New York

THE OUTSIDERS IS PURE THEATRICAL GOLD Neither a rehash of S.E. Hinton’s classic 1967 novel nor of the iconic 1983 film by Frances Ford Coppola, the stunning new musical The Outsiders, which opened tonight at Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, is recommended not just for the adaptation by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine but for…

A FISH OUT OF WATER The use of drama as a didactic tool usually works when we are learning new things or seeing old things through a different lens. Kia Corthron‘s Fish at Theater Row  starts right away with two known facts we should never forget: in America, rich areas end up with well-funded public schools…

PUSSY POWER How can we eradicate misogyny? Meet vagina dentata, a penis-eating vagina, the product of an ancient folk tale that exists in virtually every culture, and it has now landed at Playwrights Horizons in the form of a shameless, outrageous, campy-horror musical, Teeth. It is based on a eponymous 2007 film written and directed…

Written and performed by  Pamela L Paek  and directed by  Shinshin Yuder Tsai, No fucks given. None taken. All done. is (1) A life mantra. (2) A way of cutting through the BS of toxic positivity and social norms too many of us hide behind. (3) An interactive TED talk laced with dark comedy. (4) A show originally…

DOG AND PONY SHOW Looking at the long line that stretched all the way to 7th Avenue to get inside the 1920s Imperial Theatre, I thought I was about to see a masterpiece. I was not familiar with the plot but I knew it was a medley of Circus Arts and Broadway Theater, an alluring…

ONE FOR THE NOTEBOOKS While specialty branded tissue boxes are sold for $5 at the merch stands, the ushers at the Gerald Schoenfeld  Theatre should insert more in the playbill of The  Notebook. Whether you have had a dear one suffer from conditions that affect memory and thinking, or if you are just a sucker for love…

READY FOR A HOT BATH? Staged at The Flea Theater in Manhattan between the FBI building and an apocalyptic AT&T windowless high tower, Bathhouse.pptx — described as a “group project for perverts” by its creator Jesús I. Valles  — comes with an intangible mysterious quality before it even starts. Sam Gonzalez as Presenter Lights go on,…

AN ENGAGING FISHBURNE DOES A SLOW BURN Who doesn’t want to see Laurence Fishburne in a solo play he describes as “The stories and lies people have told me. And that I have told myself”? The theater at PAC/NYC, part of the World Trade Center complex, was packed with fans last night, and it was…

THE VINEYARD: WHERE NEW PLAYS GROW INTO HITS Vineyard Theatre has transferred 11 shows to Broadway, seven directly after their acclaimed Vineyard premieres [highlights are links to Stage and Cinema‘s reviews] Lucas Hnath’s Dana H.  and Tina Satter’s  Is This A Room  (both NYT Best Theatre of 2021); Paula Vogel’s  Indecent; Nicky Silver’s  The Lyons; Kander, Ebb and Thompson’s  The Scottsboro…

TAKING STOCK OF THE MURDOCH AFTERSHOCK: HACK. LIE. INTIMIDATE. CORRUPT. BEGIN AGAIN. Welcome to Rupert Murdoch’s wicked, treacherous media empire where everybody is under surveillance and can be potentially blackmailed. It’s the oldest trick in the book of dirty politics; knowing other people’s private secrets is essential to wielding corrupt power. Adapted by J.T. Rogers…