New York

CALL ME UNDERWHELMED For City Center’s 75th anniversary season, Encores! has revived a show from its second year, Call Me Madam  — only the second show it has ever repeated. Irving Berlin’s 1950 star vehicle for Ethel Merman was a smash hit for Encores! in 1995 as a concert starring Tyne Daly (the recording of which…

HITS THE SPOT As someone who has logged many hours crawling up 10th Avenue in a Megabus, the bright purple-and-white Y2K-esque signage of Yotel has always been intriguing landmark. Since I am not a European tourist, I thought I would never have the opportunity to experience whatever wonders lay beyond its blocky bubble letters and…

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY CLONES It’s hard to react to the details of this show with anything but resigned bemusement. So, while some of what I’m about to say may sound like I hated Wicked Clone, let me be clear: It’s top-to-bottom insane, and I loved every minute of it. (Well, every minute might be…

A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW It is said that every playwright’s first play needs to be about themselves before they are able to move onto more expansive material. This maxim seems to hold true for Clea DeCrane’s Bitter Greens, now playing at 59E59, which covers the well-trod territory of privileged post-collegiate angst with skill, if…

CASTE ASIDE Todd Solondz, one of the most profound filmmakers working today (Happiness, Welcome to the Dollhouse), begins his first play Emma and Max  — which he also directs — with a scene right out of a Todd Solondz movie: An affluent white couple, Brooke and Jay, sit uncomfortable and tense in their living room opposite…

THIS ONE’S A BEEPER Richard Saudek’s one man show beep boop begins with a man struggling to break through an elastic translucent membrane. He succeeds and is born — spit out of a womb — emerging dressed like a Brooklyn millennial and holding a smartphone. What follows is a brilliant display of mime and clown…

EVERYTHING’S FINE, BUT WHAT IF WE HAD ALSO BEEN AFRAID? Starting out as a parody of Edward Albee’s Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Kate Scelsa’s Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf is a whimsical and witty feminist attack on what the play views as the failings of male dramatists. An abundance of quips, clever remarks, and…

YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART Here’s the thing: This solo show written and performed by John Lithgow, the endlessly talented star of more movies, TV shows, and plays than there are stars in the heavens, is downright delightful. Few performers possess the charisma and, frankly, the chops to straddle a stage alone and draw you in…

NOT JUST HORSING AROUND After watching Paul Calderon’s quite gripping tale of thugs and scammers trying to grift a deal whatever way they can, you’ll start to wonder, “Um, wouldn’t it be easier to just get a real job?” I mean, a scam is fun, I get it – I’m a theater critic and we’ve…

LET THERE BE DARK A group of campers sits around the warm glow of campfire embers and tries to retell a favorite episode of  The Simpsons. One man excitedly recalls and performs “Cape Feare” with entertaining accuracy. Others chime in with a few lines and impersonations, goading on his storytelling when he falters. No doubt some…