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Julia Polinsky wrote, directed, produced, and starred in her first play when she was 7 years old. She’s been paying a lot of attention to theater ever since.
The Invention of Love, Tom Stoppard’s 2001 play now having a limited run in an elegantly spare, beautifully acted revival at the Theaterlab, satisfies the urge to chew on exquisite language. To revel in words, words, words. To dust off your English-major quote-meter and give it a whirl (spoiler: pegged). And, alas, to wallow in…
Now playing at 59E59, Stephen Sheffer’s Lean-To, a difficult-but-somewhat-charming exploration of interpersonal relationships masquerading as a comedy, blows up fairly spectacularly, and you see it coming. If it were harder to care about the characters, if they were less likable, if your compassion weren’t evoked, it would be harder to be ticked off at the…
Trauma exists; never doubt it. Dealing with trauma impels a lot of art, and many artists weave their lives, and their wounds, into their work. Sometimes, that makes super theater; sometimes, it feels like that time and care could have been better used. The time and care and thought and work and dedication that went…
Bedlam’s Music City A New Musical, a country-music jukebox musical featuring the songs of zillion-selling songwriter JT Harding, is as warm-hearted and feel-good as a Hallmark Christmas movie. Originally presented at the West End Theater in fall of 2024, where it was nominated for several awards, it’s moved to St. Luke’s Theatre on 46th Street….
Directed by Robert O’Hara, this all-Black revival of La Cage aux Folles is an Encores! production, so you know the drill: a little under-rehearsed (and who can cavil at that with less than 2 weeks to put it all together). Maybe a script in hand; a little cramped, with the orchestra right there on the…
A heartbreakingly excellent performance from Stephen Spinella and heavily timely subject matter infuse Jerome, John J. Caswell, Jr.’s new play now at Playwrights Horizons. It’s June; Pride Month is here, and LGBTQ-forward theater is everywhere. But Jerome can’t seem to make up its mind whether it’s a love story, a soap opera, a comedy, a…
Superb performances; slice of life storytelling; a bit of something extra: all this and more greet you at the Barrymore Theatre, where August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is getting a handsome revival. Part of the Century Cycle of 10 plays Wilson wrote about the Black experience in America, Joe Turner takes place in…
Baize Buzan (Photo: Alexia Haick) Beauty Freak By Julia Polinsky James Clements has given us a new play about Leni Riefenstahl. She was one of the more fascinating and polarizing people of the 20th century. Unquestionably a feminist pioneer, she was also a monster of pragmatism, using concentration-camp inmates as extras in her film, then…
Love. Intelligence. Genius, even. Betrayal. Sacrifice. The revival of David Auburn’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Proof, now at the Booth, has all this and more: great structure, superb writing, knockout performances. Proof centers around Catherine (Ayo Edebiri), a slouchy, visibly depressed 25-year-old college dropout, the daughter of Robert, (Don Cheadle) who in his younger days was…
RJ Higton and the Company (Photo: Christopher Duggan) Gotta Dance! With American Dance Machine UPDATE: APRIL 2026 By Julia Polinsky on April 1, 2026 Need an anti-depressant? Take two seats at Gotta Dance! and you’ll feel better immediately. This greatest-hits compilation of superb, iconic dance numbers from Broadway and Hollywood musicals has just opened at…