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New York
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Off-Broadway Review: ANTIGONE IN ANALYSIS (Peculiar Works Project at La MaMa)
A FEMINIST REFRAME Peculiar Works Project’s ambitious reimagining offers striking ideas but struggles to make its case with uneven execution Alessandra Lopez There’s an ancient folktale of a hero who arranges a proper burial for a corpse, whose spirit—the “grateful dead”—would later come to the hero’s aid. A common story passed around to emphasize the…
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Theater Interview: RICHARD CHANG (张德胜) (Playwright and Performer of “Ai Yah Goy Vey!”)
Playwright-Performer Richard Chang Turns Reductionism Into Multiculturalism Years ago, while riding the subway, playwright Richard Chang witnessed passengers snickering at a Chinese battery seller advertising his wares in a thick Cantonese accent. Raised in the melting pot of Malaysia, Chang considered how the American landscape reduced a marginalized stranger into a laughable spectacle. It was…
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Theater Review: MONTE CRISTO (The York Theatre)
A HANDSOME, AMBITIOUS REVENGE MUSICAL TAKES SHAPE Strong design and performances elevate Dumas’ tale, even as tonal shifts occasionally blur its focus The York Theatre’s ambitious world premiere of the new musical Monte Cristo stages Alexandre Dumas’ revenge-driven tale of Edmond Dantès (Adam Jacobs), an innocent man wrongfully imprisoned by a corrupt system and betrayed…
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Cabaret Review: “THE WIZARD AND I” ALBUM RELEASE CONCERT (Liz Callaway Sings Schwartz [& Sondheim] at 54 Below)
TWO STEVES WITH LOVE, TWO TRIBUTES, ONE SUPREMELY SATISFYING WEEK From Schwartz to Sondheim, Callaway revisits rich collaborations with warmth, wit, and deeply felt interpretation Once upon a time in the previous century, very early in her career, on the very same day, Liz Callaway received two pieces of good news: both about being offered…
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Off-Broadway Review: ABOUT TIME (Marjorie S. Dean Little Theater)
GETTING OLDER NEVER SOUNDED SO GOOD A richly satisfying Maltby and Shire revue finds warmth, wit, and wisdom in growing older Lynne Wintersteller, Sally Wilfert, Allyson Kaye Daniel While it may be true that getting old (excuse me, getting older) is no picnic, a taste of that period of life is more palatable—even sweet—when accompanied…
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Off-Broadway Review: BIGFOOT! (New York City Center Stage 1)
BIGFOOT! BRINGS DOWNTOWN MUSICAL MISCHIEF UPTOWN A raunchy, campy comedy with big laughs, big fur, and a surprisingly sharp anti-capitalist bite It’s not every day downtown theater energy comes uptown; when it does, it’s almost always sanitized and robbed of the charm and authenticity that made it so deliciously twisted in the first place. Luckily,…
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Cabaret Review: LORNA LUFT (In Residence at The Laurie Beechman Theatre)
LORNA LUFT LETS LOOSE LUSTILY AND WITH LOVE A veteran performer pushes through rough patches with grit, gratitude, and plenty of show-biz heart There’s plenty of energy and goodwill going back and forth between performer and audience when singer Lorna Luft takes the stage. Those who’ve followed her over the decades know that the trouper…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE PAPARAZZI (AMT Theater)
EXTRA! EXTRA! SING ALL ABOUT IT A musical about paparazzi culture delivers energy and tunes but could stand to sharpen its storytelling Brogan Nelson, Jack Rasmussen The new musical The Paparazzi, now playing at AMT Theater, takes aim at celebrity gossip culture with a story about ambition, scandal, and the price of chasing headlines. To…
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Off-Broadway Review: ZACK (Mint Theater Company)
EDWARDIAN ANXIETIES, COMEDIC COMFORT A rediscovered British comedy reminds us that decency—not money or status— may be the most radical virtue of all When the news of war grows terrifying, a trip back to the 1920s can be reassuring: if people got through that bloody era, we should be able to cope with ours. And…
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Off-Broadway Review: BUGHOUSE (Vineyard Theatre on East 15th St)
COME FOR THE PROJECTIONS, STAY FOR THE… PROJECTIONS (AND HAVE AN EDIBLE) A dazzling design team conjures Henry Darger’s imagination while the script drifts somewhere offstage I suppose when Martha Clarke proposes an idea for a theater production at this point in her illustrious career, the powers that be must grant her every blessing: no…
