Call Me Izzy is about Izzy, a woman from rural Louisiana imprisoned in an abusive marriage. Only a couple weeks out of high school, she married Ferd who was 5 years her senior; her uncaring parents were happy to be rid of her. Ferd, who speaks with his fists, is a quick tempered man who…
Set in Illinois, Purpose revolves around the fictional Jasper family, and its rich history in politics and culture. The plot unfolds during a family dinner that exposes deep-seated tensions and long-hidden secrets. The play explores themes of legacy, the struggle for individual identity within a family rooted in activism, and the challenges of trying to…
Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is The Villain draws an exhilarating, troubling portrait of teenage girls as they once were, are now, and may forever be. Set in 2018, and dealing with the mass of new, increasing, and disturbing #MeToo accusations at all levels of society, the play is, in some ways, a period piece. In…
First things first: you do not need to be at all familiar with the Netflix series to enjoy Stranger Things: The First Shadow, now on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre. You know zip, zero, nothing? That’s fine, because the Broadway show stands on its own. It may not be an origin story to you, just…
George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s new play, Good Night, and Good Luck, an adaptation of their 2005 film, arrives on Broadway with plenty of buzz. Directed by David Cromer, this production doesn’t disappoint, largely due to Clooney’s charisma and his affecting portrayal of the revered broadcast journalist, Edward R. Murrow. Describing Good Night, and Good…
Ever heard of “cinetheatre”? You’d better get used to the term describing this groundbreaking new theatrical form. It’s making a dramatic impact on the Broadway stage this season, and it’s a harbinger of a whole new technological trend to come. You have to see it to believe it. It’s too complicated to describe. But bear…
Are there two Kieran Culkins? The one who shows up in the first act of the uneven revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross is, let’s say it, something of a disaster. He’s slower and softer than everyone who has preceded him, throwing Mamet’s galloping but precise rhythms totally off. Intermission passes, and the Culkin…
What and how you speak: this is who you are. That is the idea behind Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, English, now at the Roundabout. A co-production with the Atlantic Theater Company, English is set a classroom in Iran, where students are preparing for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). English presents…
Funny/not funny, and timely as hell, Eureka Day pokes hard at the vaccination debate. Manhattan Theatre Club, known for producing plays that deal with difficult subjects, somehow makes even the thorniest controversies deeply entertaining. They have done it again: Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day mercilessly satirizes the aggressively woke parents and board members at Eureka Day,…
Cult of Love is appropriately named. The cult is religion — and “love” translates as control. The searing holiday family dramedy, now on Broadway at the Hayes Theater, begins with a loud, overly long Christmas carol. But the gaiety feels forced; the siblings participate in a childhood ritual that will explode in a cacophony of…