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.
Bill Nighy and Carrie Mulligan Photos by John Haynes by Deirdre Donovan “I mean, to be a teacher, the only thing you really have going for you … there’s only one thing that makes the whole thing make sense, and that is finding one really good pupil.” Kyra, the schoolteacher character who is devoting…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…