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New York
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Off-Broadway Review: JUST THE TIP (Jon Schnitzer at SoHo Playhouse’s Huron Club)
HOLY LAND, HOLY LAUGHS Comedy goes a lot of places, and some say a comedian can and should be able to joke about anything. But what if a comedian wants to go to Israel and the Palestinian territories? What if that comedian wants to tell jokes about it? Jon Schnitzer is not the first comedian…
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Cabaret Review: GEORGE YOUNG: SINGIN’ AND SWINGIN’ (NYC’s 54 Below)
VELVET NOTES AND VINTAGE VIBES Remember when singers had velvety voices and a smooth style? Even those who don’t certainly enjoyed George Young: Singin’ and Swingin’ at 54 Below on June 19. Young has a deep, rich voice well suited to his repertoire, and an easy style that quickly draws you in. Falling on Juneteenth, much…
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Theater Review: A LETTER TO LYNDON B. JOHNSON OR GOD: WHOEVER READS THIS FIRST (SoHo Playhouse & Edinburgh Fringe)
WAR IS FOR CLOWNS Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland join the thrilling ranks of clown-trained performers (Julia Masli is another) reshaping the boundaries of theatrical storytelling. A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First is an electrifying 65-minute performance that plays only through June 29 at the Soho Playhouse (formerly the…
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Concert Review: NIGHT OF A THOUSAND JUDYS (13th Annual Benefit at Joe’s Pub for The Ali Forney Center)
A FUN FUNDRAISER FOR THE GLORY OF GARLAND & GAY RIGHTS What a night! So very, very varied – even though there was a specific theme. Night of a Thousand Judys is a loving valentine to the legendary Judy Garland, timed for the second night of Pride Month. It’s a program stuffed with examples of…
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Theater Interview: ROB MADGE (“My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?)” at New York City Center)
APPARENTLY, YOU CAN DO A LOT My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) is a joyous, autobiographical solo show from social media sensation Rob Madge, charting their journey as a queer child with one dream: to stage a full-scale Disney parade in their living room. With wit, heart, and seven easy steps, Madge…
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Off-Broadway Review: PRINCE FAGGOT (Playwrights Horizon)
A RADICAL FAIRY TALE FIT FOR A KING The only marketing I saw for Jordan Tannahill’s provocative new play Prince Faggot, which opened last night at Playwrights Horizons (a co-production with Soho Rep), was the single-line tease: “Let us tell you a fairy tale about a prince.” It didn’t prepare me for the electrifying, emotionally rich, and theatrically thrilling experience waiting…
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Broadway Review: CALL ME IZZY (Studio 54)
SMART SELLS IT Jean Smart is a phenomenal stage actress of great depth and specificity. Not exactly news but since she’s possibly best known as the warm-hearted and slightly naïve “Charlene Stillfield” on the iconic television sitcom Designing Women, it might bear repeating. Currently starring at Studio 54 in the riveting new play Call Me…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE WASH (WP Theater)
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,…
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Concert Review: SAMARA JOY & HER BAND (Carnegie Hall)
FROM CASTLE HILL IN THE BRONX TO A DEBUT AT CARNEGIE HALL IN MANHATTAN, SAMARA JOY IN CONCERT AND IN THE GROOVE # # # Most jazz vocalists dream of rapid success: winning a major contest, dazzling critics with a first recording by age 21, snagging a Best New Artist Grammy, racking up a shelf…
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Cabaret Review: #IRL (IN REAL LIFE) (54 Below)
A REVIEW OF A REVUE Whatever happened to the topical revue format? As differentiated from musical revues that recycle old, established songs by particular writers, the topical revue presented new material in both songs and sketches. Once a mainstay of nightclub and theatre entertainment, the format was a potpourri of songs and comedic skits, maybe…
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Off-Broadway Review: JULIA MASLI: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (Public Theater)
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…
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Music Salon Report: 100th ANNIVERSARY OF RODGERS & HART’S “MANHATTAN” (54 Above)
ONE WOULD BE MAD TO NOT HAVE RSVP’D “YES” TO THIS PRIVATE PARTY CELEBRATING THE CENTENNIAL OF RODGERS & HART’S “MANHATTAN” Oh, if these walls could talk!!! Actually, the walls would probably also sing because so much music has been played and planned over the decades at the elegant apartment in question dubbed “54 Above.”…
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Off-Broadway Review: IMAGINARY INVALID (Red Bull Theatre at New World Stages)
Sick of It All—and Loving Every Minute: Molière’s Hypochondriac Gets a Hilarious Check-Up Molière’s final theatrical work, The Imaginary Invalid, is a scalpel-sharp satire of medicine and the absurdities of human nature. Written and performed in 1673 while he was seriously ill with tuberculosis, Molière took the stage with a genuine cough and died shortly…
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Off-Broadway Review: CHIAROSCURO: A LIGHT AND DARK SKIN COMEDY (National Black Theatre at The Flea Theater)
COLORISM, CRUISE SHIPS, AND COSMIC RECKONING Black myth meets modern identity in Aishah Rahman’s last work. The glossary page of Britain’s National Gallery website describes the concept chiaroscuro as, “…an Italian term which literally means ‘light-dark’. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling…
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Off-Broadway Review: A FREEKY INTRODUCTION (Atlantic Theater Company Stage 2)
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…
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Concert | Cabaret Review: 54 SINGS COCO (Revisiting the 1969 André Previn / Alan Jay Lerner Musical)
MUSICAL ABOUT FASHION ICON COCO CHANEL STILL IN FASHION The scores of older Broadway musicals that don’t get revivals include those that many theatre fans never got to experience beyond listening to an original cast recording. And for those longer-in-the-tooth folks who’ve been attending theatre for more than half a century, memories offer only some…
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Off-Broadway Review: LUNAR ECLIPSE (Second Stage)
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…
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Highly Recommended Concerts: PICNIC PERFORMANCES (Bryant Park)
Bryant Park: A Perfect Picnic Performance Playground Whether you live in New York City or you’re visiting, one of the best places to be this summer is Bryant Park. Among the park’s many activities, one of the most outstanding is Bryant Park Picnic Performances, a series of 25 free concerts featuring live music, theater and…
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Concert Review: FATS AND THE DUKE (Dizzy’s Club / Jazz at Lincoln Center)
SONGBOOK SUNDAYS’ SWINGIN’ SALUTE TO TWO GIANTS OF JAZZ If you’re a student of British royals, hearing the names Thomas and Edward might make you think of brothers from the lineage; and if you grew up watching the children’s TV show Thomas the Tank Engine, you would know Thomas and Edward as faces of trains…
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Cabaret Review: JUDY WEXLER (Pangea, NYC)
IT’S JAZZ. IT’S JOY. IT’S JUDY On the very rainy night May 14th, performing at that place called Pangea, the attractive venue on Second Avenue in Greenwich Village, vocalist Judy Wexler is the featured attraction. It’s a one-night-only opportunity to catch her, so it’s worth getting wet. Notably, a cluster of admirers includes other singers…
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