Tony Kushner’s dystopian vision has a firm grounding in the history of the rise of fascism in Germany in the early 1930s and in the methodical and somewhat meteoric rise of Adolf Hitler to Chancellor of the German Reich. This vision is embodied in “A Bright Room Called Day” currently running at The Public’s Anspacher Theater. Mr. Kushner places himself…
New York City has several options of entertainment that certainly succeed in spreading some holiday cheer, but there happens to be something special happening at the Lyceum Theatre that might capture your heart, make you smile, and possibly shed a tear, all in the spirit of Christmas. It is the Old Vic Production of the Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol”…
Successful entrepreneurs like Harry (an overzealous but hypersensitive Raúl Esparza) typically attempt to guard their “art” from “commerce” for as long as possible. They feel frightened by the prospect of commercial success overwhelming their sense of artistic integrity. At least that is Harry’s point of view in Theresa Rebeck’s “Seared” currently running in the Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater at…
Once again playwright Richard Nelson has gathered another family around the colloquial table to observe their trials and tribulations as they conquer another day of survival in Rhinebeck, New York. This time around it is “The Michaels” who are the subjects of this intimate study of human behavior. The revelations evolve almost in real time as friends and family convene…
A three-month-old infant named Chris looks up from his stroller at his thirty-something mother (Hannah Cabell) as she makes an appointment with his pediatrician for the next day at 11:15. Chris has twisted himself and possibly hurt his back after his big stuffed toy carrot hits him in the eye. Chris’s back injury isn’t the worst of his or his…
There has always been a curiosity and appreciation for bold attempts at new interpretations or the reimagining of the classics and it seems there have been endless attempts on putting a new spin on more than one of these masterworks. There appears to be one more paradigm of this artistic endeavor in the Classic Stage Company’s new production of “Macbeth”…
Following in the footsteps of Maureen Stapleton in the original and first revival and Mercedes Ruehl featured in the second revival on Broadway comes Marisa Tomei as Serafina Delle Rose in the current production of “The Rose Tattoo” at Roundabout American Airlines Theatre. This rare tragic comedy by Tennessee Williams about a heartbroken, widowed, Italian American who shuts herself off…
Since its premiere at The Public in 1976 and its subsequent transfer to Broadway later that year, much has happened to continue to impact the lives of the women of color celebrated by Ntozake Shange in her choreopoem “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf” currently running at The Public Theater’s Martinson Hall. In this incarnation,…
Three Gen Y Conservative Christians gather at Justin’s (a thoughtful and broken Jeb Kraeger) backyard in Lander, Wyoming to celebrate Generation X Gina’s (a confident and willful Michelle Pawk) inauguration as president of Transfiguration College of Wyoming. These “heroes” are preparing for a battle of Armageddon-like proportions. They do not simply disagree with those infidels on the left: they despise…
The sharp and witty dialogue of the latest dramedy penned by playwright Tracy Letts is foreshadowed by the title “Linda Vista” which means “pretty view” in Spanish. The midlife crisis of a bitter fifty-year-old, divorced, white male, who seems to have an insatiable libido and absolutely no respect for women – preferring to exhibit his unbridled male testosterone – is…