New York

GETT IN THE MIDDLE A Gett, as described in the program for The Gett, a new play written by Liba Vaynberg and currently running at Rattlestick Theater is described in part as, “A dated and witnessed document wherein the husband expresses his unqualified intention to divorce his wife and sever all ties with her under…

THIS RAT MAY BE A LITTLE SQUEAKY, BUT IT’S WORTH GETTING CAUGHT IN ITS TRAP Elizabeth Gray is perfect as Olive Lloyd-Kennedy, the kind insightful dry-witted writer who predicts disaster if her flatmate Sheila Brandreth (Sarin Monae West), a brilliant young author, marries Keld Maxwell (James Evans), an inferior but popular up-and-coming playwright in Alexander…

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION? Take a look at the  new production photos of Roundabout’s current Broadway revival of 1776, featuring  Kristolyn Lloyd, who joined the company October 25 as John Adams. While you’re doing that, I’ll give you my thoughts on 1776, one of my favorite musicals. You see, Jeffrey L. Page & Diane…

GIMME MO, MO, MO Ain’t No Mo began previews last night on Broadway (the official opening is Dec 1, 2022), having transferred from The Public Theater, where I caught it. It’s a must-see. Ain’t No Mo’ dares to ask the incendiary question, “What if the U.S. government offered Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa?”…

MADELINE SAYET LIFTS US UP WHERE SHE BELONGS Near the start of her solo show Where We Belong, currently playing at The Public Theater, playwright-performer-academic Madeline Sayet evocatively states, “Today’s story: is how I became a bird”. This Mohegan Indian performer says this after the first chapter of her story, which describes her experiences at…

CAUGHT BY THE TALE The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare is kind of a weird play. It’s a comedy because a pair of young lovers are united in the end but many awful things happen before these two, crazy kids can tie the knot. The King of Sicilia (Leontes) unjustly suspects his pregnant Queen (Hermione)…

EVERYTHING’S OK Douglas McGrath presents as a nice, well-put together, middle-aged man. Onstage, McGrath wears a nice button-down collar shirt, stylish blazer with a matching kerchief in the pocket, nice khakis paired with nice, comfortable shoes. His thinning grey hair, cut in a nice, flattering style, tops his clean-cut look. Had he walked off-stage mid-show…

AN EPIC JOURNEY TO HEAVEN AND HELL It is 1899 in Vienna, Christmas Eve to be exact, and two families, elegant and refined, are gathered together in what might be called joyous solemnity to celebrate the holiday. On Richard Hudson’s luminously dark set, candlelit to perfection by Neil Austin, they are like a painting stirred…

WHAT’S BEEN DONE TO DEATH What cache Arthur Miller’s 1949 classic Death of a Salesman has in terms of power and artistry, nuance, subtlety and insight, is buried by Miranda Cromwell’s ineffectual staging currently on display at the Hudson Theatre. Neither the director nor most of the cast demonstrate anything but the most superficial connection…

THE COST OF MISSING THIS RAVISHING SHOW Every week in the opening sequence of the eighties television series Fame, dance instructor Lydia Grant would state without irony, “…fame costs and right here is where you start paying – in sweat.” Sweat might be the least of what a person may be called upon to pay…

SEE THE LIGHT Illustrious lighting designer Jennifer Tipton will share an exhibit of light in Baryshnikov Arts Center’s Jerome Robbins Theater for three performances only, November 17-19, 2022. Our Days and Night is designed to show the relationship of the earth to the sun, tracing the origin and precarity of the sun’s support of life,…

CROSS-EXAMINING THE AFFIRMATIVE & NEGATIVE IN THIS DEBATE In 1965, at the Cambridge Union, Cambridge University, England, eminent social critic and author James Baldwin publicly debated leading American conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. The motion of their debate: “The American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro”. In front of an almost all-white…

TITLE SONG RELEASED TODAY With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, book by Emerald Fennell and lyrics by David Zippel, Bad Cinderella is a modern retelling of the classic fairytale is set in the exceptionally beautiful kingdom of Belleville. This Cinderella (played by newcomer Linedy Genao) is no longer the damsel in distress who needs saving….

JUMP TO AS YOU LIKE IT – IT’S A PEACH Frog & Peach Theatre Company, New York’s critically acclaimed and revolutionary Shakespeare ensemble, will return to the live stage with their long-anticipated comedy blockbuster, As You Like It. The production begins previews September 30 with an official opening on Thursday, October 6, 2022. If you…

ACE YOUNG TO HEADLINE CONTROVERSIAL NEW PLAY ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE WITHIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Vatican Falls, the controversial play written by Frank J. Avella that closely examines the Catholic sex abuse scandal while telling real survivor stories and exploring the fictional journey of one particular survivor will make its world premiere this Fall in a…

SPILL YOUR MAGIC BEANS NOW; THIS SPELL ONLY LASTS ONE NIGHT Get all dead-dolled up and get your spook on for Broadway’s biggest Halloween event of the year: Jay Armstrong Johnson’s annual sold-out Halloween concert-meets-party, I Put a Spell on You, which returns LIVE at New York City’s Sony Hall  ( 235 W 46th St) on…