Playwright Lucy Prebble attempts to cover an expansive range of themes in the North American premiere of her play “The Effect” at the Barrow Street Theatre. Although this choice gives her play a range of diverse and interesting conflicts, it fails to give the play a cohesive core leaving the audience to wonder what Ms. Prebble was trying to accomplish….
“It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous.” (Jean-Paul Sartre) “If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf.” (Nikita Khrushchev) When is the last time (be honest) you smelled the scent of the heavy moist earthiness of potting soil and peat…
Rehearsal begin on March 21, 2016 for “Barbara Cook: Then and Now,” a candid and intimate evening conceived by 3-time Tony Award winner James Lapine and directed by 10-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune. The production will begin preview performances Tuesday, April 12, officially open Wednesday, May 4 and play a strictly limited engagement through Sunday, June 26 Off Broadway at New…
The only words that can come close to describing what Baby Jane Dexter is are “cabaret legend” and, of course, those who have seen her perform know that she is so much more. It seems almost senseless to find a new way to shower praise and applaud her recent performance at The Metropolitan Room. Critics, peers and music aficionados have…
I am going to tread gently here, but there are shows that appeal to sophisticated, seasoned theatregoers, and those that would be more embraced by the tourist crowd, perfectly happy to be entertained no matter how silly the antics. Which brings us to “The Robber Bridegroom,” produced by the Roundabout Company, and performing at the Laura Pels Theatre. This is…
“As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.” (Virginia Woolf, “Orlando”) “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” (Virginia Woolf, “A Room of One’s Own”) Darja (Marin Ireland) has not had a room of her own since she arrived in the United States from Poland with her…
The 1970s gave movie audiences a treasure trove of disaster films including “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Earthquake,” “The Swarm,” “Fire,” “S.O.S. Titanic,” and “Bees.” The careful observer might see the spirits of these (and other) disaster films in Seth Rudetsky’s and Jack Plotnick’s delectably smart and witty “Disaster!” currently running at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City. That is if…
Two character plays—known in the biz as two-handers—are always a challenge: for the actors, certainly, but also for the audience. No matter how charismatic the performers, these must be fascinating characters telling a continuously compelling story to hold our interest. Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels are the latest to take on the assignment, co-starring in a revival of David Harrower’s…
Aaron Loeb’s intriguing “Ideation” – currently playing at 59E59 Theaters – could easily be categorized as a delightful off-beat Drawing Room farce (except the room here is a corporate Board Room) were it not for the play’s underbelly of moral ambiguity, suspicion, mistrust, conspiracy, paranoia, and an extra-marital affair. Coming off a successful business venture in Crete, Brock (Mark Anderson…
The Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) returns to New York for its fifth season of self-produced performances on April 22-23, 2016 in the Ailey Citigroup Theater, located at 405 West 55thStreet, in New York, New York. The Masterworks Redefined – New York series will showcase the energetic dance artistry of the repertory dance company that is turning 40 in its…