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Off-Broadway Review: ANTIGONE (THIS PLAY I READ IN HIGH SCHOOL) (The Public Theater)
ANCIENT MYTH, MODERN BODY POLITIC A classical tragedy is boldly reframed through a contemporary moral crisis, giving Antigone’s defiance startling new urgency Celia Keenan-Bolger, Haley Wong, and Susannah Perkins Within The Public Theater, opening the newly renamed Barbaralee Theater (formerly the Anspacher), is Anna Ziegler’s powerful new play Antigone (This Play I Read in High…
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Cabaret & Theater Review: GREY ARIAS (The Flea)
OPERA, DRAG, AND THE POLITICS IN BETWEEN Adrienne Truscott and Le Gateau Chocolat gleefully explore identity, allyship, and the “grey areas” where ideology and performance collide Grey Arias burst onto the The Flea Theater stage like a theatrical meteor from another planet, leaving jaws dropping and eyebrows arching even among those already braced for the…
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Off-Broadway Review: MARCEL ON THE TRAIN (Classic Stage Company)
SILENT RESISTANCE A wartime journey inspired by Marcel Marceau’s resistance work becomes an overlong and uneven theatrical ride Marcel Marceau was not only a mime; he was one of the most famous French performers of his time. But he was born Marcel Mangel, to a Jewish family in Strasbourg. His father was a kosher butcher…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE RESERVOIR (Atlantic Theater Company)
A RESERVOIR OF JOKES— AND NOT MUCH DEPTH An intriguing premise about addiction and fading memory gets diluted by a steady stream of punchlines If you’ve ever put a puzzle together or tried to fix a broken piece of pottery, you’re well prepared for The Reservoir, the new play by Jake Brasch making its Off-Broadway…
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Off-Broadway Review: SPARE PARTS (Theater Row)
SPARE PARTS, FULLY LOADED QUESTIONS Glass’s brainy biotech thriller delivers ideas, surprises, and genuine theatrical punch Jonny-James Kajoba, Rob McClure, Matt Walker and Michael Genet I suppose lots of VPs of Research at biotech companies dream of writing plays that get first-class productions in New York. The same could be said for Senior Lecturers at…
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Cabaret Review: BILLY JOEL SONGBOOK (Tony DeSare at Birdland Theater)
PIANO MAN BY PROXY Tony DeSare salutes Billy Joel with polish, power, and plenty of affection Special thanks go to Billy Joel for changing the career path of the terrifically talented Tony DeSare. The program, Tony DeSare’s Billy Joel Songbook, is an audience-pleasing set that has DeSare honoring Joel’s songs with gusto—one formidable singer-pianist saluting…
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Off-Broadway Review: OUR HOUSE (TOSOS at A.R.T./New York Theatres)
ACTIVISM, FAMILY, AND A BACKYARD BATTLE The new play at TOSOS revisits the legacy of ACT UP and the uneasy quiet that followed CJ DiOrio & Nancy Slusser TOSOS, New York City’s oldest producing queer theater company—debuting in 1974—presents the world premiere of Our House by Barry Boehm. Set in Iowa in 2014, the year…
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Off-Broadway Review: BURNOUT PARADISE (Astor Place Theatre)
FULL SPEED AHEAD Pony Cam turns burnout, chaos, and cardio into delirious theater Dominic Weintraub, Claire Bird, Hugo Williams, William Strom Are you, perhaps, missing the wild energy of Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatre? Good news: it has been replaced with something just as unconventional. Welcome Burnout Paradise, the theatrical event that…
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Off-Broadway Review: CHINESE REPUBLICANS (Roundabout Theatre Company)
A POWER LUNCH WITH KNIVES UNDER THE TABLE Ambition, rivalry, and assimilation simmer in Alex Lin’s sharp corporate comedy There are ordinary lunches, and then there are Chinese Republicans lunches, the subject of a new play by Alex Lin, directed by Chay Yew at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre. In it, four high-achieving Chinese-American…
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Cabaret Review: JOHN PIZZARELLI TRIO (Album Release “Dear Mr. Bennett” at Birdland)
A BENNETT SONGBOOK WITH PIZZARELLI SWING The singer-guitarist and his trio offer solid entertainment and a nostalgic stroll through a legend’s songbook There may not be many things you can count on in the world, but you can always depend on John Pizzarelli to deliver quality performances with quality material—and a few laughs along the…
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