New York

SOMETIMES THINGS HAVE TO GET VERSE TO GET BETTER Medea: Re-Versed, a Hip Hopera by  Luis Quintero, has landed at the Frank Shiner Theatre  and  it  is, without doubt, a memorable experience. Old-school hip hop, the one used for social commentary  in the early 80s,  is the beat throughout the piece — familiar-sounding music created by Quintero to smoothly deliver his…

I’D LOVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SEE It is extremely hard to translate the work of  writers  as ingenious and imaginative as  RyŠ«nosuke Akutagawa, the father of Japanese short stories, into plays or films without falling into flat versions of the complex originals; very few artists have succeeded although many have tried. Presented at…

FOR THE ROOMMATE, IT’S ULTIMATELY ABOUT THE CASTMATES Take a big dose of Grace and Frankie, add a bit of Arsenic and Old Lace, and top it off with the magnificent Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone and you’ve got Jen Silverman’s The Roommate, a two-hander helmed by Jack O’Brien which opened last night at the…

RESPLENDENT ISLAND Sri Lanka is the epitome of a tropical paradise with golden sand beaches and luxurious palm trees, regal elephants and sexy leopards, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean once known as Ceylon. Its history goes back to at least 125,000 years, before the Europeans came knocking and mayhem started, but very few of…

A FASCINATING SUBJECT BOTH MOLD AND NEW In 2019, antibiotic resistance contributed to almost 5 million deaths globally affecting everyone, no matter what age, race or financial status. Here in the States, more than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur each year and more than 35,000 people die as a result. You would never think that…

A DOWNSIZED HURRICANE Hurricane Season at Theatre Row is an experimental play where it’s difficult to understand what is happening, and why, from the beginning to the very end. Produced by Atlanta-based company Vernal & Sere Theatre, written and directed by the talented Sawyer Estes — who uses a lyrical language, abstract movements, and a…

MATTRESS HOLDS THE BREW THAT IS TRUE After 25 years,  Once Upon a Mattress is back on Broadway at the  Hudson Theatre, with a new adaptation by  Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator of  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), directed by Lear deBessonet, and it is a riot. Composer Mary Rodgers, lyricist Marshall Barer, and writers Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller, who created…

IF ONLY THIS MUSICAL WAS CONSTRUCTED WITH THE SAME EFFICIENCY AS THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING Empire, at  New World Stages, is unquestionably a musical created with an adult public in mind, particularly tourists. Considering that it is about the construction of the Empire State Building, you would expect acrobatics on steel beams and creative scenery to…

A MEETING THAT’S TOUGH TO INTERPRET Four months before the  November 2016 presidential elections, a crucial  meeting  took place at Trump Tower between Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.; Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort; British publicist Rob Goldstone; Ike Kaveladze, who worked for Russian oligarch Agalarov; Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet counterintelligence officer; and Russian…

Humor leads to the release of endorphins in the brain, which help to control pain.   — RA Haig The Anatomy of Humor A play based on a grief group therapy session and life after an important loss does not sound like a cheery event to experience on a hot summer’s day but playwright Doménica Feraud…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT JOB, HEAD TO THE HAYES THEATRE Two plays on therapy sessions presented at the same time a few blocks apart certainly show a phycological trend among young New York playwrights. At Pershing Square Signature Center, Dominéca Feraud’s Something Spectacular deals gently and comically with significant loss while  Max Wolf Friedlich‘s…

IN A DELICIOUSLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC BOX AT OUT OF THE BOX Out of the Box Theatrics  is presenting an intimate, hilarious, original play called  Inspired  by  True  Events  – written  by  actor, writer and filmmaker  Ryan Spahn  and directed  by  Knud Adams  – that deserves a lot of praise for its organic realism, flowing dialogue, and unconventional twists. The setting is the green room (the performers’ resting area) of…