New York

WHERE LONELINESS ECHOES AND CONSTELLATIONS ARE CALLING She gets up at dawn and is asleep by eight. She lives alone and doesn’t like people. Nobody at the hospital (where she’s worked for forty years) likes her. She watches TV and complains non-stop. In short, she’s thoroughly disagreeable. But what can you do if she’s your…

GLAMOUR BEFORE THE FALL A pansexual Richard II struts through power, pleasure, and ruin in the 1980s In its current staging at the Astor Place Theatre, Red Bull Theater serves up a Richard II for 2025 with lots of flash and style (some over substance). Director Craig Baldwin, who also adapted Shakespeare’s history play, leans…

THE SANDWICHES THAT COULD HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD A wickedly funny revision of history delights even as it faces catastrophe All they ever wanted was a sandwich… That’s the revised motivation for the young Bosnian conspirators who plotted to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in 1914. It’s posited by playwright Rajiv…

“It will never be forgiven.” With those chilling words, delivered just days ago, the UN climate chief branded our reckless indulgence in fossil-fueled destruction as a transgression so grave it stains the conscience of humankind, and he is not being dramatic! From Stratford-upon-Avon to London’s West End, and now at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater…

THE ONLY THING STRAIGHT IN THIS ROOM IS THE LINE TO THE CREDENZA Messy White Gays—which opened November 2 at Off-Broadway’s Duke on 42nd Street—is a contemporary drawing-room comedy, a modern spin on the comedy of manners, built on witty exchanges, social commentary, and the absurdities of its characters. Classic models include Oscar Wilde’s The…

A SPELLBINDING CAULDRON BOILS OVER, SUMMONING THEATER’S WILD GODS Suffice it to say, there’s nothing else in New York quite like Anne Washburn’s new play The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, now at the Vineyard Theatre in collaboration with The Civilians. For anyone bored by the constraints of realism and naturalism—and instead drawn to theater…

A LOVE LETTER TO THE OBAMAS THAT BRINGS THE WHITE HOUSE DOWN The biggest surprise of the season for me has been 44 – The Musical, which opened last night at the Daryl Roth Theatre. Billed as a satirical look at the rise and presidency of Barack Obama—and the eccentric characters he met along the…

NOSTALGIA IN THE SPOTLIGHT, MODERNITY IN THE WINGS At a time when most new musicals chase novelty, Reunions looks lovingly backward. Conceived as a pair of one-act chamber pieces performed back-to-back without intermission, the evening runs about an hour and forty minutes and draws its stories from early-20th-century plays. Both feel distinctly old-fashioned (but, in…

POP-UP, FLOP-DOWN: WHEN DINNER UPSTAGES THE THEATER The foundational idea of Suite 524’s Pop Up Dinner Theater at Barlume Downstairs is solid — four courses from Barlume’s excellent kitchen matched with four one-act plays created for this venue, directed by Michael Domitrovich. The first play is set in the bar, where hors d’oeuvres are served, and…

THIS BAT COMES OUT SWINGING Back in the nineties when tabloids ruled the world, there was one especially erroneous publication: Weekly World News. Presenting stories so outrageously false yet purported to be true, this particular rag was always good for a laugh. One such story that flew from their front page into a bemused pop…

A TIME WARP TO THE 1970s WOMEN’S MOVEMENT, REFRACTED THROUGH 2025 EYES STILL SQUINTING TOWARDS EQUALITY “Why does it feel somehow like it’s all slipping away? And how do we get it back?” Susannah Flood That’s one of the questions posed about the condition of gender equality in 2025 America at the start of Liberation,…