New York

SWEET LIES, STICKY MEMORIES, BITTER GUILT; THE HONEY TRAP STINGS AT IRISH REP In Northern Ireland, The Troubles only ended some 25-30 years ago, though their tensions and legacies reach far deeper into time. Today, Leo McGann‘s play The Honey Trap, now at the Irish Repertory Theatre, reminds us that it was never a tidy…

Justice without mercy becomes punishment, and mercy without justice becomes apathy. But how do we strike the balance when the system and the society behind it seem to have forgotten both? In And Then We Were No More, playwright Tim Blake Nelson invites us into a future so plausible it stings, in an unnamed state…

JOHN LEGUIZAMO’S THE OTHER AMERICANS IS RIFE WITH POTENTIAL THAT’S NOT ALWAYS REALIZED — MUCH LIKE THE AMERICAN DREAM ITSELF There are many kinds of Americans. Some were born here. Some emigrated here. Some were forcibly brought here. But whatever the mode of initial arrival, in time, we all eventually become Americans — enamored of…

LOU WALL SLAYS, AND THAT’S NO LIE Whether a comedian is obligated to tell the truth in their act comes up in mainstream discourse every once and a while. Plenty of comedians start a comedy bit with “You know, a funny thing happened to me on my way over here,” knowing full well it happened…

Years ago, all a magician needed was a top hat and a live rabbit. Magic has come a long way. Jamie Allan’s Amaze uses props, videos, projections and cell phones to do exactly what the title of his show predicts. But Allan does much more than simply overwhelm the audience with slights of hand and…

THE WILD DUCK TAKES FLIGHT: TRUTH, LIES AND QUACKING DELUSIONS While Shakespeare agonized over “to be or not to be,” Henrik Ibsen was more concerned with “why is everyone being so fake?” It’s existential dread versus emotional fraud, and I thought of these two drama kings because The Wild Duck, Ibsen’s play on delusion and…

THE FINE ART OF A THREE-MAN MASTERPIECE Yasmina Reza’s Art returned to Broadway last night starring Neil Patrick Harris, Bobby Cannavale, and James Corden, and it is a tight, acidic joyride through ego and insecurity, wickedly funny. If you have ever done the silent math of friendship: who listens, who cares, who gives more, who…

THIS SOW BELONGS TO EVERYBODY There’s the actor’s nightmare, there’s nightmare productions, and then there’s Excorcistic: The Rock Musical which is nightmarishly twisted and sick. But don’t worry, it’s a good thing here. The horror musical genre is alive and well, from classics like Sweeney Todd to rock musical adaptations of horror films like Evil…

When I hear the name Pericles, I naturally think of the great Athenian statesman who helped shape democracy in the 5th century BC, a true hero of history. It is amusing that Shakespeare and George Wilkins borrowed the name for a completely different hero, reworking in 1609 the soapy medieval legend of Apollonius of Tyre…

WHEN CIVILIZATION CRASHES IN QUIET MODE Cellunova Productions‘ latest outing, Destination Undefined ventures into the future with a provocative premise that might make you reconsider your stance on artificial intelligence and the human-like robots that may be heading our way if playwright Changshuo Liu’s predictions prove prescient. Victor Gao, Lyra Lys, Jueun Kang, Tom Shane…

YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY WHAT YOU WILL While we are still grappling with questions of gender, identity, and societal roles like troglodytes, we need to remember that Shakespeare was exploring these human complexities with intelligence, nuance, and humor over 400 years ago. In Twelfth Night, written around 1601, he crafted a brilliant pastiche of mistaken identities,…

JOIN THIS TOP BANANA FOR THE RIDE OF THE SUMMER If you’re heading to the Nederlander Theatre expecting Jeff Ross to come out swinging with savage roasts about Charlie Sheen’s liver or Elon Musk’s social skills, that ain’t Take a Banana for the Ride. Written and performed by the actor, this is not your typical…