New York

A PLATE OF MASHED SMASH Let me be clear. I never saw the television series Smash. I know nothing about the series other than that it focused on a community theater working on a show about the life of Marilyn Monroe. So I had no expectations when I arrived at the Imperial Theatre to see…

CHERRIES WITH A FEW PITS Anton Chekhov’s final play, The Cherry Orchard, is a masterwork of dramatic irony. It was written in 1903 as a dark comedy but it was always more akin to a tragedy, especially with the original Stanislavski’s direction full of psychological realism and emotional truth. A new wild version, written &…

KNEEL AT THE CHURCH OF CHURCHILL A drum roll begins each act and ends with a cymbal crash. Paired with the red front curtain and chaser lights outlining the proscenium arch, one might brace for another revival of Cabaret. But when the curtain opens at The Public‘s Martinson Theater, it becomes instantly clear we are…

IT WON’T LAST FIVE YEARS, BUT IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO (THE RELATIONSHIP AND THE BROADWAY MUSICAL) Although the traditional wedding vow includes the pledge to stay together “‘til death do you part,” sometimes the love and compatibility die first. In some old stories of romance, where marriage is the be-all and end-all, it all…

GEORGE CLOONEY’S SENSE OF DECENCY Where are our heroes when we need them?! It takes a Hollywood actor to give us one in these traumatic times. Trouble is, that hero comes from the 1950s. George Clooney George Clooney has had a lifelong respect for truth, justice, and “the facts.” Son of a news anchorman in…

FIERCE CRAIC A really enjoyable, light-hearted, raucous comedy just opened at The Irish Repertory Theatre: the world premiere of Irishtown by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey. In a building on the outskirts of Dublin, The Irishtown Players, three actors, a playwright and a director, are rehearsing a new play, a sexual assault…

MAKING THE IMPLAUSABLE APPLAUSEABLE, SMASH IS A WILD, WACKY, WONDERFUL WOW “S” is for “splashy”; “M” is for “Marilyn Monroe”; “A” is for “audience-pleasing”; “S” is for “snarky”; “H” is for “hilarious.” Put ’em all together and that’s Smash, the broad Broadway musical comedy and the story of the Broadway musical comedy within that Broadway…

GRINS, GOWNS, AND GRIT: A WINNING SMILE SASHAYS BACK ONSTAGE In the year 1919, the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway featured an ode to female finery as a bevy of beauties graced the stage to the strains of the Irving Berlin song “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody.” The next year, Congress ratified an amendment…

MR. GREENSPAN, PARTY OF FOUR Here’s a one-of-a-kind, one-person, one-act play in which one man plays four women—simultaneously—without ever leaving the stage. Three (sometimes all four) of these women are present in the same scene for a good chunk of the time. Our intrepid performer simply pivots his body as the women speak, often trading off…

Brecht once said, “In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times.” This must have been the inspiration for A Mother, a truly amusing collection of heartfelt life snippets by writer Neena Beber, co-conceived with actress Jessica Hecht, now playing at Baryshnikov Arts. It is not…

LIFE IS LIKE A CARTON OF EGGS; YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET UNTIL YOU CRACK ONE OPEN How do we cope with the loss of control in a crisis? Imagine two couples (one from Manhattan, the other from Los Angeles) that meet for an idyllic winter vacation in a secluded cabin Upstate…

HERE’S THE SCOOP ON BOOP! ENDEARINGLY CUTE, ASTUTE AND A HOOT Some things are meant to last. Cartoon character Betty Boop has been around for 95 years and has just been rejuvenated—as youthful, spirited, spunky, sprightly, spit-curled and curvy as ever. The new Broadway musical, simply called BOOP!—which opened last night at the Broadhurst Theatre—presents…