photos by Joan Marcus Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte Theater By Barry Bassis Do you watch those classic 1930’s screwball comedies, like The Awful Truth or Twentieth Century? The plot lines often involve a man and woman who had unsuccessful prior relationships with each other and for most of the course of the action…
Chris Dwan in Enter Laughing Photos: Carol Rosegg Enter Laughing by Deirdre Donovan The York Theatre Company is well-known for bringing new musical theater works to its boards. But in celebration of their 50thanniversary year, the company delves into their past and dusts off one of their sparkling gems: Enter Laughing. With a book by Joseph…
Octet By Eugene Paul The most shattering, the most piercing theatrical event in New York at the present time has just opened, right in the teeth of the feverish voting season scene and it blows them all away. It is Octet, the blazing chorale of musical magician Dave Malloy, the book, the lyrics,…
Michael Urie, Kevin Chamberlin photos Joan Marcus Encores! High Button Shoes by David Schultz & Jeanne Lieberman This is the 75th anniversary of Encores! the immensely successfuli concert series dedicated to performing rarely heard American musicals, Presented by New York City Center since 1994, Its first production, Fiorello! (1959), was sold out in hours. Their selections have reached back…
photos Deen van Meer Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune By Eugene Paul Full, glittering turnouts are greeting every performance of this extraordinary revival of dear old Terrence McNally’s beloved schmatte of a play. For cause. Previous incarnations have always treated it as a schmatte, and why not, it’s coarse,…
Lee Tergesen and Kelly AuCoin photos by Joam Marcus Long Lost By Ron Cohen “Just because we came from the same womb, I’m supposed to be responsible for you forever and ever no matter what kind of shit you do?” That’s what David, a well-heeled Wall Street consultant, asks his wastrel brother Billy…
Marin Ireland and Susan Sarandon photos by Monique Carboni Happy Talk by Arney Rosenblat Happy Talk starring Susan Sarandon and Marin Ireland is a play where positivity goes seriously amuck Jesse Eisenberg’s new play being presented by The New Group at the Signature Center described as “hysterical and devastating” is so dark that…
Michael Stuhlbarg photos by Joan Marcus Socrates by Arney Rosenblat Socrates a philosopher, moralist, and so-called enemy of the people comes to life in Tim Blake Nelson’s brilliant prescient play at the Public Theater, where he prompts the viewer to question the strengths and weaknesses inherent in democratic rule As the Public’s …
Jimmy Ray Bennett photos by Shirin Tinati Hans Christian Andersen: Tales Real & Imagined by Arney Rosenblat Though the more than 3,300 fairy tales spun by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen spurred wonder in children and adults around the world, being translated into over 125 languages, his own story was far removed…
By Eugene Paul If you can ‘t get enough of Glenda Jackson, this is for you. Perhaps the most generous and rewarding moment in all of the current production of King Lear occurred at the giddily enthusiastic curtain call when a gracious Glenda Jackson gave an…