Nathan Darrow, Marin Ireland Photo: Carol Rosegg By Fern Siegel The dichotomy of human nature — the sacred and profane — fascinated Tennessee Williams, who routinely employed elements of Southern Gothic to explore dysfunctional people ruined by inner demons. Such themes are evident in Summer and Smoke, now at the Classic Stage Company,…
Amelia Pedlow and Dina Thomas by Edward Medina Words. Words. Words. Beautiful luscious words. Set in rhymes. Framed in metaphors. Hung in allegories. Displayed with glorious grace, slick style, and unending rapturous wit. The rhyme rules here and while some are more forced than others they all manage to fall lovingly on the ear….
Photos by Theo Cote by Edward Medina Seagullmachine, now being presented at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, is the totally immersive creation of The Assembly which describes itself as a collective of multi-disciplinary performance artists committed to realizing a visceral and intelligent theater for a new generation. There are two…
Dan Luria photos by Russ Rowland by Arney Rosenblat Through a stunningly rendered production and compelling performances, The Stone Witch movingly explores the price of greatness Simon Grindberg is a “great man” who is revered as one of the world’s most illustrious children’s writers and illustrators but his next anticipated masterpiece is…
Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) By Jeanne Lieberman Brace yourself Broadway! A Big Brawny Musical may be heading your way led by Harry Connick, Jr. and a tireless troupe of terpsichorean tap dancers. Papermill’s latest shiny production follows a prestigious journey starting from George Roy Hill’s award winning 1973 iconic film, which was loosely based…
Harry Clarke: Bill Crudup Photo: Carol Rosegg By Fern Siegel Identity is fertile ground for drama, but disassociation kicks it up a notch. Or as our narrator explains: “I’ve gotten on a ride I can’t get off.” And it’s a wild one. The narrator is Billy Crudup — and for 80 minutes at…
Billie Piper Photo Credit: Stephanie Berger By Arney Rosenblat With every beat of Her heart she and the audience slip further into searing despair as her desire to be a mother and have a child of her own unravels into an unfulfilled dream, which leaves the audience as wounded as Billie Piper, who…
Helene Yorke and Brandon Uranowitz in the Encores! staging of Grand Hotel at City Center, New York. Photo: Joan Marcus By Edward Medina With a deeply engrossing book by Luther Davis and the beautiful music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, the legend that is Grand Hotel, The Musical has reappeared once…
Sturgis Warner, Jo Mei, Jeorge Bennett Watson, Sorab Wadia, Steven Skybell By Ron Cohen Babette’s Feast, a short story by Isak Dinesen, was famously transformed into an elegiac Danish movie in 1987, winning an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Now, the tale has been transformed once again into a pleasurable…
Christopher Green by Edward Medina An old woman sits quietly in a chair. Her chair is one of many in a circle. She sits amongst a group of fellow addicts that are in need of confession. Admissions and revelations begin spewing forth until she decides it’s her turn. She then tells the story…