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…
Richard Topol, José Espinosa (Photo: Pavel Antonov) The Merchant of Venice By Deirdre Donovan The Arlekin Players Theatre’s new production of The Merchant of Venice at the Classic Stage Company, adapted and directed by Igor Golyak, is a wild and wooly take on Shakespeare’s great work about anti-Semitism and bigotry. Although it brings some fresh…
The cast of Shit.Meet.Fan. (Photo: Julieta Cervantes) Shit. Meet. Fan. By David Schultz Based on a 2016 Italian film, “Perfect Strangers,” this slick, shallow production attempts to update the tale from the film. In fits and starts, it has its perverse amusements, but in the long run it runs out of steam well before the…
Scott Shepherd (Photo: Joan Marcus) Gatz By Deirdre Donovan Gatz is back! The Elevator Repair Service’s (ESR) verbatim reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby returns to the Public Theater for its swan song. Directed by John Collins, and starring Scott Shepherd as Nick, this encore production is truly a gift to theatergoers who…
Swept Away is a standout entry in the grim-but-entertaining Fall 2024 Broadway season. It’s a solid tell-don’t-show work, in which a narrator talks to the audience to tell a story, at least partly in flashback (book by John Logan). Michael Mayer’s direction makes the most of this storytelling technique, a solid cast, and some lovely…
For anyone familiar with the evangelical scandals of the 1980s, Tammy and Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart are familiar names. The latter two preached fire and brimstone — and their demonizing of liberals and feminists was their calling card. Hell hath no fury like a preacher scorned. Into this world of sin and…