288 stories by "Elyse Trevers"
Photo by Aaron Cobb Do you believe that a person can be hypnotized? How about 20 people at the same time on a stage in front of an audience? As long as you believe or, at least, accept the p…
Often a visit to the theater can be an opportunity for discovery. That's what happened when I attended a performance of The Butcher Boy at the Irish Repertory Theatre. The musical, based upo…
Despite its charms, and there are many, the new musical "BetweenThe Lines" at the Tony Kiser Theater is a show in search of a target audience. Based upon a young adult novel by best-selling …
photo by Joan Marcus Adapting a beloved bestselling book into a Broadway show is not without its challenges. While the show has name recognition and is sure to attract loyal readers, it also…
photo by Matt Murphy Sometimes those of us not easily impressed can be impressed. So it is with Into The Woods, now at the St. James Theater. The revival marks a return to the original, foll…
Photo by Joan Marcus Free Shakespeare in the Park is quintessential New York. If you are lucky enough to score the free tickets and it's a gorgeous evening, theater doesn't get any better. T…
What? Another show about a moody, overweight, young Black man with family issues? Like "A Strange Loop," "Fat Ham" hasan endearing young main character. But "Fat Ham" delivers much more. Pre…
Classics remain classics because they speak to us-no matter when they were written or where they are set. In a newly-imagined version of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," a family remains stuc…
by Joan Marcus There's something to be said for star power filling theater seats. Despite some tepid reviews for the latest version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Longacre Theatre was filled.…
Mr. Saturday Night I'm a staunch Billy Crystal fan, and judging from the audience's reaction at the Nederlander Theatre the other night, I'm not alone. I love Crystal's quick wit, easy laugh…
Once upon a time there was a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan called The Five Points. For over 70 years, it was a crowded slum, populated mostly by newly -freed slaves and ethnic Irish. Altho…
A female press secretary, a female chief of staff, a first lady and several female assistants but even all of them together can't keep the hapless president from occasionally opening his mou…
Black comedy, or gallows humor, is a style of story telling that makes light of subject matter usually considered somewhat taboo, like death, suicide and disease. Either term applies to Mart…
"The Minutes" Playwright Tracy Letts possesses the extraordinary ability to lull an audience into expecting something dry and ordinary but then making it explosive. Teaming up again with Ann…
Food is often the centerpiece of family holidays and celebrations. In "Birthday Candles", the new play presented by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, the speci…
Photo by Julieta Cervantes When TV's Murphy Brown was mocking singer Barry Manilow, I was buying his albums and attending his concerts. I was unabashedly a Fanilow. So I looked forward to "H…
What a quandary! There was a new show to review, but it was opening night for my favorite baseball team. Which one should I choose? The theater won this time. A timely revival of Richard Gee…
When we see married actor couples working together on stage, we feel a special connection. It's as if we are in on the joke. We expect chemistry and smile when they kiss and caress because w…
When was the last time you smiled for two hours? Were you wearing a mask? Under their masks, audiences at the Winter Garden Theater are grinning broadly eight times a week. Despite any criti…
For many audiences, Phylicia Rashad will always be the elegant unflappable TV wife/mother/lawyer in The Cosby Show. She came into their homes every Thursday like a welcome friend. After the …
Lynn Nottage must be the hardest-working playwright in New York, having written three shows for the Fall 2022 season. First was Clyde, a terrific show about ex-convicts and second chances. D…
A viewer should be prepared for intense theater when attending a Eugene O'Neill play. If the show is "Long Day's Journey into Night," she should be ready for a lengthy assault on her emotion…
It's been almost 25 years since the 1997 release of the first Harry Potter book. Its young readers have grown up, gotten jobs and now have families of their own. Do the Harry Potter characte…
Only Stephen Sondheim could have taken a motley group of would-be murderers and made them sympathetic and funny. At one time, a musical about killing presidents would have been controversial…
It felt strange to be attending a show last Saturday night instead of sitting in front of the television waiting for SNL to begin. Fortunately, the play was "The Search for Signs of Intellig…
