New York

HOORAY FOR THIS BANQUET OF BLISS— ALL THOSE SENSATIONAL SONGS AND ENERGY— BEING ALIVE ON STAGE Words seem woefully inadequate to praise the wonderful, song-stuffed, dazzling and polished production featuring highlights from the musicals of Stephen Sondheim. The limited run of Sondheim’s Old Friends is highlight after highlight. For those many fans who’ve seen Bernadette…

A FUN, LIVELY KANDER & EBB MUSICAL AND THE TICKET PRICE ISN’T EX-ZORBA-TANT Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: If a character in musical theatre is going to make a declaration of independence, these three things are cherished. A good example is Zorba!. It is a cornucopia of carpe diem being treated to a…

SEEING THE UNSEEN: JULIA BELL BARRY’S HAUNTING NEW PLAY Part memoir, part The Sixth Sense, Julia Barry Bell’s new play, which opened tonight at Theatre Row, asks a haunting question: how do we respond to a child who seems to have extraordinary gifts? In the 1999 film, young Cole, who sees dead people, is sent…

DEATH BECOMES HIM In 2016, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star introduced a sound I’d never heard on Broadway—a blend of Americana and bluegrass so distinct it felt like a new musical dialect. Nearly a decade later, that rare sensation returns with Dead Outlaw, the dark and bizarre new musical by David Yazbek and…

A BARE-BONES BOBBY IN BROOKLYN: A COMPANY THAT GHOSTS THE GOODS IS STILL ABOUT BEING ALIVE A revival of a show featuring the smart songs by the late Stephen Sondheim is sure to draw interest and audiences. Broadway is currently hosting the revue Sondheim’s Old Friends and his lyrics (with Jule Styne’s music) are in…

A MEANINGFUL MUSICAL WHERE IDENTITY, ART, AND SILENCE COLLIDE IN 1996 PENNSYLVANIA The title might suggest a classical drama—perhaps something Shakespearean or starchy—but Keen Company’s latest offering (in association with Michelle Noh) is neither Elizabethan nor antiquated. All the World’s a Stage, a new chamber musical by Adam Gwon, trades grandeur for intimacy, unfolding on…

GRACE, GRIOTS AND GOODIE BAGS The Baobab tree is an imposing, if unconventional, tree that grows in Africa along the Zambesi River. Also known as The Tree of Life, it seems to rise from the ground upside down, with root-like branches facing the sky. Legend has it that the once magnificent tree grew arrogant and…

JUST SOME KIDS, A CABIN, AND THE ABYSS. NOTHING HAPPENS. EVERYTHING HURTS. If you’re a fan of Annie Baker—whose plays of quiet revelatory naturalism include The Flick, Circle Mirror Transformation, John, and my personal favorite, Infinite Life—then meet a compelling new voice carrying that torch: Eliya Smith. Her play Grief Camp, which opened tonight at…

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…