Dominique Thorne; Some Kakoma (Photo: Matthew Murphy) Jaja’s African Hair Braiding Reviewed by Julia Polinsky On a hot summer day in 2019, a pre-pandemic time that now feels almost unimaginably remote, a group of women gather in a hair braiding shop in Harlem, a salon as brightly hot-pink and lively as scenic…
Leslie Odom, Jr., Kara Young (Photo: Marc J. Franklin) Purlie Victorious A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch Reviewed by Julia Polinsky Director Kenny Leon and the company of Purlie Victorious have brought to vivid life this in-your-face revival of Ossie Davis’s sixty-year-old play. Written in 1961, a century after the Civil…
Colin Donnell, Ian Shaw, Alex Brightman (Photo: Matthew Murphy) The Shark Is Broken By Fern Siegel The Shark Is Broken is a literal reference to the mechanical shark in Jaws, directed by a young Steven Spielberg. The play rests on a slim premise — three men in a boat — discussing life, art and…
Laura Bell Bundy, Eric McCormack (Photo: Joan Marcus) The Cottage By Fern Siegel “Take charge, you said,” Sylvia tells Beau, as she holds up a short, leather whip. “Context, darling.” The laugh line, which accompanies one of the many physical jokes in The Cottage, is delivered in an arch manner, befitting a sexual romp…
Sophia Anne Caruso, Alyssa Emily Marvin, Millicent Simmonds (Photo: MurphyMade, 2023) Grey House Hokum and Horror mix uneasily in this eerie play By David Schultz Playwright Levi Holloway has a lot to unpack in this dense, psychological horror-infused tale. As directed by Joe Mantello, the familiar supernatural tropes are laid out in the outset. The…
(L-R) Laura Linney, Jessica Hecht (Photo: Jeremy Daniel) Summer, 1976 By Fern Siegel Even short-lived friendships can stay with us for a lifetime. That’s the premise behind Summer, 1976, now at the Samuel Friedman Theater. It stars two veteran stage actors — Tony-nominated Jessica Hecht and Laura Linney — at the top of…
Ben Rappaport, Sean Hayes (Photo: Joan Marcus) Goodnight, Oscar By Fern Siegel Oscar Levant is not a name well known today — but from the 1930s to the 1960s, his caustic wit and piano virtuosity were legendary. “There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line,” he quipped….
Okieriete Onaodowan and Jessica Chastain. Photo by Emilio Madrid. A Doll’s House By Deirdre Donovan It’s been almost a century and a half since Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House premiered in Norway in 1879. But this domestic drama is hardly “old stuff,” in playwright Amy Herzog’s new version, and under the astute direction of…
Stephen McKinley Henderson in Between Riverside and Crazy. Photo by Joan Marcus Between Riverside and Crazy By David Schultz Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis must be grinning like The Cheshire Cat. First staged almost ten years ago at The Atlantic Theater in Chelsea, followed by a move uptown to The Second Stage in 2015,…
Jeremy Pope and Paul Bettany in The Collaboration. Photo by Jeremy Daniel The Collaboration By Julia Polinsky Anthony McCarten’s The Collaboration, as directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah at the Old Vic in London, has been beautifully transferred to the Manhattan Theatre Club. Interesting, eye-filling, and talky, The Collaboration presents the manipulated collaboration and unexpected…