995 stories by "Darryl Reilly"
"Everything is copy"Â was Nora Ephron's maxim about the potential of all of one's life experiences to be fashioned into narrative material if one has the cachet to be paid attention to. Ac…
The death of a long inactive performer with a fine career during Broadway's Golden Age understandably went unnoticed. He was my neighbor in the 1980's.
The post Remembering Duane Bodin (193…
A searing epiphany at "The Day I Became Black"'s climax redeems its uneven mixture of confessional and stand-up. The show is written and performed by the engaging biracial young comedian and…
It's billed as "Two Ways" because this event is comprised of differing versions performed in repertory. There is the self-explanatory "Conventional Casting" and the "Reversed Casting" where …
There's stinging dialogue, solid construction and high powers of observation that accurately render the fractious literary milieu with Imran's offstage agent a major figure. These all enable…
Suzy Conn's zesty score is a fusion of her peppy music and well-crafted lyrics. "Quandary" is rhymed with "laundry" and among the 14 bright songs there's a comical ode to Meryl Streep. Ms. C…
Dynamically presented and sensationally performed, "If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka" is playwright Tori Sampson's maddeningly overblown adaptation of a fable with music. A surfeit…
Employing his rumbling deep voice, his thinning hair slicked back and veering from snarling cheeriness to reflective introspection, Jeremiah Kissel swaggering in a power suit gleefully gi…
Devilishly enigmatic and culminating in an eerie denouement, playwright Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas' stylized warring brothers yarn "Recent Alien Abductions" confidentially veers tonally, s…
Lanford Wilson's celebrated humanistic style and spirit are wonderfully evoked by playwright Linda Faigao-Hall in her moving family drama "Dying in Boulder." Its articulate characters con…
A scorching and ingeniously plotted exploration of feminism versus rape culture in the contemporary United States is achieved in "Good Friday." Playwright Kristiana Rae Colón's audacious,…
In this madcap universe, passengers on a jet are caught in a space warp known as a "corn hole" that was caused by Amazon's tampering with the atmosphere to speed up delivery times, Amazon is…
The show's talented mastermind is Preston Max Allen. Mr. Allen's rollicking score is a pounding collection of catchy pop and showtune melodies matched with sharp lyrics. Allen's well-crafted…
The iconoclastic gay British film director sadly died 25 years ago today at the age of 52 from AIDS. Encountering him from afar made a great impression on me.
The post Reflections of Derek …
"The Whole World Was Watching: My Life Under the Media Microscope" is the autobiography of the South Carolina native journalist and television production figure Frank Beacham that was publis…
Filichia has had a long and storied career as a theater critic and author of several books on the topic. His having witnessed a multitude of productions, this immersion informs "God Shows Up…
A delightful new collection of material from that flamboyant sage. There's the script of his one-man show, unseen poems and pithy observations galore.
The post Book review: "And One More…
Comprised of 27 short scenes in two parts that are each designated as being two acts and ranging from 1945 to 1954, "The Glen" is a stewpot of a play inspired by a real person's life. Glenn …
In three acts, we get idealized Norman Rockwell-style Americana. As in his dramas, O'Neill's sense of structure is totally idiosyncratic. Ah, Wilderness! is shorter than his dramas but still…
The Brooklyn-born Quinn has been performing stand-up since the 1980's and his seasoned wise guy New Yorker persona was once showcased on Saturday Night Live and in recent years in several th…
The young British actor Mark Farrelly brilliantly channels the 20th century cultural icon's witty presence in his highly theatrical self-written solo show.
The post Quentin Crisp: Naked Hop…
Playwright Stephen Belber offers an intricate character study comprised of a barrage of brief nonlinear scenes chronicling the eventful existence of a woman from childhood to the age of 62. …
Similar to a flatly serious youth exploitation flick circa 1970, playwright Phoebe Nir's utopia-in-the-wilderness yarn "Eco Village," is likeably inept. There's a hallucinogenic drug dinner …
At the center of "Secret Identity" is Keith Weiss who plays JT. The proverbially baby-faced Mr. Weiss is physically, emotionally and vocally entrancing. With his rumbling low voice and expre…
Amidst the flamboyance, Mr. Calderon significantly explores topical issues. The depiction of post-traumatic stress disorder, the eternal dramatic clash between brothers and the plight of the…
