All stories by Alexis Soloski on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Sleep No More: from avant garde theatre to commercial blockbuster by Alexis Soloski

Twelve years after it opened in London, Punchdrunk’s take on Macbeth is still packing them in in New York – with a bar and restaurant attached. Has success tarnished the magic – or doe…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:45AM
Monday, October 17, 2016

Sarah Jones explores the sex industry in Sell/Buy/Date by Alexis Soloski

Travelling through brothels, strip clubs and red-light districts around the world, the performer channels the other’s experiences into a new show about sex workFor Sell/Buy/Date, her first…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:57AM

Hamilton's America review – loving documentary entertains and frustrates by Alexis Soloski

In-depth look at the hit Broadway musical has an impressively starry lineup but doesn’t give us a truly behind-the-scenes peek at the creative processNow that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilt…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:45AM
Sunday, October 16, 2016

The Cherry Orchard review – Diane Lane stars in disarrayed Chekhov comedy by Alexis Soloski

American Airlines theatre, New YorkJumpy actors and an unusual vocabulary are among many jarring elements in a scattered adaptation that never gets out of the woods“I don’t know what to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:25PM
Monday, October 10, 2016

Oh, Hello on Broadway review – repulsive geezers make audience howl by Alexis Soloski

Lyceum Theatre, New YorkThe comic creations of Nick Kroll and John Mulaney hilariously skewer theatrical conventions in an uproarious show that makes Broadway feel like the place to beGil Fa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:16PM
Thursday, October 6, 2016

Holiday Inn review – Irving Berlin musical full of suite nothings by Alexis Soloski

Roundabout Theater Company, New YorkThe songs are a zippy treat, but the clunky dialogue and air of old-time predictability may leave audiences with reservationsWith Holiday Inn, a wan jukeb…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:36PM
Wednesday, October 5, 2016

This Broadway Season, Christian Borle Is Taking the Lead(s) by Alexis Soloski

Mr. Borle, who won Tonys for his parts in “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Something Rotten!,” soon stars in a “Falsettos” revival and as Willy Wonka on Broadway.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:42PM
Monday, October 3, 2016

Review: ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,’ With a Message on the Environment by Alexis Soloski

A take on a classic by Jules Verne at the New Victory Theater uses actors, props and projections to teach children and adults about threats to ocean life.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:46PM
Thursday, September 29, 2016

The Encounter review – Simon McBurney's revolution in the head by Alexis Soloski

Golden Theatre, New YorkEquipping the audience with headphones offering 3D sound, McBurney embarks on a mind-expanding journey into the Amazon jungle – and storytelling itselfThe director,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:07PM
Wednesday, September 28, 2016

All The Ways to Say I Love You review – a sexual confession pulls its punches by Alexis Soloski

MCC Theater, New YorkJudith Light elevates Neil LaBute’s mildly sensational material about a transgressive relationship into a reasonably compelling character studyWho would distrust Judit…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:08PM

At 77, He Gets to Woo Mary-Louise Parker by Alexis Soloski

By happy accident, the veteran actor Denis Arndt makes his Broadway debut in Simon Stephens’s “Heisenberg.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 12:52PM
Monday, September 26, 2016

Nat Turner in Jerusalem review – rebel's last stand fails to inspire by Alexis Soloski

New York Theater Workshop, New YorkA new drama imagines the slave rebellion leader’s final night in prison before being hanged. The result is a static two-hander in which the leads fail to…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12PM

Joel Grey prepares for The Cherry Orchard: 'I'm about surprises' by Alexis Soloski

The Broadway legend won over fans as the emcee in Cabaret and he gained more admirers when he came out at age 82 – now he explains why theater is still sexyAnton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orc…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:49PM
Friday, September 23, 2016

Review: ‘Hit the Body Alarm’ Finds Satan in a Jumpsuit by Alexis Soloski

The play, by Winsome Browne and Brad Rouse, also samples a bit of Milton as it tells its tales.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:51PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Chuk Iwuji: 'My Hamlet is an ugly beast about to be unleashed' by Alexis Soloski

A stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Iwuji is finally playing Hamlet, in a production inspired by Black Lives Matter and which is being performed in homeless shelters and prisonsFor …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:37PM
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Critic’s Notebook: Assimilating Onstage in Theater of Immigration by Alexis Soloski

