by Eugene Paul Actor Clifford Odets was in his twenties when Harold Clurman asked the young member of their Group Theatre to try writing a play for the Group. The result was the ground breaking Awake and Sing! which tore through the American theatrical scene putting central on the stage a family of desperate Jewish immigrants living in…
Pictured (L-R): Jennifer Mudge, Heather Lind, Alicia Silverstone photos by © Joan Marcus 2015 by Eugene Paul Lynne Meadow has been the artistic director of the Manhattan Theatre Club for forty-three years, during which time MTC has grown into one of New York City’s premier ornaments, presenting splendidly produced efforts no matter the material and…
Lindsay Mendez and Gideon Glick photos by Joan Marcus By David Schultz Jordan Berman (Gideon Glick) is stuck in a rut. In his late 20’s, this gay gent is filled with inherent emotional longings, almost operatic in their intensity. He wants a true romance, a boy friend, not just a hook-up. His complete and utter failure…
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,…
Jesse Eisenberg, Kunal Nayyar, Annapurna Sriram, Erin Darke and Michael Zegen Photo credit: Monique Carboni By David Schultz Actor Jesse Eisenberg makes it easy to detest his character onstage in his latest play at The New Group. This talented, intense actor seems to be drawn to essay unsavory people that in real life you would…
Chris Noth and Zach Grenier in DOCTOR FAUSTUS. … Joan Marcus by Deirdre Donovan Christopher Marlowe’s warhorse Doctor Faustus gets new legs at the Classical Stage Company this season. As adapted by David Bridel and Andrei Belgrader, who also directs, it may lose some of its grandeur but gains a lot of levity and comic bite with its…
Francesca Carpanini as Miranda and Sam Waterston as Prospero in a scene from “The Tempest” at the Delacorte Theater (Photo credit: Joan Marcus) by Michall Jeffers It was only fitting that the sky was threatening; it had been raining hard all day, and everyone wondered if the show would go on. It did, of course;…
by Eugene Paul Well, it’s like this: those qualms playwright Bruce Norris is suggesting are not just yours after seeing the Playbill cover but the quaking anxieties that palpitate through Chris (absolutely wonderful Jeremy Shamos) in an award worthy performance as he and his new bride Kristy (stunning Sarah Goldberg) begin their leery explorations with…
Taylor Mac (Photo: Hollis King) Prosperous Fools By Deirdre Donovan In Prosperous Fools, playwright-provocateur Taylor Mac lobs a glitter bomb straight at the glitterati, skewering the pomp, pretension, and performative philanthropy of the nonprofit gala circuit. Loosely riffing on Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and staged with gleeful excess by director Darko Tresnjak, this biting new…
By Glenn Giron From go it’s realized that this will not be your ordinary play. You’re handed a headset and taught how to use it and funny, unorthodox, pre show announcements are expressed to you through your new little toy. You sit there excited like a kid waiting for a 4D show at an amusement park…