288 stories by "Elyse Trevers"
By now, everyone associated with musical theater has written a tribute to legend Stephen Sondheim who died Nov. 26, 2021 at age 91. Productive until the end, Sondheim died while working on a…
First let's get rid of the elephant in the room- Rob McClure, hardworking star of Broadway's "Mrs. Doubtfire" is NOT Robin Williams who created the 1993 movie role. However, he doesn't have …
"What's your justification?" demands the director, prodding his actors to consider their characters' motivations in the play "Trouble in Mind." Playwright Alice Childress had her own motivat…
For some, food is merely sustenance; for others, it is an art form. And for the former convicts who work at Clyde's, a truck stop in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the perfect sandwich may offe…
Siblings can be a blessing. It's even nicer when they live nearby. In "Morning's at Seven," the revival of Paul Osborne's play at the Theatre at St. Clement's, they are a little too close. T…
Photo credit: Joan Marcus We have a conflict in America. While it is built on the shoulders of immigrants,and the Statue of Liberty stands tall in New york harbor, our policies discourage im…
A group of characters gather at Laine's boarding house. They are running away from something or to something. It is 1934 in Duluth, MI, ( actual birthplace of Bob Dylan) and people are still…
The playwright George Bernard Shaw must have been a feminist long before the movement became popular. He used his plays to decry the few opportunities for women and observed how they were be…
 One young man rejects a scholarship to MIT so he can stay home to care for his mother and younger siblings; he's Depression. An older Nigerian man shares knowledge and tales from his yo…
If I had a product to sell, I'd hire comedian /actress Jackie Hoffman to be my spokesperson. With her rubbery face and perpetually dour expression, she's believable. She would never lie! On …
The playbill for Bertolt Brecht's play The Mother suggests immediately that the drama at The Performing Garage will be unique. Brecht himself noted that the aim of the play is not to enterta…
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. It was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, involving more than US $600 …
Ruben Santiago-Hudson was raised by his grandmother. So he did what any talented theater person would do-he wrote a play about her! "Lackawanna Blues" is Santiago-Hudson's paean to his grand…
To many,"Six the Musical" was the show that was mere hours away from opening night when Broadway shut down in March 2020. A smash hit in London's West End, the show had already created buzz …
Language plays a significant role in "Pass Over," the play by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, whether through repetition, ambiguity or cultural references. It begins with the title referring to …
"I don't remember Christopher Lloyd," said the woman sitting behind us in the outdoor theater. "Jim from the TV show Taxi," we reminded her. "Oh, the crazy one." For some, Lloyd might seem l…
It almost felt normal. Although we had to wear masks to enter the theater and show proof of vaccination to get our seats, we were actually in an Off-Broadway theater sitting next to other pa…
In the 1970's, Harvey Milk, a gay charismatic politican, was assassinated for being openly homosexual. Using him as a pivotal character, Jerry James, Laura I. Kramer, Ellen M. Schwartz, and …
Full disclaimer: I am a John Cullum fan, so when I read that he was doing a one-man show tracing his long career, I looked forward to it. Filmed earlier this year and recorded with pianist J…
In her landmark book On Death and Dying, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross details the five stages of grief. Approaching it on a personal level in The Year of Magical Thinking, writer Joan Didion shares…
It has been over a year since Broadway theaters shut down, putting tens of thousands of people out of work. As more people are getting vaccinated and restaurants, gyms and bars are increasin…
Everything old can be new again with creativity. The question is how to make the traditional relevant and, more importantly, how to attract paying viewers. John Caird and Paul Gordon collabo…
It was a different kind of Halloween this year-no New York's Village Halloween Parade, no house parties, not even a lot of trick or-treaters. Many houses posted signs saying "no candy, see y…
 One of the controversial campaign issues this election year is immigration and the Zoom show "American Dreams" deals with the thorny issue head on. By participating in a game show, thre…
 I challenge you to watch The Line, streaming on The Public Theater site or YouTube, without being emotionally moved. Presented in the documentary style they used so successfully with Ex…
