New York

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…

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: Yes, sir. Mr. McGuire: Are you listening? Benjamin: Yes, I am. Mr. McGuire: Plastics. Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean? Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? — from The Graduate…

WE’VE GOT TO GET OURSELVES BACK TO THE GARDEN When The Sheen Center  announced  Ed. Weinberger’s new play The Journals of Adam and Eve starring Hal Linden  and  Marilu Henner, I thought it was a perfect trinity, a legendary event not to be missed, and in the end it was. Weinberger’s sardonic script, an adaptation of Mark Twain’s short…

One of my favorite places to see plays in NYC is also NYC’s most prominent Latino theatre companies:  Repertorio Español. Performed in Spanish with easy-to-read supertitles in English, the plays are always original and thrilling. This summer, two contemporary productions will be staged at the iconic Repertorio stage at 138 E 27th St by two young…

“There’s more to her than anyone could ever infer – You can kick my words to the curb. I think it’s time that we heard from her.” An ice-cold, high-octane adaptation of Euripides’ play written in battle rap verse, this brand-new electrifying hip-hop version of the ancient classic Medea by Luis Quintero, co-conceived and directed…