons to see Bear Grease. First: The deeply felt curtain speech by Henry Cloud Andrade, co-writer/co-creator—with Crystle Lightning—of Bear Grease. With warmth and candor, he begins by gently thanking the audience for not expecting a full Grease revival. More importantly, he shares the staggering context…

ELLA STILLER’S DILARIA: A DEBUT IN EXTREMIS Three striking Off-Broadway debuts anchor Dilaria, a sharp, volatile new play by Julia Randall at the DR2—the Daryl Roth Theater’s 99-seat space just off Union Square. All three actors arrive with formal training in acting but have mostly appeared in TV and film since graduating. That cinematic background…

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF RAGE As the inaugural production at the new Studio Seaview (formerly Second Stage on 43rd and 8th), Penelope Skinner’s Angry Alan opened June 11 for a limited run. Starring John Krasinski in a surprisingly intense and layered performance, the 85-minute play initially unfolds as a one-man show—until it isn’t. Krasinski…

EVENTUALLY, EVERYTHING COMES OUT IN THE WASH Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre has found a new home, relocating from the Lower East Side to the Upper West Side’s WP Theater. Their second offering, The Wash by Kelundra Smith, opened tonight—an earnest, history-minded drama recounting the overlooked 1881 labor strike by Black laundresses in Atlanta,…

HA-LLELUJAH! HELP IS JUST A “HA” AWAY Julia Masli makes a slow, focused entrance onto the stage of the Anspacher Theater at The Public. Despite the surrounding moody blues, her face is lit by a pin spot attached to her arm. She pronounces “ha” in several different ways: drawn out, deliberate, hushed, questioned. She approaches…

THIS LUNAR ECLIPSE SHINES WITH QUIET GRACE The seven stages of a lunar eclipse unfold on the Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center, produced by Second Stage. This New York premiere of Donald Margulies’s newest play, which opened tonight, mirrors the structure of a lunar eclipse. Told in seven scenes with titles…