New York

WARRIOR THEATER It’s the beginning of  the Year  of  the Dragon, and one  of  the best ways to celebrate it is seeing a classic Chinese epic. The Pan Asian Repertory Theatre is presenting Warrior  Sisters  of  Wu, directed by  Jeff Liu, a delightful romantic comedy at A.R.T/New York Theatres. Nancy Ma, Kim Wuan The play takes place during the tumultuous end-years  of  China’s Han Dynasty; Lord…

THIS TOO TOO SOLID HAMLET RESOLVES ITSELF INTO A HIT It must be the Season of different takes on the Bard in New York; Greg Mullavey is appearing in a shortened King Lear, and Patrick Page’s All the Devils Are Here is an unforgettable solo voyage into Shakespeare’s abyss, and Suzie Eddie Izzard, at Greenwich…

A mysterious coming-of-age story that focuses on women’s sexuality, written and directed by two talented artists like Rachel Bonds  and  Danya Taymor, was unquestionably the reason I wanted to see Jonah, presented by Roundabout Theater. Sexuality is an important bio-psycho-social development that starts during adolescence and this story appropriately begins with young, bright Ana (Gabby Beans) attending…

ALIVE AND KICKING: MADDOW AND ZIMET AT PAC/NYC New York City, 1947: Julian Beck and Judith Molina found The Living Theatre, the oldest experimental group in the United States, giving life, with other artists, to Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theater. 16 years later, director Joseph Chaikin leaves the group to co-found The Open Theater, where Ellen…

IRELAND’S GENTRY IS DISINTEGRATING IN FRIEL’S ARISTOCRATS, BUT SO IS THE DRAMA The mid-19th century, with its changing class dynamics, marked the decline of the power of aristocracy in Europe and Russia. Rural landowners, who owned large estates, saw their wealth, power, and mansions disintegrate generation after generation. Brian Friel’s  Aristocrats, playing at the Irish Repertory…

A KINGDOM DIVIDED Sam (Uly Schlesinger) is a bright, articulate and sincere young man. But he is also nervous, sensitive and bitter. In fact, he has recently attempted suicide. Actress Ruby Thomas’s first play, The Animal Kingdom, explores what family relationships might lead to such an act. The play, making its U.S. premiere at the…

LET’S RAISE OUR GLASSES AND CHEER DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES There is an old Irish proverb that goes “A man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man.” Based on a JP Miller’s 1958 play, and the brilliant 1962 film adaptation directed by Blake Edwards, Days of Wine and…

A MATTRESS THAT REVIVES AND RENEWS When Encores! announced Once Upon a Mattress as part of their season’s concert series reviving American musicals, my first thought: Does this nutty chestnut need reviving? After all, there have been numerous in-your-neighborhood productions (for decades, Mattress was one of the most-produced musicals in high schools, colleges, and community…

STAGED AT AN EMOTIONAL DISTANCE, OUR CLASS IS A HARROWING REMINDER OF ONGOING ANTISEMITISM At a recent viewing of Joshua Harmon’s Broadway play Prayer for the French Republic, French Jews no longer feel safe with the overt antisemitism in Paris and ultimately ask themselves, “Why do they hate us?” In Our Class by Tadeusz SŠ‚obodzianek…

Directed by Obie-winner Chay Yew, the world-premiere of BATHHOUSE.PPTX by  Jesús I. Valles  is coming to The Flea March 19-April 22, 2024. BATHHOUSE.PPTX is an epic new play that follows Presenter, a gay Latino student, whose PowerPoint presentation on the history of cleanliness and bathing quickly starts to burst at the seams with appearances from the ghosts…

ADVANCE WARNING: THIS CABARET WILL BE THE HOTTEST TICKET ON BROADWAY I saw this production in London, so prepare yourself for the most emotionally raw production of Cabaret you will ever see as Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club — starring Eddie Redmayne as ‘The Emcee’ and Gayle Rankin as the toast of Mayfair ‘Sally…

THIS SHOW ISN’T A CRIME, BUT IT SOMETIMES FEELS LIKE PUNISHMENT Following his return from a decade in exile in Siberia as a dissenter against the Romanov order, Fyodor Dostoevsky intended his second novel, written as much to pay off gambling debts as to share a story, to be called  The Drunkards. It would depict how…

DEAD MEAT There is a notion floating around that critics get pleasure from bashing shows. I can’t speak for everyone, but it’s been my experience that most reviewers love the theater. Personally, I want every production I see to be good, to work, to have something: energy, theatricality, artistry, to be interesting, deep, funny, moving….