Areas We Cover
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New York
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Off-Broadway Review: MARCEL ON THE TRAIN (Classic Stage Company)
SILENT RESISTANCE A wartime journey inspired by Marcel Marceau’s resistance work becomes an overlong and uneven theatrical ride Marcel Marceau was not only a mime; he was one of the most famous French performers of his time. But he was born Marcel Mangel, to a Jewish family in Strasbourg. His father was a kosher butcher…
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Off-Broadway Review: SPARE PARTS (Theater Row)
SPARE PARTS, FULLY LOADED QUESTIONS Glass’s brainy biotech thriller delivers ideas, surprises, and genuine theatrical punch Jonny-James Kajoba, Rob McClure, Matt Walker and Michael Genet I suppose lots of VPs of Research at biotech companies dream of writing plays that get first-class productions in New York. The same could be said for Senior Lecturers at…
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Cabaret Review: BILLY JOEL SONGBOOK (Tony DeSare at Birdland Theater)
PIANO MAN BY PROXY Tony DeSare salutes Billy Joel with polish, power, and plenty of affection Special thanks go to Billy Joel for changing the career path of the terrifically talented Tony DeSare. The program, Tony DeSare’s Billy Joel Songbook, is an audience-pleasing set that has DeSare honoring Joel’s songs with gusto—one formidable singer-pianist saluting…
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Off-Broadway Review: OUR HOUSE (TOSOS at A.R.T./New York Theatres)
ACTIVISM, FAMILY, AND A BACKYARD BATTLE The new play at TOSOS revisits the legacy of ACT UP and the uneasy quiet that followed CJ DiOrio & Nancy Slusser TOSOS, New York City’s oldest producing queer theater company—debuting in 1974—presents the world premiere of Our House by Barry Boehm. Set in Iowa in 2014, the year…
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Off-Broadway Review: BURNOUT PARADISE (Astor Place Theatre)
FULL SPEED AHEAD Pony Cam turns burnout, chaos, and cardio into delirious theater Dominic Weintraub, Claire Bird, Hugo Williams, William Strom Are you, perhaps, missing the wild energy of Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatre? Good news: it has been replaced with something just as unconventional. Welcome Burnout Paradise, the theatrical event that…
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Off-Broadway Review: CHINESE REPUBLICANS (Roundabout Theatre Company)
A POWER LUNCH WITH KNIVES UNDER THE TABLE Ambition, rivalry, and assimilation simmer in Alex Lin’s sharp corporate comedy There are ordinary lunches, and then there are Chinese Republicans lunches, the subject of a new play by Alex Lin, directed by Chay Yew at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre. In it, four high-achieving Chinese-American…
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Cabaret Review: JOHN PIZZARELLI TRIO (Album Release “Dear Mr. Bennett” at Birdland)
A BENNETT SONGBOOK WITH PIZZARELLI SWING The singer-guitarist and his trio offer solid entertainment and a nostalgic stroll through a legend’s songbook There may not be many things you can count on in the world, but you can always depend on John Pizzarelli to deliver quality performances with quality material—and a few laughs along the…
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Off-Broadway Review: PETITE ROUGE (Company XIV at Théâtre XIV in Bushwick, Brooklyn)
A FAIRY TALE REBORN IN HEELS, CORSETS, AND CANDLELIGHT Little Red gets very bad — and very fabulous — in Company XIV’s Petite Rouge PhillVonAwesome In its twentieth anniversary season, Company XIV unveils Petite Rouge (from Charles Perrault’s 1697 Le Petit Chaperon Rouge) and allows the classic fable of Little Red Riding Hood to frolic…
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Cabaret Review: OUR SINATRA: A MUSIC CELEBRATION (25th Anniversary Production at 54 Below)
A SINATRA SONGBOOK REVUE RETURNS WITH STYLE, SWING, AND STAYING POWER The revue recalling the repertoire of “Ol’ Blue Eyes” is a song-stuffed, sure-fire success (again) So, who doesn’t love an anniversary as a reason for celebration? How about a show with that very word in its title—Our Sinatra: A Musical Celebration. The entertainment industry…
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Off-Broadway Review: MEAT SUIT, OR THE SHITSHOW OF MOTHERHOOD (Second Stage Theater)
AFTER BIRTH Meat Suit is a carnival of motherhood that mistakes provocation for revelation Meat Suit, or the Shitshow of Motherhood, a Second Stage Theater production which opened last night at the Pershing Square Signature Center, dares its audience to linger in a clownish carnival of motherhood while serving up the glaringly obvious. Written and…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE DINOSAURS (Playwrights Horizons)
