605 stories by "Joel Benjamin"
"The legend returns" claimed the fliers and posters for "Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake"'s short season at the New York City Center. That proclamation wasn't far from the truth. "Swan La…
David Alan Grier, Blair Underwood and Billy Eugene Jones in a scene from Charles Fuller's "A Soldier's Play" at the American Airlines Theatre (Photo credit: Joan Marcus) Joel Benjamin, Criti…
The 92nd St. Y's Lyrics & Lyricists, one of New York's leading propagators of the Great American Songbook, featured the witty and sardonic songs of E.Y. "Yip" Harburg in its most recent …
"Romeo & Bernadette," a fresh take on Shakespeare's oft-adapted tale of love, is an unabashed valentine to inter-era romance. Shakespeare's Romeo (cutie-pie Nikita Burshteyn, perfect…
Wataru Kitao in Suguru Yamamoto's "The Unknown Dancer in the Neighborhood" at The Japan Society (Photo credit" Ayumi Sakamoto) Joel Benjamin, Critic Suguru Yamamoto's solo dance/theater work…
By stripping the story of local color"even the projections show little but an anonymous seascape"the creative team does ill by "Sing Street. " Take away the Irish accents, the 1980's song…
Israeli-born choreographer Zvi Gotheiner created "Maim ('Water' in Hebrew)," a somber meditation on water, drought, misery, community and survival for seven members of ZviDance, all brillian…
Ensemble Signal, Marjorie Folkman, Daniel Pettrow and Kristen Foote in a scene from "Peter & the Wolf," costumes by Isaac Mizrahi, choreography by John Heginbotham (Photo credit: Dan Hol…
After marveling at Ken Jennings' power of memorization, one has to admire his ability to deliver the entire text of "The Gospel of John" with unwavering clarity and devotion to its meaning b…
Goldfaden's escapist musical fantasy combines bits and pieces from many sources: the Cinderella fairy tale; Gilbert-and-Sullivan-esque rapid-fire, tongue twister songs; old-fashioned (even i…
His more abstract ballets for The Chase Brock Experience, such as its current presentation at Theatre Row, "The Four Seasons" to the Vivaldi score (a revival from 2006), did not fare quite a…
Do we really need another Jukebox Musical on Broadway"another hum-along, sing-along, déjà vu, vaguely autobiographical songfest? When the subject is as charged up as Tina Turner, the ans…
Artistic director Enrique Cruz DeJesus presented a performance of Alpha Omega in preparation for the troupe's fiftieth anniversary season next year. This concert featured two works by th…
Tiffany Mills' "Not then, not yet," a world premiere dance/theater work at The Flea proposed a dark, slightly chaotic view of relationships and alienation choreographed on her own troupe, th…
In 1957 Truman Capote disingenuously misled the legendary actor Marlon Brando into opening up to him under the guise of helping to publicize the soppy melodrama, Sayonara which Brando was th…
In a counterintuitive casting coup, handsome Jonathan Groff stars as the nebbish Seymour Krelborn who works at Mushnik's (a funny, kvetchy Tom Alan Robbins) failing flower shop on Skid Row.�…
On Broadway every once in a while writing, acting, directing and the technical production come together to profound, memorable effect. Adam Rapp's "The Sound Inside" at Studio 54 is a su…
"Games" shines a light on the long forgotten stories of two Jewish athletes in post-World War I Germany, a Germany that slid into National Socialism by the 1930's, effecting the lives of Hel…
Monica Bill Barnes totally changed the mood with her thoroughly delightful "The Running Show" which used physical contests as a metaphor for dance. Barnes stood in the midst of sixteen s…
The final work, "Unveiling" by Sonya Tayeh, director of Tayeh Dance, known now as the choreographer of the Broadway hit 'Moulin Rouge!," used a trio which appeared to be about a female (the …
It is Ginger Grace as Amanda that is the crowning glory of this production. Though slender and frail looking, she is still a powerful, if bothersome figure, memories of a golden southern…
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" (1943) has been studied, analyzed, and staged as any number of plays, ballets, musicals and an unsuccessful film. So, it was with great in…
These four characters are, unfortunately, not interesting enough to fill a 90-minute musical, especially one that covers territory better served by other shows like "A Chorus Line," "Fame" a…
Quite simply, Rubberband, the Montreal-based dance troupe's season at The Joyce Theater was a spectacular success. Directed by Victor Quijada, Rubberband performed his "Ever So Slightly,…
The trouble is Lee's almost catatonic approach to Gene. He speaks in a toneless monotone and adapts a monolithic physical approach, his hands constantly held stiffly at his sides. Wh…
