Marsha Mason, Lauren O’Leary & Brenda Meaney photos by Carol Rosegg Little Gem By Ron Cohen Three generations of women in a Dublin family tell their story with humor and heart in Elaine Murphy’s Little Gem, being given an admirable production by Irish Repertory Theatre and boasting a splendid performance by Marsha…
Samson Schmitt The Django Reinhardt NY Festival Makes a Triumphant Return to Birdland By Barry Bassis Producer Pat Philips-Stratta brought her semi-annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival back to the Birdland jazz club (315 W. 44th St.). As she explained in her introduction to the sold-out show, this is the 20th year of the festival…
Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow By Ron Cohen The Prozorov sisters like to say “shit” and “fuck” a lot. Yes, they’re the same Prozorov women who inhabit Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters. But this time around they’re cutting up in Halley Feiffer’s adaptation of Chekhov’s masterpiece. It’s entitled Moscow Moscow Moscow…
The Rolling Stone By Fern Siegel In Uganda, where evangelical religion is married to homophobia, Dembe (Ato Blankson-Wood) goes looking for love in all the wrong places. Specifically, with Sam (Robert Gilbert), a charming Irish doctor, the son of a Ugandan woman. Sam is resolute in his passions, while Dembe is acutely aware of…
LaChanze, Jai’Len Christine Li Josey, Vita E. Cleveland, Elizabeth Teeter and Romelda Teron Benjamin Photo: Ahron R. Foster The Secret Life of Bees By Fern Siegel “Some folks are born on the wrong side of right,” Rosaleen (Saycon Sengbloh) explains to teenage Lily (Elizabeth Teeter), the white daughter of an abusive father….
Mateo Ferro in Working: The Musical at New York City Center Photo: Joan Marcus Working: The Musical by Deirdre Donovan The qualities that have made Studs Terkel’s Working a modern classic are all present in the current revival of Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso’s musical of the same name at New York City Center. The…
Maria Bilbao (as Gloria Estefan) Photos by John Vecchiolla On Your Feet By Edward Lieberman For its summer production WBT is cranking up the heat! Its 211th production is On Your Feet, the sizzling musical retelling of the career of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Cuban emigres who became the first crossover artists to hit…
An Evening with Gavin Creel by Deirdre Donovan . Theatergoers recently got a real taste of Broadway at the 92nd Street Y with “An Evening with Gavin Creel” on July 17th. The program, which was part of their popular Concert series, showcased the Tony Award winner Creel who regaled the audience with some…
Jesse Pennington and Brenda Meaney Photo by Todd Cerveris. The Mountains Look Different By Marc Miller . If there’s one thing the Mint Theater Company excels at, it’s polishing—dusting off old, forgotten properties, and getting them to gleam. And if there’s another thing, it’s rediscovering playwrights we may not know about, but who…
Toni Stone By Ron Cohen Toni Stone loved baseball. Now, you may ask, Who? Or so what? History, as oft said, has a way of erasing the accomplishments of American women, and particularly, women of color. So, if you need filling in, Toni Stone (1921-1996) was the first female professional baseball player, playing…