605 stories by "Joel Benjamin"
All the choreographers displayed over-intellectualization and overuse of gimmicks, avoiding dealing directly and honestly with their subjects. Homosexuality raised its head in two of the wo…
This dance/theater piece is subtitled "Teacher, philosopher, man who shaped a nation," a rather big theme to dramatize effectively, especially when the mandate is spectacle. Mr. Liu's bareb…
"r-Evolution, Dream." was a jaunty new ballet by Ailey member Hope Boykin to music by Ali Jackson plus narration spoken by Leslie Odom, Jr. which included a Shakespeare sonnet, "A Negro's Co…
Aaron Port (Josh Radnor), a down on his luck writer, is reduced to teaching Adult Ed classes in middle class/middle brow 1960's Levittown, Long Island. Richard Greenberg ("Take Me Out," "Ou…
On Beowulf Boritt's set of three apartment towers of fire escapes and store fronts, the musical begins with a doo-wop group singing a cappella in close harmony under a Belmont Avenue sign, s…
The title means "sea view," a metaphor for the fact that his mother's happiest memories involved being mesmerized by large bodies of water. All the places she felt happiest were by the sea,…
The final sections of this theater/dance work were more effective than the earlier scenes and they included a game show knockoff call "The Price is Right to Be a Queen," a rigged quiz show w…
There is no plot, just a series of verbal jousts played out on Riccardo Hernandez' sleek, two-tier set with just the image of trees looming over the actors wearing Montana Blanco's colorful…
Is there a more stunningly beautiful troupe of dancers than the Nederlands Dans Theater? This very international array of performers is not only good looking but dances with thrilling prec…
[esc], staged by Penn & Teller, Mr. Barnett, Ms. Jaworski and Mr. Kent, is a Penn & Teller homage to Harry Houdini. To a musical background of pop songs, the performers"Messrs. F…
Watching these three actors is an incredible experience. As Willie, the slower, funnier tea room worker, Sahr Ngaujah, often the butt of the jokes, never loses his humanity. Noah Robbins f…
"Man in Snow" begins and ends in tragedy. In between there is an insightful, sometimes banal, study of a middle-aged man, David (an awesomely complex Will Lyman), his bumpy relationship wit…
A funny, quick-paced retelling, set in the world of rap stars, recording studios and the party scene.
The post Othello: The Remix appeared first on TheaterScene.net.
In this smart, clever version of the story, Iago, slightly uptight longtime member of Othello's crew believes that he is not appreciated when newcomer Cassio, a much happier rapper who just …
Music director Steven Reineke led a perfectly respectable concert with the help of The Soldiers' Chorus of The U.S. Army Field Band (First Lieutenant Alexandra Borza, Associate Bandmaster), …
Throughout it all, Finn's songs illuminate the joys, loves, hates, passions and complaints of this delightful cast of characters. From the opening "Four Jews in a Room Bitching" to the exqui…
Just as Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower did centuries later, Coriolanus, urged on by his powerful mother, Volumnia (a startling, stinging Lisa Harrow), uses his military success as…
British actor Richard Armitage making his New York stage debut and Tony and Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan work hard to make Kenneth and Sandra three-dimensional, likeable people, but, as wr…
Simon Stephens, whose Tony Award winning "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" recently amazed audiences with its razor-sharp take on the inner workings of an autistic boy, is …
In the guise of two old Upper West Side bachelor geezers, Kroll as failed actor, Gil Faizon, and Mulaney as failed writer, George St. Geegland, wander about Pask's brilliant combination apar…
Paulette Haupt, producing artistic director of Premieres, should be very proud of herself. Her "Inner Voices" program at the TBG Theatre managed to shock, move and entertain. The three sh…
Trial is stacked against Bush from the get-go. The torrent of facts alone convicts him. The director, Stephen Eich, the author and probably the actor, Mr. Carlin, seem to have decided to m…
"Misty Copeland" is not just the celebration of Misty Copeland the feisty, young classical ballet dancer, but of Misty Copeland the young, nubile, well-proportioned young woman. She looks g…
The creators of this version combined songs from the period"several probably used in the original production"with a pared-down version of the second-rate melodrama written with by Charles Ba…
Hosted by the always charming Steven Reineke, the fundraising event, New York Pops Underground, featured two terrific Broadway stars, Montego Glover and Tony Yazbeck, whose performances cle…
