Judy Jerome and Michael Keller in a scene from KINGDOM OF EARTH Photo Credit: Hunter Dowell By Ron Cohen A bill of Tennessee Williams one-acts is always a noteworthy offering, even if, as here, the writing is not totally fulfilled. This production interestingly combines an early work that emerged in the mid-1940s when Williams’…
Michael Kaye by Julia Polinsky C. P. Taylor’s Good, as produced by the Potomac Theater Project, fails to evoke pity, or fear, or even unease, so much as confusion. So: not so good, as a play, a production, or a polemic. Set in Germany in the 1930s, and apparently intended as… Well,…
Cary Donaldson (Romeo), woman is Rachel Mewbron (Juliet). Photo Credit: Matt Harrington Wheelhouse Theater Company’s production of Romeo and Juliet, By Nicholas Linnehan With its beautiful set and strong ensemble, it’s a shame this production only has limited success! The problem with doing a well-known play is simple, everyone knows it. Therefore,…
by Deirdre Donovan There’s nothing tame about Phyllida Lloyd’s new gender-bending production of The Taming of the Shrew at the Public’s Delacorte Theater in Central Park. With an all-female cast, Lloyd takes Shakespeare’s early comedy about love and marriage and jazzes it up with a beauty pageant. And with Janet McTeer and Cush Jumbo…
Michael Roulston and Dillie Keane. Photo by Carol Rosegg By Eugene Paul Cabaret queen Dillie Keane has been knocking them dead for 34 years in Britain and elsewhere ever since she invented her hit cabaret act, “Fascinating Aida”, the smash hit all girl group built around her ribald songs, words and music, based on the…
by Eugene Paul Alan Ayckbourn’s newest play, Hero’sWelcome, his 79th, in its premiere performance, is alternating in repertory with Confusions, Ayckbourn’s hit from forty years ago, during this, his sixth visit to 59E59 Theaters and I hope he makes it an even dozen visits. Or two dozen. Or more, now that he’s retired from…
Erin Beirnard and Kelly King photo: Svetlana Didorenko by Marc Miller While the Tyrones suffer familial accusations, mistrust, and destructive love in the wrenching revival of Long Day’s Journey into Night at the American Airlines Theatre, a Eugene O’Neill of a very different sort is on display at the Metropolitan Playhouse.O’Neill (Unexpected) consists of two early one-acts, Recklessness from 1913 andNow I…
by Michall Jeffers Sand, soulfulness, and summer love Yes, that’s real sand setting the tone for Indian Summer, the final production of the splendid Playwrights Horizons season. Waves are crashing on the beach as Daniel (Owen Campbell) tries to pass the time. He wears a plaid shirt, khaki shorts, and sneakers, and sports long,…
Matthew Broderick and Billy Carter photos Carol Rosegg By Ron Cohen Matthew Broderick brings laid-back charm and a beguiling Irish brogue to Conor McPherson’s drama, making it a rather friendly ghost story. Irish Repertory Theatre has captured some marquee power for the reopening of its handsomely renovated jewel box of a space:…
Kathy Biehl & Noah Diamond By Marc Miller Those who revere the Marx Brothers—there are still quite a few of us, thank you—have always been curious about I’ll Say She Is. The first Marx musical, written by no one you ever heard of (book and lyrics, Will B. Johnstone; music, Tom Johnstone), landed on…