Deirdre Donovan

Writer

Journalist Deirdre Donovan has written for the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, among others. Her theater writing has been published in The Brooklyn Paper, Our Town, West Side Spirit, Curtainup, Theaterscene, and Offoffonline.

Reviews by Deirdre

  • Application Pending

                                         by Deirdre Donovan Christina Bianco impersonates 40 personas in the behind-the-scenes world of kindergarten admissions at a fictive private Manhattan school.    Christina Bianco reveals the behind-the-scenes world of kindergarten admissions at a fictive private Manhattan school in Application Pending, now running at the Westside Theatre.  Co-written by Greg Edwards and Andy Sandberg, this…

  • Kristina

    Ivette Dumeng and Sergio Castillo                            photos by Rosalie Baijer.                          by Deirdre Donovan Theater historians tend to extol the dramatic virtues of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, The Creditors, The Dance of Death, The Father, and A Dream Play.  But Kristina?  Hardly.  This historical drama, in fact, seems to be more Strindberg’s step-child than one of…

  • New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Mozart & Mendelssohn

    Bart Feller & Stacy Shames with NJSO orchestra         photo by Fred Stucker                      by Deirdre Donovan Maestro Johannes Debus and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) recently breezed into the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) with its program, “Mozart & Mendelssohn,” on February 27th.    The first half of the program presented Mendelssohn’s rarely-performed The…

  • Hamilton

                             by Deirdre Donovan Hamilton, the much-awaited musical at the Public Theater, is making a mighty big noise at its downtown home in Astor Place. And if you go to only one show this season, it should be to this amazing new musical that breathes life into 18th Century American history and gives it a…

  • A Month in the Country

     Taylor Schilling and Peter Dinklage                                                                    Photo: Joan Marcus                       by Dierdre Donovan Small-screen stars Peter Dinklage and Taylor Schilling bring high-voltage to Ivan Turgenev’s Month in the Country at Classic Stage Company’s latest production.  And those who want to see these luminaries up-close and personal now have their chance on this intimate stage in the…

  • H.M.S. Pinafore

    R: Louis Dall’Ava (far left) and William Whitefield (pulled by sailors) in H.M.S. Pinafore Photo: Noah Strone                                                   by Deirdre Donovan  H.M. S. Pinafore sailed into NYU’s Skirball Center in late December under the steady hand of Albert Bergeret., the founder and artistic Director of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (NYGASP).  Those who…

  • New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Winter Festival- Lacombe Conducts Romeo and Juliet

                                by Deirdre Donovan Valentine’s Day arrived a little early this year, thanks to the baton of the renowned Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.  In his recent program at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) at Newark, he brought Shakespeare’s beloved Romeo and Juliet to life, not through high-flown rhetoric, but…

  • Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy)

                                  by Deirdre Donovan Under the lively baton of Ted Sperling, Monty Python’s Eric Idle and John Du Prez brought to life their latest work at Carnegie Hall, giving a surreal twist to a holiday classic. Tomfoolery with the New Testament?  You betcha.  Monty Python’s Eric Idle and John Du Prez (A Fish Called Wanda)…

  • Major Barbara

    Dan Daily, Hannah Cabell and Richard Gallagher                                      by Deirdre Donovan When you see the folks from the Salvation Army ringing their bells this year for donations to the poor, you just might muse upon Shaw’s young ambitious heroine Major Barbara, the titular character from George Bernard Shaw’s play of the same name.  It is…

  • The Belle of Amherst

    Joely Richardson stars in William Luce’s The Belle of Amherst, directed by Steve Cosson, at the Westside Theatre. (© Carol Rosegg)                                      By Deirdre Donovan Joely Richardson brings 19th Century poet Emily Dickinson alive in her one-woman performance at the West End Theatre. William Luce’s one-woman play about the great American poet Emily Dickinson arrives at…