Gypsy – that revered American musical – is back on Broadway! Led by six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, and directed by the legendary George C. Wolfe, this much-anticipated revival features three Black women in principal roles, bringing a whole new vibe to the classic. Suggested by the memoirs of burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee,…
F. Murray Abraham (Photo: Carol Rosegg) Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave By Carol Rocamora An arresting assemblage of rarely performed one-acts, now playing at the Irish Repertory Theatre, provides audiences with a thrilling theatrical experience. In seventy-five shocking minutes, three short plays by Samuel Beckett manage to take us on an entire…
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…
Andrew Garman, Amelia Workman, Julius Rinzel (Photo: Emilio Madrid) The Antiquities By Julia Polinsky Two women, one heavily pregnant, dressed in the style of the early 19th Century, stand at the front of the dimly lit stage, and peer out into the audience as if it were a museum display. “Thank you for coming,” they…
There are two kinds of people: those who are willing to be enchanted by magic shows, and those who are all about figuring it out. Whether or not enchantment works for you, spending 90 minutes with Vinny DePonto’s Mindplay will be a delight. DePonto delivers patter like a showman, introducing the illusions and weaving a…
Ella Dershowitz (Photo: Valerie Terranova) Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library By Julia Polinsky A basement prison cell: white walls, high windows. Two chairs, a desk, a door. A young man (Brett Temple) in a German army uniform of the early 1930s hustles in a young woman (Ella Dershowitz). He demands her purse,…
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…
Bedlam’s Music City, a country-western musical featuring the songs of million-selling songwriter JT Harding, is as warm-hearted and feel-good as a Hallmark Christmas movie. Even if you don’t particularly like country music, some kickass performances from superb performers, a tight, bright musical sound, and a gritty, welcoming, enveloping environment make this almost-jukebox musical a must—see….
Susan Kelechi Watson, Crystal Dickinson, Lauren E. Banks, Adrienne C. Moore. (Photo: Julieta Cervantes) The Blood Quilt By Deirdre Donovan Of all the productions opening this season, Katori Hall’s The Blood Quilt at Lincoln Center best illuminates the African American experience. Under the direction of Lileana Blain-Cruz, this thousand-thread show, awash with 100 quilts and…