A RECOVERY GROUP WHERE LITTLE IS REVEALED AND LESS IS RESOLVED Superb performances anchor a script that withholds more than it delivers In the 1980s, film snobs treated TV like it had crashed the gala in sweatpants. In the 1990s, vinyl purists and digital nerds debated as if civilization hinged on compression. Theatre is the…
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Cabaret Review: LINDA EDER: PLAY IT FORWARD (54 Below)
A FAMILY AFFAIR AT 54 BELOW Linda Eder shines, with a promising assist from Jake Wildhorn; like mother like son — both likeable Casual and confident, a smiling Linda Eder strode onto the stage on February 9 at the venue where she’s a regular—54 Below—welcomed extra warmly by her fervent fans. The publicity for this…
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Cabaret Review: MARTIN BONVENTRE (Swingin’ in a New Dimension Album Release, The Beechman)
A SWING SET WITH PROMISE AND PATCHES Martin Bonventre’s energetic debut mixes strong musicianship with uneven vocal control Martin Bonventre sang a line in his act that was unintentionally relevant on the very last night of January, when the temperature in New York City had plunged to a punishingly low number. The song in question…
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Concert Review: THE DOVER QUARTET (Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall)
TRADITIONS IN CONVERSATION From Mendelssohn to Chickasaw works, a program unified by thoughtful playing The Dover Quartet — Joel Link, Bryan Lee, violins; Julianne Lee, viola; and Camden Shaw, cello) — is small but mighty. Originally formed at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 2008, they are one of the greatest quartets you will ever…
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Concert Review: ESPERANZA SPALDING (Well-Being Concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Room)
ESPERANZA SPALDING’S HOMEMADE FIELD OF LOVE A communal cleansing at Carnegie Hall Stepping out at night this winter requires real chutzpah because New York City is absolutely freezing, but you can always find small treasures that warm you through both the weather and these bleak political times. I was lucky enough to stumble upon one…
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Off-Broadway Review: AN IDEAL HUSBAND (Storm Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres)
WITNESSING WILDE’S WONDERFUL WIT IS ALWAYS WELCOME Storm Theatre delivers elegance and precision, if not always sparkle Lurking under the characters’ control, courtesies and curtseys, calculated comments, formal wear and formalities, etiquette, etc., are their real feelings and fears that forced smiles with gritted teeth and British stiff-upper-lip mask. Mocking manners and marriage in the…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE MONSTERS (Manhattan Theatre Club at NY City Center)
BOXING, BLOODLINES, AND BURIED TRAUMA A smart, muscular, triumphant and thrilling two-hander that lands every blow What’s worse? The monsters we fight, the monsters we carry, or the monsters we are? Luckily for us, the emotional two-hander The Monsters, which opened tonight at Manhattan Theatre Club’s NY City Center Stage II, safely contains one such…
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Off-Broadway Review: AI YAH GOY VEY! – ADVENTURES OF A DIM SUN IN SEARCH OF HIS WANTON FATHER (A.R.T./New York Theatres)
DIM SUM, DAD JOKES, AND DOWNTOWN DELIRIUM It’s ridiculous, but Richard Chang’s solo show serves up wordplay, warmth, and a wonderfully wild cultural mashup. ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ “It’s called a Yamaha,” Richard Chang jokes while pointing to his yarmulke. This and many other puns and plays on words…
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Cabaret Review: JIMMIE HERROD (54 Below)
A HIGH VOICE, SOME HIGHLIGHTS, AND A HIGH-SPIRITED CROWD If you were shopping for the most versatile fantasy fabric for fashioning a fabulous outfit, imagine it by checking each of these boxes: ✅ … something smooth as silk, ☑️ … something warm as wool, ✅ … stretchable as elastic, ☑️ … solid as denim, ✅…
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Cabaret Review: QUINTIN HARRIS TRIO (Quintin Harris, Griffin Frank, and Max Marsillo at Birdland Jazz Club)
QUINTESSENTIAL QUINTIN Essential jazz, effortless swing, and a trio’s genuine chemistry Jazz fans bid farewell to January with a smile at Birdland Jazz Club by settling into a sublimely satisfying set by pianist and vocalist Quintin Harris and his terrific trio-mates, bassist Griffin Fink and drummer Max Marsillo. “We’ve become like brothers,” the calm leader…
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