Paola Bellu

JOIN THIS TOP BANANA FOR THE RIDE OF THE SUMMER If you’re heading to the Nederlander Theatre expecting Jeff Ross to come out swinging with savage roasts about Charlie Sheen’s liver or Elon Musk’s social skills, that ain’t Take a Banana for the Ride. Written and performed by the actor, this is not your typical…

AMAZE TURNS SLEIGHT OF HAND INTO SLEIGHT OF HEART; THE MOST DAZZLING TRICK IS MAKING YOU CARE Jamie Allan, the UK’s original technology magician, brings his new work Amaze to New York’s New World Stages after a successful run in London. Co-created with Tommy Bond and cleverly directed by Jonathan Goodwin, it is a personal…

ANIMATION, POLITICS, AND THE ART OF BEING HUMAN Cameron Darwin Bossert’s The Animals Speak closes his Disney-centered trilogy A Venomous Color (produced by Thirdwing) which began with The Fairest in 2021 and continued with Burbank in 2022. This final installment, now playing at The Wild Project, ventures far beyond the animation desks, landing on a…

THE WEIGHT OF WHAT REMAINS In Brooklyn’s charming Fort Greene, Bubba Weiler makes his playwriting debut with Well, I’ll Let You Go, a lightly funny meditation on grief and healing, brought to the stage at The Space at Irondale under the direction of Jack Serio (Grangeville). It’s a nonlinear domestic drama that recounts the unraveling…

Hollywood is full of iconic love stories but none is quite as brilliantly weird and tragically sweet as the romance between Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner, two comedy legends who fell madly in love somewhere between a silly goof and a punch line. And it is hard to think of somebody wanting to put their…

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED: PEN PALS GETS AN ENCORE RUN Casting has been revealed for Michael Griffo’s play Pen Pals, which is headed back Off-Broadway at DR2 Theatre with a rotating cast of actors beginning August 15, 2025. Stage and Cinema‘s rave review for the original production is republished below. See you at the theater!…

GHOSTS POURED NEAT Conor McPherson’s The Weir, a beloved staple for Irish Rep, returns for its fourth production under the intimate, finely tuned direction of Ciarán O’Reilly. This unusual and deeply human play walks you into a small, wind-battered pub in rural County Donegal for “just a quick pint,” only to watch you stumble out…

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? Lowcountry, Abby Rosebrock’s new play premiering at Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater, arrives with the promise of plunging into the “messy, tangled web of love and identity in the digital age,” but not even a ripple disturbs the surface. Though entrusted to the direction of Jo Bonney, the play…

IN THIS BEAUTIFULLY MOODY MAZE, THE LINE BETWEEN ENCHANTMENT AND ENTRAPMENT BLURS I have yet to encounter an immersive theatrical experience that captivates me as deeply as a well-staged play, a beautifully choreographed dance, or a masterfully performed concert. Something always feels off; sometimes, these experiences remind me of poorly designed video games, visually ambitious…

MIC DROP IN A MINEFIELD Last night, the Lucille Lortel Theatre unveiled Duke & Roya, a luminous new work by the compelling playwright Charles Randolph-Wright. Under the graceful direction of Warren Adams, this Off-Broadway premiere is rich with soul and poetic rhythm and unfolds like free verse on stage. It’s 2016 and we are in…

BUZZARDS, BOOTY, AND BECOMING NSangou Njikam’s A Freeky Introduction soars with swagger, satire, and sacred disruption. “An eagle was born in a nest of buzzards,” proclaimed playwright and performer NSangou Njikam in the comical opening monologue of A Freeky Introduction, his new work that opened tonight at Atlantic Stage 2. As Freeky Dee, he embodies…

CHEKHOV WITH TEETH For those who’ve never bought the notion that Chekhov’s The Seagull is simply about broken hearts, director Alexander Molochnikov’s take on the play offers a thrilling, subversive vindication. His Seagull: True Story, now showing at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, is no conventional revival. Brilliantly written by Eli Rarey, it is part…

GODDESS ISN’T JUST A SHOW, IT’S A CALLING. ANSWER IT. Goddess, which opened at The Public Theater tonight, doesn’t just arrive onstage like any musical—but like a warm and joyful jazz riff. Loosely inspired by the legend of Marimba, the African goddess who turned heartbreak into healing music, it succeeds in blending folklore with funk,…