Sunday, March 5, 2017
Playwright Erica Schmidt has a minor aptitude for believably snappy dialogue, but not much else. Her tired scenario is astonishingly familiar and offers no fresh insights. That adolescence…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 05:39PMDarryl Reilly, Critic You need to somehow get into a play, be seen in it, remembered for your performance, and be seen by a person (an author or director or producer) who just happens to hav…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:47AMTuesday, February 28, 2017
Composer Soo Hyun Huh’s original music is a fine and eclectic assortment of modern melodies. The English lyrics are written by Bryan Michaels. The combined results are stilted and pedestr…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:56PMMuch is made of her numerous Oscar nominations, and this reaches a wonderfully presented climax. She finally wins the award for Best Actress on her eighth nomination for the 1985 screen adap…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:40AMFriday, February 24, 2017
In "Kunstler," playwright Jeffrey Sweet recounts the defense attorney’s life and career in his well-written, comprehensively researched, and affectionate treatment. The conceit is that Ku…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:40PMThursday, February 23, 2017
Each character is conveniently a different, representative type of oppressed nationality. Though Tirado goes overboard in detailing these culturally diverse, downtrodden characters’ backst…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:58AMWednesday, February 22, 2017
Presented by the acclaimed Broken Box Mime Theater, "See Reverse" consists of ten short pieces with some even shorter vignettes sometimes in between. Lasting close to two hours with an inte…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:10AMFriday, February 17, 2017
The score remains an uneven but catchy patchwork that has yielded several choice songs amidst the acceptable filler. Mr. Lloyd Webber’s music is a heady pastiche of old movie melodies wit…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:35PMWith slicked back hair, a melodiously rough voice and a smooth physical presence, Timothy Simonson offers an accurate impression of Powell that captures his swagger. Mr. Simonson’s appeal…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:41PMSunday, February 12, 2017
Red-haired, animated and engagingly boyish, 18-year-old Nicholas Barasch is sensational as Huckleberry Finn. Mr. Barasch is onstage virtually the entire time and winningly carries the show.…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:00PMThis volatile quartet battle over the personal and the political during a Scotch-fueled weekend at Ira’s Fire Island house. There’s not much in the way of plot, but secrets are revealed…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:17PMFriday, February 10, 2017
Playwright James Lecesne has been acclaimed for his solo performance works, most recently "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey." Here, he has written a traditional play employing thea…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:12PMSaturday, February 4, 2017
Periodically the cast calls for a “Family Meeting.” The theme from Jeopardy is played on a kazoo and three audience members are picked to come up. The one who is wearing the funniest n…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:43AMThursday, February 2, 2017
What truly distinguishes the show is Dixon’s fearless psychological focus on Rose and himself. The predominant theme is of hero worship and its bruising disappointments. It also attempts…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:22AMTuesday, January 31, 2017
Darryl Reilly, Critic Dazzling visualizations of nine, iconic songs are superbly choreographed by Dwight Rhoden in Star Dust: A Ballet Tribute to David Bowie. The Complexions Contemporary Ba…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:29PMFriday, January 27, 2017
Mr. Refael’s simple but well-crafted scenario takes place in a contemporary apartment in Israel, and has the elderly Salvado looking back at his past. This is theatrically achieved by hav…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:17PMWednesday, January 25, 2017
Darryl Reilly, Critic SUNDAY With the countenance of a vintage stuffed owl and that of a Friar’s Club Buddha, and wearing a cranberry blazer, JOE FRANKLIN sat through the penultimate p…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:00AMTuesday, January 24, 2017
A major flaw is Peer Gynt. Personable, co-composer Park plays the title role. When we first see him, he’s wearing a hipster wool cap, plaid shirt and eyeglasses. Possessed of a good sing…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:58PMEssentially it’s a glorified and arch 90-minute, scripted, sketch comedy show. The conceit is that it’s inspired by audience suggestions. The composition of the program changes from per…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:52PMSaturday, January 21, 2017
Reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest while lying on a couch is Jay, a slacker-looking type in his 30’s. Sitting in the living room nearby is his 60ish mother who enjoys watching…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:50PMThursday, January 19, 2017
As Paul Harold, a 60ish artist, Pendleton has a leading role that wonderfully showcases his idiosyncratic and considerable talents. With his unruly white hair, limber physicality and distin…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:21PMWednesday, January 18, 2017
O'Connell’s script is a well-structured series of confessional anecdotes interwoven with the lore of the movies. His performance is a riveting blend of stand-up comedy and grand stage act…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:28PMMonday, January 16, 2017
In "DannyKrisDonnaVeronica," playwright Lawrence Dial bitingly delves into the lives of two Brooklyn couples each with two small children. Through his precise, often humorous and realistic …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 06:31PMTuesday, January 10, 2017
Mr. Rosenblum’s dense book is a rudimentary and repetitive serio-comic treatment imparting the minutia of that cause célèbre. In 1972, burglars connected to Republican President Richard…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 07:34PMSunday, January 8, 2017
Playwright Beth Hyland’s very effective conceit is that we’re watching the dress rehearsal of Annie Lambert’s memorial celebration in an auditorium of the State University of New York …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:32PMMonday, December 26, 2016
Director and choreographer Jessica Burr has created a number of dazzling moments with her precise unison of expressive staging, movement and dance. With only a few vintage trunks and a door…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:51AMFriday, December 23, 2016
The Heath, The McKittrick Hotel’s restaurant, bar and music venue, has been dressed up with appropriate signs and objects such as a stuffed wolf to resemble a pub in Scotland. After the a…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:02PMTuesday, December 20, 2016
“The Little Drummer Boy” was an emotionally shattering highlight of Richard Holbrook: "Always December." Mr. Holbrook’s performance of this perennial was revelatory due to the intensi…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:25PMMonday, December 19, 2016
The beautiful wreath and garlands hanging above the stage were festively lit up for the wonderful finale, the “Jingle Jangle Sing-Along.” All of the performers appeared and encouraged t…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:44AMFriday, December 16, 2016
The score by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth is a pleasant collection of serviceable songs. Their book, based on their original concept, is a workm…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:11PMWednesday, December 14, 2016
Raucous highlights include a jive reinterpretation of A Christmas Carol, “by Chazzie D, about a cat called Scrooge...who lives in Scrooge Tower.” There’s also Buckley’s irreverent t…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:30PM 
