New York

MR. GREENSPAN, PARTY OF FOUR Here’s a one-of-a-kind, one-person, one-act play in which one man plays four women—simultaneously—without ever leaving the stage. Three (sometimes all four) of these women are present in the same scene for a good chunk of the time. Our intrepid performer simply pivots his body as the women speak, often trading off…

Brecht once said, “In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times.” This must have been the inspiration for A Mother, a truly amusing collection of heartfelt life snippets by writer Neena Beber, co-conceived with actress Jessica Hecht, now playing at Baryshnikov Arts. It is not…

LIFE IS LIKE A CARTON OF EGGS; YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET UNTIL YOU CRACK ONE OPEN How do we cope with the loss of control in a crisis? Imagine two couples (one from Manhattan, the other from Los Angeles) that meet for an idyllic winter vacation in a secluded cabin Upstate…

HERE’S THE SCOOP ON BOOP! ENDEARINGLY CUTE, ASTUTE AND A HOOT Some things are meant to last. Cartoon character Betty Boop has been around for 95 years and has just been rejuvenated—as youthful, spirited, spunky, sprightly, spit-curled and curvy as ever. The new Broadway musical, simply called BOOP!—which opened last night at the Broadhurst Theatre—presents…

I CAN’T CAVE ENOUGH In 1917, Kentucky cave explorer Floyd Collins discovered Crystal Cave. Located in the same area as Mammoth Cave—the longest cave system known in the world—the site operated as a tourist attraction by his family. In 1925, while searching for a new entrance to the hundreds of miles of interconnected caves, Collins…

SHARP AS EVER, BUT DOES IT CUT DEEP ENOUGH? OR, IF YOU WANT BIGGER SHARKS, YOU NEED MORE BLOOD IN THE WATER Glengarry Glen Ross is a testosterone-saturated 24 hours of five salesmen, some metaphorically dying like Willie Loman–others who go home at night and live, no doubt, in a shark tank. Their best sales…

A WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN BERNSTEIN AND VON KARAJAN… AND THE AUDIENCE LOSES Peter Danish‘s Last Call at New World Stages imagines a high-stakes intellectual showdown between two musical titans—Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan—in Sacher Hotel’s Blaue Bar in Vienna, 1988. On paper, this has the makings of an electrifying clash: a liberal Jewish…

IT’LL KNOCK THE PANTS OFF O’ YOUSE Who Is Jimmy Pants? is the second production in the York’s Spring 2025 “New2NY” series, presented at the Theater at St. Jean’s on East 76th Street—a welcome upgrade from their former home at Saint Peter’s Church, which was unfortunately lost to flooding in 2021. This 90-minute concert-style staged…

HERE’S A BROADWAY SUCCESS THAT ALSO BRIMS WITH PURPOSE Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ doesn’t just expose the cracks in a so-called perfect life—he shines a floodlight on them. Except for a few sequences, Purpose, his triumphant new work which opened March 17, is not earth-shattering—yet it’s extremely consequential. Here’s a writer who can create a topical play…

WE HAD A BALL Manhattan Theatre Club’s We Had a World is an unconventional modern-day three-hander memory play that covers roughly 30 years. Our diarist, memoirist, and damn funny playwright Joshua Harmon is trying to make sense of a real-life senseless event at a Passover dinner, but what he creates–with himself as the protagonist Joshua…

UPSIDE DOWN A STRAIGHT UP MUSICAL SATIRE I admire AMT Theater for two key reasons: its dedication to developing new works—particularly musicals, which I’ve witnessed in the past—and its commitment to showcasing up-and-coming talent, often granting well-deserved Off-Broadway debuts. It’s also impressive that this intimate 97-seat venue is staging the two-act musical Upside Down with…

FROM HAVANA TO BROADWAY: A SOCIAL CLUB WORTH JOINING Buena Vista Social Club is a sun-drenched, rhythm-soaked explosion of life, proving that sometimes a show just needs space to breathe—and in this case, to raise the roof. After its more intimate Off-Broadway run at The Atlantic, this production has found its true home on the…