605 stories by "Joel Benjamin"
Two queen-like figures, Ms. Corona and Maricarmen Garcia, dressed in a parade of Aviad Arik Herman's sumptuous costumes, reigned over four young men"Nick Burrage, Alexandre Barranco, Nichola…
During the three and a half hours of "Phaedra(s)," Huppert masturbates, menstruates, throws up, fellates several versions of Hippolytus, flails about with masochistic glee, and screams so lo…
Felder's play begins with a video of the actual Leonard Bernstein delivering a colorful, yet entertaining, illustrated lecture on music. When Felder sashays down the aisle, a cigarette in o…
The ten solos proceeded efficiently and smoothly with certain similarities becoming apparent: black was the color of all but one of the costumes and black was the mood of most the works. Cr…
A few months ago we saw the sensational Miami troupe featuring the works of George Balanchine. Now we have just had a fascinating week-long season by the Sarasota Ballet troupe, directed by…
The debonair resident of posh St. James, and Gus, the theatre cat, are both played with finesse by Christopher Gurr, whose "Gus the Theatre Cat" who nearly steals the show away from the more…
This Japanese version lacks the passion and darkness necessary to make this morality tale pop. The two leading ladies, Wataru Kozuki as Velma and Hikaru Asami as Roxie looked too wide-eyed …
In the course of 90 minutes, we follow the ups and downs of Strauss' professional, mental health and romantic lives in great detail. To his credit, Strauss gives the impression of delivering…
At times, Hopper's paintings"mostly the moody ones"were inhabited by the dancers who took on the iconic, emotionally laden poses so brilliantly painted by Hopper, helped by Frank DenDanto II…
From 1976, "Country Dances" represented the post-experimental avant-garde phase after breakout success with her ballets for major dance companies. From 1980, there was "Brahms Paganini," he…
Edisa Weeks' DELIRIOUS Dances company presented "To Begin the World Over Again," an ultimately hopeful, informal look at American values filtered through the words of Thomas Paine, the Revol…
As the women find themselves further and further in the future, it is how each reacts and is forever changed that give the play its emotional weight. Two manage to adjust quite well; one no…
The New York City premiere of "Polymorphous" to Bach was a coolly elegant work that featured ever shifting black and white projections (by Brian Clifford Beasley) matched by the witty leotar…
This production had two brilliant design/directoral conceits that worked hand in glove with the musical elements to tell the story. The first involved twelve dancers from Ballet Hispanico's…
"Shuffle Along..." follows the travails and triumphs of the creators of the 1921 David that fought what was at first a losing battle against the Goliath of the Broadway powers-that-be. The …
Sad to say, the American Sephardi Federation's production of a greatly compressed "Othello" at the beautiful Center for Jewish History was a disappointment. This was the third of a series o…
However, the main thrust of this troupe is to stimulate a gentle discipline and the ability to work effectively with others. It's clear that these youngsters who range from seven or eight y…
Gregory S. Moss' "Indian Summer" at Playwrights Horizons is an uneasy mix of two stories, the first about the doomed romantic encounter between two teens and the second concerning the quiet …
"Paramour," the Cirque du Soleil's stab at producing a Broadway style musical at the Lyric Theatre, is the circus equivalent of a jukebox musical. Instead of songbook"Beach Boys, Four Seaso…
Stew and Ms. Rodewald's command of the musical genres of the 1960's and 1970's"gospel, Motown, soul, glam-rock, funk, R&B, blues, etc."is astounding. The songs are organic extensions o…
Leading this bucolic tale of amor interruptus were Gillian Murphy (her usual strong technique subsumed in girlish sweetness) as the farm girl, Lise, the "badly guarded girl" of the title, an…
It's clear why Edward Albee's "The Sandbox" (1959), MarÃa Irene Fornés' "Drowning" (1986) and Adrienne Kennedy's "Funnyhouse of a Negro" (1964) are considered modern absurdist classics. …
Ms. Grossman's three works were all world premieres: "Hallelujah Eva" to the famous Leonard Cohen song, "Beatrice's Rainbow" to the Yip Harburg/Harold Arlen classic "Over the Rainbow," and …
Although Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes' "Daphne's Dive" follows the lives of seven fascinating people for whom Daphne's North Philly bar is their true home, it is no "Cheers" and definitely no "Th…
She ran down the list of her Broadway co-stars: Ricardo Montalban, Donald O'Connor (the disastrous Bring Back Birdie), Antonio Banderas (upon whose shoulder she placed a shapely leg in Nine…
