New York

THE ZZZZzzz TEAM The Z Team, currently playing at Theatre Row, is a new work by father-and-son team Jeff and Jacob Foy. Directed by Jeff Whiting, it’s advertised to be uproarious: “If The Office and The Bad News Bears had a baby, it would be The Z Team.” Times like this call for lighthearted comedies, so…

THERE’S NO ‘MAYBE’ ABOUT IT HAPPINESS HAS LANDED AT THE BELASCO When Avenue Q ran against Wicked at the Tonys for Best Musical, it was often compared to the American folktale The Little Engine That Could vs. the big corporate multi-million-dollar musical. One was a small contender with lots of heart; the other a huge…

HELLO, SATCHMO! THANK GOODNESS LOUIS IS BACK IN TOWN; WE NEED HIM MORE THAN EVER There’s a new jukebox musical in town. But don’t run in the other direction. A Wonderful World, which opened at Studio 54 tonight, November 11, is the bio-musical of Louis Armstrong, aka the Ambassador of Blues, the King of Jazz,…

Kenneth Lonergan’s Hold on to Me Darling is playing through Dec. 22, starring Adam Driver, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Joining Driver as Strings McCrane are Heather Burns as Nancy, Adelaide Clemens as Essie, Keith Nobbs as Jimmy, CJ Wilson as Duke, and Frank Wood as Mitch. On learning of his mother’s death, country music icon Strings McCrane (Driver) finds himself in an existential tailspin. The only way out,…

There’s an eponymous and ominous presence onstage at New York City Center Stage I. You can’t see him. But his evil, autocratic and tyrannical nature permeates every scene in Erika Sheffer’s riveting play, Vladimir, from the moment we see a drunk Boris Yeltsin resign to the play’s tragic ending. That man, of course, is Vladimir…

EVERYTHING KREYÒL IS NEW AGAIN Seemingly caught between differing identities and life paths, Simone is at a crossroads. Half African American and half Haitian, this early thirties, native New Yorker recently left a potentially successful career in finance because it didn’t suit her more humanistic values. Looking to help heal the world and herself, Simone…

STARRING GEORGE CLOONEY IN HIS BROADWAY PREMIERE Good Night, and Good Luck, a new play by  George Clooney  and  Grant Heslov, and directed by Tony Award winner  David Cromer, will premiere on Broadway at the historic Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway). Performances will begin on Wednesday, March 12, with an opening night set for Thursday, April 3, 2025. Clooney…

OUR SHOCKING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM Rawshock, a new drama by Rita Lewis which opened last night for a limited run by Manhattan Rep at the Chain Theatre, is set in a psychiatric hospital. As is often the case in this genre of plays and films, the people outside the mental health facility are more disturbed…

FORBIDDEN PLEASURES Even the most avid theatergoers may not realize how much about Broadway there is to have fun with until they see Forbidden Broadway, the decades-old Off-Broadway musical parody created, written and directed by Gerard Alessandrini. The newest show, Merrily We Stole a Song, is no exception. JENNY LEE STERN, CHRIS COLLINS-PISANO and DANNY…

Love In Idleness, a new musical comedy about a pharmaceutical scientist who invents the title drug to reignite passion in his long-term relationship with a drag performer is set for a limited Off-Broadway engagement this fall at Actors Temple Theatre, opening November 21, 2024. Liam Searcy in the new musical comedy Love In Idleness (Photo…

GET TO THIS MUSICAL ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE TO DRAG YOURSELF It’s campy. It’s trashy. It’s WAAAAY over-the-top. It’s ridiculous. It’s stunning. I’s funny. It’s moving. It’s touching. It’s corny. It’s absurd. It’s heart-warming. It’s loaded with talent. And it’s got original voice-overs from Liza Minnelli (also a producer). In a word, it’s Drag: The…

EVERYTHING ABOUT KAFKAESQUE!, INCLUDING THE COCKROACH, PROVES THAT JAMES HARVEY HAS A HISS, I MEAN, HIT, ON HIS HANDS Full-time lawyer by day, prolific author Franz Kafka wrote at night and died from tuberculosis when he was only 40 — after having burned 90% of his work due to his depression — without having achieved…