1,091 stories from Show Showdown
In 1975, Antonia Fraser, biographer of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry VIII's six wives, and Harold Pinter, renowned playwright, fell madly in love, pretty much at first sight. Over the next…
Hot damn; I still love Nina Arianda's performance as much as when I first encountered Venus in Fur two years ago at CSC, but unfortunately, I've yet to see anyone who could match up to …
Forget Venus in Fur; the real power play walking the boards this year is Red Bull's revival of Jean Genet's savage 1947 drama, The Maids. Claire (Jeanine Serralles) and Solange (Ana Reeder) …
Kathleen Chalfant, John Cunningham(photo: Carol Rosegg)It's hard to know how to respond to Tina Howe's 1984 Pulitzer-Prize-nominated play Painting Churches in 2012. It's not the play's fault…
The Poet is exhausted, and why shouldn't he be? He has been telling tales of man's inhumanity to man for years, maybe centuries. If a poet can have post-traumatic stress disorder, he does. O…
I don't doubt the accuracy of the picture Katori Hall paints of the former Memphis project she's titled her play Hurt Village after. Though many of her characters come across as stereot…
This is a golden age of musical leading ladies. Donna Murphy. Audra McDonald. Marin Mazzie. Tonya Pinkins. Christine Ebersole. Bebe Neuwirth. Laura Benanti. Patti LuPone. Victoria Clar…
Even after a show runs for 2 months off-Broadway, you might expect it to take a little time to find its legs in the new space of a Broadway house. As of its third preview Once has found its …
Photograph: Joan MarcusLi'l Bit--one of the two central characters in How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel's funny, smart, deeply disturbing memory play currently in revival at Second Stage--…
I missed the Nina Arianda train when she was in the off-Broadway production. I missed the Nina Arianda train when she was on Broadway production of Born Yesterday. I was a little annoyed by …
Early in previews, the SecondStage revival of Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive, directed by KateWhoriskey, was already in good shape, well-paced, well-acted, and emotionallydevastating. …
Photo by Michael J. LutchWhile watching The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, the newest incarnation of the famed opera, Audra McDonald's performance in the title role continually reminded me of th…
Since it premiered in New York in 1935, Porgy and Bess has been dogged by nagging questions: Is this an opera, or a musical? Is this show respectful, or racist? More recently, there have bee…
I saw the Lincoln Center reunion performance of Merrily We Roll Along in 2002. It was a joy to be in the room, to hear the score sung live. But the book and concept (going backward in time)…
SeanPatrick Murtagh andCharlie Owens Photo: Bella MuccariSeeing Off-Off-Broadway and community productions is a bit of a crapshoot. Quality ranges from superb to "what were they thinking?" …
When I was in grade-school--I don't remember which grade, specifically--my classmates and I were taken by yellow bus on a field-trip to see the matinee performance of a local college product…
Sarah Steele, Janeane GarofaloPhoto: Monique CarboniAt the beginning of Erika Sheffer's intriguing new play Russian Transport, we meet a Russian family who has been living in Brooklyn since …
Let's play a word-associationgame. I say, "Petula Clark." And you say?My guess isthat you say--no, sing--"Downtown." Or perhaps, "Don't Sleep inthe Subway, Darling." On the other hand, …
Wit is a difficult play. The lead character isn't particularly likeable on the page, but the audience can't merely feel sorry for her. The metaphors and deconstructions of 17th Century poetr…
I didn't go looking for shows about people of color, didn't have an agenda in grouping these three together. I simply happened to see them about the same time and, since all had been running…
Raushanah Simmons, Ingrid Nordstrom Photo: Justin HocheSomething there is that doesn't love a wall. So begins Robert Frost's well-loved poem "Mending Wall," and so also begins Erin Bro…
Katori Hall's The Mountaintop, which was a surprise hit in London and which has been running on Broadway since the autumn, hasn't really fallen off my radar since it began previews. The subj…
Steve Kazee and Cristin MiliotiPhoto: Joan MarcusI am very grateful that I saw Once (based on the movie of the same name) at the New York Theatre Workshop rather than on Broadway. (Thank you…
There are two components to a review of the recording of a musical: the discussion of the musical itself and the discussion of its presentation on the CD. Since four of us on this blog have …
Ian Spring, and Melissa Ullom inDavid Parson's Round My WorldPhoto: Krista BonuraLet's cut to the chase: David Parsons' piece Caught is stunning, impressive, and magical. I see it at least o…
