605 stories by "Joel Benjamin"
All the actors in the band play their instruments with panache and perfect period style, including Cott whose piano doodling is terrific. James Nathan Hopkins plays the cute, upbeat saxopho…
All the acting is sharp, from the upper-crusters taken in by Paul (Lisa Emery, Michael Countryman and Ned Eisenberg) to their kids (Colby Minifie, Keenan Jolliff, Ned Riseley, and Cody Kostr…
The original film is brazen in its guerilla-style filmmaking, a good deal of which was surreptitiously produced right under the noses of the Institution's officials. To anyone who knows …
The company is in great shape. It's a difficult task to combine ethnic themes with ballet and modern dance, but somehow Eduardo Vilaro has been succeeding terrifically. His troupe entertai…
"Indecent" is, on the surface, the history of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch's brave Yiddish play "God of Vengeance" which was"incredibly, considering its wise understanding of the Jewish demimo…
It is fascinating to watch Lowell Byers face his unfounded, country boy optimism as he is confronted with the brutal realities of his situation. That Byers' Lou never completely succumbs, d…
"Amélie" is frustrating. The characters exist as two-dimensional cartoons that a talented cast almost brings to life. The uneven rhythms and poor timing of the show bog it down. An inabi…
This production was a co-effort with Fondazione Teatro Lirico di Cagliari whose orchestra joined forces with the New York City Opera Orchestra under the baton of Ira Levin who brought out ev…
"Diva: Live From Hell," an energetic, campy variation on the "All About Eve" theme, is performed with manic glee by Sean Patrick Monahan who also wrote the book and created all the colorful …
Varone employs movements loosely flung out from the body's core; sudden, inexplicable pauses; (painful looking) drops to the floor (usually onto a knee!); contrasting chaotic activities with…
Now named Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, Taylor has included ballets by other choreographers which allows for some healthy comparisons and a hope for the future of this legendary company…
Directed by Ciarán O'Reilly as a feverish nightmare, this "Emperor," in just over an hour, exposes the inner reaches of the mind of the title character, Brutus Jones (played with a boomin…
Jason Slavick's direction keeps the cast rollicking along, taking advantage of every inch of Ars Nova. He is helped by an energetic cast, all on the same wavelength, giving their physical a…
The songs push the plot along, ranging from numbers about the locals' dealing with valuable resources ("Blankets and Bedding") to the quiet awe the visitors express at the local scenery ("Da…
"Wakey, Wakey" is Will Eno at his surreal, troubling, beautiful best, a play both challenging and easily absorbed. He truly approaches the unapproachable: the meaning of life.
The post Wak…
The acting isn't detailed or expansive enough to make Leaf's words come alive or give the slightest notion of the intelligence of these three. Ms. Dobbins' McCarthy is far too girlish. Yes…
Three musical pieces displayed the instruments on which the music is made. "Nagare (Flow)" was played on two shamisen (stringed instruments) by Touon Minamidani Mai and Touon Sakata Maiko, …
The original was aimed at an audience that most certainly was illiterate, so that the clever creators used cartoonish, unsubtle characters who spoke in popular jargon, even spouting profanit…
Although "Ring Twice" is filled to the brim with socio-political symbolism, it's not likely that the author was trying for any direct reference to the current maddening political scene since…
The playwrights have a keen understanding of this place and time, helped by the simple, but telling scenery of Stephen C. Jones, who also lit the small performing space to give the illusion …
"Star Dust," Rhoden's tribute to rock original David Bowie forced Rhoden to study and use each of the nine chosen songs as vignettes to comment on Bowie's magic, the superb quirkiness of his…
The centerpiece of "Last Work" was the image of a single dancer, in a blue costume, jogging on a treadmill far upstage while the rest of the troupe, dressed in chic practice outfits by Eri N…
The concept of Love for Sale, though not particularly original, is not a bad one, except for one very important factor: Ms. Burke is not up to either the singing or acting demands of Love f…
What Evett delivers"using ample quotes from the poem and robust contributions from himself and Spangler"is a terrifying inside look of the Mariner's experiences, beginning with being hijacke…
Linda Lavin, padded and badly bewigged, comes across more like a Jewish yenta than the victim of the vagaries of Eastern European warfare. She has only one song, "Easily Assimilated," a sil…
