Contributing Writer
Photos by Joan Marcus By Ron Cohen Student-teacher relationships get a workout in Two Class Acts, the umbrella name for two one-acts by A. R. Gurney, being premiered in repertory at the Flea Theater. While esteemed playwright Gurney made his name as an incisive and bemused chronicler of the declining stature in…
Nick Kroll and John Mulaney (Photo: Joan Marcus) By Ron Cohen The fun stuff at Oh, Hello on Broadway starts with the Playbill. As expected, it contains headshots of the show’s two creators and performers, Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, but under their photos, are two much more recognizable guys you didn’t know…
Jimoon Cole, Nilaja Sun and cast photos by Russ Rowland By Ron Cohen A provocative and slimmed down adaptation of Ibsen’s drama of civic corruption vibrates with timely relevance “People who don’t vote should be arrested and charged with evasion of duty,” says a character early on in Public Enemy. It’s…
photos by Robbie Jack By Ron Cohen If you ever had a hankering to journey through the exotic and fabled rainforests of Brazil, The Encounter, the profoundly stunning one-person show conceived, directed and performed by Simon McBurney, may well change your mind. As a vicarious experience, it is surely a trip worth…
Phillip James Brannon I Joan Marcus Nat Turner in Jerusalem By Ron Cohen A powerful play and a discomfiting depiction of the malaise bred by slavery on the American soul. The hot buttons of racism get pushed with poetic fervor and chilling contemporary resonance in Nathan Alan Davis’s Nat Turner in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem of…
By Ron Cohen It was a mix of birthday party, benefit, cousins-club love fest and – most of all – sterling cabaret performance, when Kim Maresca took to the stage for a one-night stand at Feinsteins’s/54 Below. Maresca has just wound up a run of some 14 months Off-Broadway in Ruthless! The Musical, the…
Judy Jerome and Michael Keller in a scene from KINGDOM OF EARTH Photo Credit: Hunter Dowell By Ron Cohen A bill of Tennessee Williams one-acts is always a noteworthy offering, even if, as here, the writing is not totally fulfilled. This production interestingly combines an early work that emerged in the mid-1940s when Williams’…
Matthew Broderick and Billy Carter photos Carol Rosegg By Ron Cohen Matthew Broderick brings laid-back charm and a beguiling Irish brogue to Conor McPherson’s drama, making it a rather friendly ghost story. Irish Repertory Theatre has captured some marquee power for the reopening of its handsomely renovated jewel box of a space:…
Vanessa Aspillaga (Daphne) and Matthew Saldivar (Pablo) in Quiara Alegría Hudes’ new play Daphne’s Dive, directed by Thomas Kail, at the Pershing Square Signature Center. (© Joan Marcus) By Ron Cohen Daphne’s Dive, the North Philadelphia bar that serves as the main locale for the new comedy-drama by Quiara Alegría Hudes and also lends…
Gabriel Ebert stars in Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, directed by John Doyle, at Classic Stage Company. (© Joan Marcus) By Ron Cohen Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and actor Gabriel Ebert are a match made in heaven. Add director John Doyle to the mix, and the result – on view at Classic Stage Company — is…