Brian Quijada and Sonya Kelly are performing in plays they have written that illustrate the hoops people go through when they join another culture.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:51PM

Liev Schreiber, the Reluctant Rake by Alexis Soloski

Starring in the revival of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” Mr. Schreiber doesn’t see himself as a womanizer: It’s “an awkward, uncomfortable mismatch.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:56AM
Monday, September 19, 2016

Taylor Mac: how a 24-hour pop odyssey redefines American history by Alexis Soloski

The performer is embarking on an ambitious project – a 246-song marathon performance that seeks to sum up a new, queer vision of AmericaA couple of weeks ago, Taylor Mac spent the evening …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:14PM
Friday, September 16, 2016

A Delicate Balance review – Close and Lithgow share cocktails and threats by Alexis Soloski

Playing a well-to-do couple, the stars bring out the lacerating qualities in an Edward Albee play that has barely datedEdward Albee wrote as though he’d filed every typewriter key down to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:20PM
Thursday, September 15, 2016

Snapshot: Amy Ryan Says ‘Glamorous Parts are Not Interesting’ by Alexis Soloski

Ms. Ryan plays a rapacious woman who ages from 19 to 64 in the course of the drama “Love, Love, Love,” which begins performances on Sept. 22.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:15AM
Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Phaedra(s) review – Isabelle Huppert flays audience in punishing triple bill by Alexis Soloski

Brooklyn Academy of Music, New YorkStretching to well over three hours, three interpretations of the myth of Phaedra turn into a rugby ruck of postmodernismIt’s tough to feel too much pity…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:45PM
Monday, September 12, 2016

Aubergine review – a tender but overcooked play about food and loss by Alexis Soloski

Playwrights Horizons, New YorkCan turtle soup heal the rift between a father and son? This play about the emotional uses of food is poignant, but its philosophical maxims are too sweetWe eat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:51PM
Friday, September 9, 2016

Critic's Notebook: Identity Crisis: Theater Productions That Refuse to Be Theater by Alexis Soloski

What if Cirque du Soleil acrobats took over “Avatar” — and little Norwegian trains just ran across some tracks? Such are the shows “Toruk” and “Bridge Over Mud.”

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:48PM
Thursday, September 8, 2016

The best American theater shows for fall 2016 by Alexis Soloski

From Daniel Craig playing Iago to a 24-hour history of America as told through pop songs, there are a plethora of great shows to see on Broadway and beyondA coalminer’s son reaches for the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:06PM
Thursday, August 18, 2016

Look Out! Playwright Leslye Headland Has Her Eye on You by Alexis Soloski

The writer Leslye Headland’s new work is “The Layover,” which asks if we can ever really know each other, or ourselves.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:26AM
Monday, August 15, 2016

Critic's Notebook: Devotion to the Stage, and to a Newborn by Alexis Soloski

A theater critic with an infant son is going to shows less this summer, but she is managing to stay engaged in her field — sometimes outdoors.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:40PM
Monday, July 25, 2016

Lazarus review – Bowie's baffling starman lands off-Broadway by Alexis Soloski

New York Theatre WorkshopCo-written and featuring songs by David Bowie, this jukebox musical based on The Man Who Fell to Earth is a thrilling theatrical odyssey – and almost impossible to…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:16AM
Sunday, July 10, 2016

Into the Woods review – a bare-bones take on a meaty musical by Alexis Soloski

The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Centre for Theatre, New YorkA lo-fi version of Stephen Sondheim’s classic, currently in the cinema, manages to be both lucid and moving – despite the odd …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:07AM
Friday, July 8, 2016

Nice Fish review – Mark Rylance mesmerizes in icy absurdist drama by Alexis Soloski

St Ann’s Warehouse, New YorkLike a folksy Waiting for Godot, this play, co-written by Rylance with the poet Louis Jenkins, is intensely charming in its cock-eyed humanityIf Samuel Beckett …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:23AM
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Actors With Disabilities Are Ready, Willing and Able to Take More Roles by Alexis Soloski

For performers with disabilities, theater casting has taken steps forward. But frustrating challenges remain.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:20PM
Thursday, June 23, 2016

Review: In ‘Stet,’ Rape, Journalism and the Elusive Truth by Alexis Soloski

Written by Kim Davies, this play focuses on an apparently brutal rape, its aftermath and the writer for a national magazine who covers the story.

SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 11:00PM