Paola Bellu

AN ASTOUNDING CAST CAN’T HELP TO SHAKE THE FEELING THAT WE’VE WITNESSED THIS BEFORE Pedro Antonio Garcia, a criminal defense attorney and a playwright, must have written The Witness Room as a hyper-realistic example of how corrupt our criminal justice system is, but he ends up with what looks like a good episode of Law…

SOMETIMES THINGS HAVE TO GET VERSE TO GET BETTER Medea: Re-Versed, a Hip Hopera by  Luis Quintero, has landed at the Frank Shiner Theatre  and  it  is, without doubt, a memorable experience. Old-school hip hop, the one used for social commentary  in the early 80s,  is the beat throughout the piece — familiar-sounding music created by Quintero to smoothly deliver his…

I’D LOVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SEE It is extremely hard to translate the work of  writers  as ingenious and imaginative as  RyŠ«nosuke Akutagawa, the father of Japanese short stories, into plays or films without falling into flat versions of the complex originals; very few artists have succeeded although many have tried. Presented at…

RESPLENDENT ISLAND Sri Lanka is the epitome of a tropical paradise with golden sand beaches and luxurious palm trees, regal elephants and sexy leopards, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean once known as Ceylon. Its history goes back to at least 125,000 years, before the Europeans came knocking and mayhem started, but very few of…

A FASCINATING SUBJECT BOTH MOLD AND NEW In 2019, antibiotic resistance contributed to almost 5 million deaths globally affecting everyone, no matter what age, race or financial status. Here in the States, more than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur each year and more than 35,000 people die as a result. You would never think that…

A DOWNSIZED HURRICANE Hurricane Season at Theatre Row is an experimental play where it’s difficult to understand what is happening, and why, from the beginning to the very end. Produced by Atlanta-based company Vernal & Sere Theatre, written and directed by the talented Sawyer Estes — who uses a lyrical language, abstract movements, and a…

MATTRESS HOLDS THE BREW THAT IS TRUE After 25 years,  Once Upon a Mattress is back on Broadway at the  Hudson Theatre, with a new adaptation by  Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator of  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), directed by Lear deBessonet, and it is a riot. Composer Mary Rodgers, lyricist Marshall Barer, and writers Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller, who created…

IF ONLY THIS MUSICAL WAS CONSTRUCTED WITH THE SAME EFFICIENCY AS THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING Empire, at  New World Stages, is unquestionably a musical created with an adult public in mind, particularly tourists. Considering that it is about the construction of the Empire State Building, you would expect acrobatics on steel beams and creative scenery to…

A MEETING THAT’S TOUGH TO INTERPRET Four months before the  November 2016 presidential elections, a crucial  meeting  took place at Trump Tower between Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.; Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort; British publicist Rob Goldstone; Ike Kaveladze, who worked for Russian oligarch Agalarov; Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet counterintelligence officer; and Russian…

Humor leads to the release of endorphins in the brain, which help to control pain.   — RA Haig The Anatomy of Humor A play based on a grief group therapy session and life after an important loss does not sound like a cheery event to experience on a hot summer’s day but playwright Doménica Feraud…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT JOB, HEAD TO THE HAYES THEATRE Two plays on therapy sessions presented at the same time a few blocks apart certainly show a phycological trend among young New York playwrights. At Pershing Square Signature Center, Dominéca Feraud’s Something Spectacular deals gently and comically with significant loss while  Max Wolf Friedlich‘s…

IN A DELICIOUSLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC BOX AT OUT OF THE BOX Out of the Box Theatrics  is presenting an intimate, hilarious, original play called  Inspired  by  True  Events  – written  by  actor, writer and filmmaker  Ryan Spahn  and directed  by  Knud Adams  – that deserves a lot of praise for its organic realism, flowing dialogue, and unconventional twists. The setting is the green room (the performers’ resting area) of…

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics. Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean? Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? — from The Graduate…

WE’VE GOT TO GET OURSELVES BACK TO THE GARDEN When The Sheen Center  announced  Ed. Weinberger’s new play The Journals of Adam and Eve starring Hal Linden  and  Marilu Henner, I thought it was a perfect trinity, a legendary event not to be missed, and in the end it was. Weinberger’s sardonic script, an adaptation of Mark Twain’s short…

MUCH NOTHING ABOUT ADO Presenters Kelsey Grammer and Faith American Brewing Company offer a production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the  Gene Frankel Theatre that is a daring experiment considering there are 15 actors from a rotating cast on such a tiny stage. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem quite so crowded given the bare set…

HENRY, SWEET HENRY Enter Central Park at West 103rd and look for the closest, large meadow. Bring a blanket or a chair with you because you arrived at the “first stage” of Shakespeare’s  Henry IV  (a blending of Shakespeare’s  Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2) produced by New York Classical Theatre. Their mission is to reinvigorate and create…