Saturday, September 16, 2017
The awkwardly titled "The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias" has problems beyond its nomenclature. What, if anything, is it ultimately about? Though it claims to be a “satiric…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:00PMSunday, August 20, 2017
But Cohen the composer is another matter entirely--his jazz-inflected songs make "Come Light My Cigarette" a gem of a chamber musical. As more and more of the songs are revealed, time and ag…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:37PMWednesday, August 9, 2017
Stephen Kaplan’s "A Real Boy" is about a pair of puppets, named Peter and Mary Ann Myers, who adopt the eponymous child named Max, and it proves about as preposterous as such a premise sug…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:36PMSunday, August 6, 2017
While the dialogue offers some stabs at humor and Opel--a first-rate comedienne of the old school--usually excels at comic timing, much of it falls flat here. Most of the 90-minute, intermis…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:30PMTuesday, July 18, 2017
If you saw the original New York production of "Marvin’s Room," you may find yourself feeling that the play was more effective when it was presented in the far more intimate environment of…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:19PMWednesday, July 12, 2017
In the spirit of being a critic, the play is always describing and commenting on itself, in other words, even as it unfolds--a kind of meta-theater experience that may not be to everyone’s…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:08PMSunday, June 11, 2017
Ludlam also starred in "Artificial Jungle," his last of 29 plays, which he also directed. It took its inspiration from Emile Zola’s "Therese Raquin," which had already inspired James M. Ca…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:51AMWednesday, June 7, 2017
The show’s writer and host, Rob Berman, introduced many of the songs and, essentially, gave us the story of Lerner and Loewe’s difficult, on-again, off-again partnership. Referring to th…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:12PMSaturday, June 3, 2017
While most of the audience remained stony-faced, my companion and I were laughing hysterically throughout much of "Can You Forgive Her?", a black comedy if ever there was one, by Gina Gionfr…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:48AMSaturday, May 27, 2017
An import from the United Kingdom, as part of the 2017 Brits Off Broadway Festival at 59E59 Theaters, Jon Brittain’s "Rotterdam" is not based on a true story relating to events in the epon…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:08PMWednesday, May 24, 2017
It quickly becomes apparent that Brown is a master at reading body language--no less than facial and vocal expressions--to manipulate the many audience-members who participate and to read th…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 02:40PMThursday, May 18, 2017
Chris Anthony Giles, Nicholas Edwards, Dan Rosales, Juwan Crawley and Nora Schell (original cast) in a scene from “Spamiliton” (Photo credit: Carol Rosegg) David Kaufman, Critic Though i…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:20PMMonday, May 15, 2017
On the fourth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in 1973, an arsonist set fire to a gay bar in New Orleans, killing 32 people. This tragic yet forgotten episode in gay history is not only…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:05PMTuesday, May 9, 2017
Though the printed script, such as it is, is credited to Nel Crouch, Crouch is listed in the program as only the director, and "Fossils" is rather “By” Bucket Club, described as an “as…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:30PMThursday, May 4, 2017
The clarity of this new play by J.T. Rogers does not only rely on the smart yet surefire way it’s written, but also on the masterful staging by Bartlett Sher, who, after recent productions…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:37AMMonday, May 1, 2017
But the Broadway version of Charlie doesn’t really come alive until we’re introduced to Augustus Gloop (F. Michael Hayne), the fat little German boy who finds the first of the five gold …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:46PMFriday, April 28, 2017
Every new play by Annie Baker is a marvel over the play before. It’s been nothing less than a privilege to accompany her on her journey, as she has been joining ranks with the best America…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:50PMSunday, April 23, 2017
If this all sounds a bit over-intellectual, well, so is the play. Though the intelligent script may be based on real people, they are forever describing themselves--and each other--in ways t…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:24AMThursday, April 20, 2017
Matthew Montelongo is particularly effective in conveying Mitchell’s anti-marriage convictions, only to make us feel Mitchell’s subsequent anguish. Anna Holbrook is also outstanding as t…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:49PMTuesday, April 18, 2017
Presented together on the same bill, "Angel & Echoes" is part of the Brits Off Broadway Festival at 59E59 Theaters (where, it’s worth noting, "Echoes" originally played last year). As…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 09:28PMSunday, April 16, 2017
While setting out to “undo” our “whole, entire education” of Latin history--and to compensate for the textbook neglect of the impact of the Aztecs and the Incas on our culture and ci…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:39PMFriday, April 14, 2017
“To some he was dad, to some he was mate,” says McNair, at the top of his monologue, “to others he was liar, cheat, addict, hero, story teller.” Over the course of the next 70 minute…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:04PMWednesday, April 12, 2017
While the non-stop buffoonery is reminiscent of Charles Ludlam and his Ridiculous Theatrical Company, this British import (produced by London’s Mischief Theater, no less) immediately evoke…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 08:15PMMonday, April 3, 2017
"Sweat" is a classic, “well-made”--or carefully constructed--play, with a focus on the dwindling work for people in the middle of the country, prompting them to install Trump in the Whit…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:34PMThursday, March 30, 2017
Marisa Tomei excels as George, the narrator of "How to Transcend…" --and of her own story. Thanks to Tomei’s vocal and visual expressions, we constantly share in George’s ongoing surpr…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:49AMMonday, March 27, 2017
Maybe “fireworks” is too strong a word for a production that is more of a slow burn. The play begins when Mark Ruffalo, as Victor, walks up, into the top floor of the home his family was…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:15PMFriday, March 24, 2017
The confusion and the rapid pace of the production pretty much engulf--and finally overwhelm--the extremely complicated story of"Angry Young Man." The performers, on the other hand, make thi…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 11:56PMTuesday, March 21, 2017
As he impersonates the British writer C.S. Lewis, Max McLean relies on little more than a pipe, a brown suit and tie, and a rather mellifluous voice to become the Anglican philosopher and no…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 04:35PMSaturday, March 18, 2017
Musical star Robert Cuccioli has to call upon his experience playing both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to become Ray in "White Guy on the Bus," a first-rate, new play by Bruce Graham, that has mo…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 10:56AMMonday, March 13, 2017
A revolving stage permits set designer Walt Spangler to depict, with dead-on realism and dispatch, not only Linda’s home--including an upstairs bedroom, which her daughters share--but also…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 03:05PMFriday, March 10, 2017
Perhaps because Mamet-regular Jordan Lage is so effective as Richard, the scenes between Charles and his own attorney prove the most effective. While Laura Bauer’s sensible costumes do all…
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 12:34AM 
