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.
Cherry Jones and television actor David Aaron Baker photos by Joan Marcus By Julia Polinsky At the beginning of Dear Elizabeth, Sarah Ruhl’s play inspired by the correspondence between poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, two people, sitting at separate desks, read, in pools of light. A Stage Manager (Peggy Noonan) sometimes comments,…
George Takei as Sam Kimura and Lea Salonga as Kei By Julia Polinsky The show’s not called Poor Me, I Was In An Internment Camp During WWII, it’s called Allegiance. It takes a good look at where our allegiances lie: with family, with nation, with heritage, with self. Directed by the accomplished and dedicated…
by Julia Polinsky Like a rough draft for a “good parts” version of Moonstruck, John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea tells us that True Love is possible, even for the less than perfect people among us. Well, in this production at Theater for the New City, maybe yes, maybe no….
By Julia Polinsky Beverly Coyle’s theater project, In Our Own Voice,” is subtitled “Women Veterans Tell Their Story.” Even though the program notes state that each cast member portrays numerous military women, we get one multi-faceted story, told in fragments, in words used by military women who were interviewed for this project. While researching this work,…
Jonathan Groff & Aaron Lazar photos by Joan Marcus by Julia Polonsky Bravo to all the artists involved in re-imagining and updating William Finn’s A New Brain for Encores! Off-Center. The endlessly talented James Lapine not only co-authored A New Brain, but directs this production, with gusto and brio and smashing style. Encores! Off Center productions, which are effectively staged…
John Turturro as Zorba & the cast of Zorba photos by Joan Marcus by Julia Polinsky Handsomely staged but with no center, this dark revival tries hard to charm Encores! at City Center started life as concert performances of neglected musical theater. Things change; the series has morphed into cobbled-together almost-revivals, casting an eye on…
Photos Joan Marcus by Julia Polinsky Right from the start, Michael James Scott, as The Minstrel, treats the audience to the opening song (“Welcome to the Renaissance”), a real razzle dazzle, over the top, you-can’t-touch-this Broadway song and dance. In doublet and pantaloons. The curtain rises; the ensemble joins in; farthingales sway and knee…