Editor
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.
Obi Abili photos by Carol Rosegg by Julia Polinsky The Emperor Jones at the Irish Repertory Theatre may be the best version of this play in many years. Between the terrific performance by Obi Abili as Jones, and the splendid vision of director Ciaran O’Reilly, this is one of those times when a…
Jimi Stanton as Gabriel. Photo by Jonathan Slaff by Julia Polinsky A great performance brightens Swedish family psychodrama Marty’s Shadow, by the Swedish playwright Stig Dagerman, dishes up enough family drama and psychological scarring to make a viewer’s heart bleed. Don’t let that put you off seeing this show; if you…
Photo by Joan Marcus, 2016 by Julia Polinsky With In Transit, director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall has worked theater magic. Marshall’s clear and accomplished direction transcends the expectations of much ensemble theater, which often blend into mush; this one leaves one indelible image after another. In Transit features a beatbox/vocal percussionist (Chesney Snow)…
Autumn Hurlbert, Allison Guinn, Paige Faure, Janet Dacal by Julia Polinsky In A Taste of Things to Come, director and choreographer Lorin Latarro does a smashing job with a tight ensemble that works so well with each other, it’s easy to believe in these women and fall in love with their stories. Curtain up lands…
Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer by Julia Polinsky Adapted from a French novel published in 1782, Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses sets the scene in France, in the 1780s. A pair of bored and jaded Parisian aristocrats, former lovers Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer) and Vicomte de Valmont (Liev Schreiber), decide to entertain themselves with…
Colin Donnell, Steven Reineke, Laura Osnes and Nathan Gunn photo by Richard Termine by Julia Polinsky In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the original staging of My Fair Lady, the opening concert of the 2016 New York Pops season offered up the lovely music of Lerner and Loewe. How wonderful it was, to…
Photo Credit: Jeff Farkash by Julia Polinsky Wandering Bark’s speed-dating pace cuts Ibsen’s problem play down to a 90-minute, high-concept version. Clickbait-worthy headlines on the promotional material (“Hedda Tesman (nee Gabler) has everything, but wants none of it.”), and those parentheses around her name: these clues, among others, send you all kinds…
Michael Kaye by Julia Polinsky C. P. Taylor’s Good, as produced by the Potomac Theater Project, fails to evoke pity, or fear, or even unease, so much as confusion. So: not so good, as a play, a production, or a polemic. Set in Germany in the 1930s, and apparently intended as… Well,…
By Julia Polinsky Paul Carlin as Gil and Glynnis O’Connor as Joyce photos by Carol Rosegg In brief: Gil (Paul Carlin) and Joyce (Glynnis O’Connor) return from Easter Sunday services and prepare to host Easter dinner for their son, Kenny, (Adam Petherbridge), daughter-in-law, and in-laws, Jack (Malachy Cleary) and Audrey (Shelly…
JOAN MARCUS/©2016 JOAN MARCUS Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams push for independence — and are played by, from left, John Behlmann, John Larroquette and Santino Fontano in “1776.” The show informs the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” by Julia Polinsky Delightful. Engaging. Sometimes thrilling. How many ways are there to say the Encores! production…