605 stories by "Joel Benjamin"
His Shostakovich Trilogy may have been too much of a good thing, somewhat weakened by too many overlapping themes, generally dark moods (with some bright moments, of course) and a sameness o…
The duo that makes up and has created 'Still Standing You" consists of the charmingly suave Guilherme Garrido from Portugal and the dour, heavily bearded Pieter Ampe from Belgium, neither of…
Frankly, the main difference between Bianco and its sister circuses is its ambiance and not the acts, wonderful as they are. Every circus has jugglers, tightrope walkers, silk artists and h…
Director Dev Bondarin cleverly enlisted scenic designer Tim McMath to transform the APAC's theater into a high school gymnasium, complete with posters ("No Bullying Allowed," "Today is a gre…
The way Mr. Levenson keeps things moving is both clever and exhausting. The songs mostly explore the inner emotional lives of the characters: "Waving through a Window" (Evan's feelings of…
As Hungary took a turn to the extreme right in recent years, anti-Semitism and xenophobia not only raised their heads, but became de facto pillars of the new government. The Place We Built …
The musical's new libretto, written by Jessie Nelson, riffs broadly on Shelly's quietly poignant storyline and her very human, finely etched characters. The characters, broadened and amped …
Testing the patience and understanding of both the audience and the dancers, Ballet Preljocaj, Angelin Preljocaj's modern troupe from Aix-en-Provence, performed the complete version of his "…
At turns beautifully silly, dreamy, exquisitely moving and always delightful, "Fêtes" is a sweeping, if daffy, look at life in eighteenth century Venice. Christie and his director Robert…
I cannot remember the last time a ballet company so completely blew me away as the Miami City Ballet did during its recent, depressingly short season at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln …
An opportunity to see the luminous Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o live on stage may be the reason most people are rushing to the Golden Theatre, but, thrilling as that may be, "Eclipsed…
It's an uneasy stretch that ultimately fails to convincingly conflate the surprisingly liberal religious arguments that Lessing makes with the extraordinarily complex political/religious/cul…
The four works on the Dance Theatre of Harlem's program revealed a troupe that loves to entertain and show off but one that also hasn't quite reached a secure level of technical achievement.…
The Ballet Hispanico wants to be meaningful while at the same time entertaining. It is a difficult course to chart"just look at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater"and, so far, the ente…
Nearly thirty speakers glorified Solomons, but none quite as well as himself who appeared in three bits that deftly paid tribute to"and simultaneously gently poked fun at"his two choreograp…
"Bright Star," the new bluegrass/country music comedy-drama, rises"just barely"above Hallmark Network romance level thanks to its energetic score by the Hollywood star, Steve Martin (music a…
This was a particularly satisfying showing by the Juilliard Dances Repertory. It's good to know that there is hope for the future of dance represented by these students, all of whom display…
Scott Ellis' direction avoids caricature, even in the most broadly drawn characters like the man-hungry Ilona, the gigolo Steven and the scared, but pragmatic clerk Sipos. He make the one …
Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick's libretto mocks all the famous disaster films of the seventies, like 'Jaws,' "Earthquake," "The Poseidon Adventure," "The Towering Inferno," "Ben," etc., and…
"Ride the Culture Loop" (1975) to dark, percussion-heavy music by long-time Sokolow colleague, Teo Macero, pitted small groups of dancers against each other, all seemingly trapped in a night…
Most people have difficulty imagining Bob Dylan as anything but the down-and-out troubadour singing for his supper in Greenwich Village nightspots in the early Sixties. He is, in fact, an i…
Finkel needed only minimal help to get up on the stage after recovering from a short illness. He began with patter about how Jews don't usually drink because it interferes with their suffer…
Along the way she met the songwriters whose work she illuminated. During "Mabel Madness," Ms. Beverley sings "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine" (Kern/Hammerstein), "Down in the Dumps on t…
Robert Klein, the comedian/actor/writer, was the laid back host whose shtick"a cell phone conversation with God (a humorless lady)"provided the backbone of the show. Klein had to prove to t…
The audience for "Angel Reapers" is immediately immersed in the Shaker world, forced to cross the set"simple board floors, ladder-back chairs, a couple of windows and doors"en route to the s…
