Reviews Archives

  • Privacy

    Daniel Radcliffe and cast                       Photos by Joan Marcus Privacy                                   by David Schultz Playwright James Graham and co-creator/director Josie Rourke have orchestrated a mesmerizing evening of theater. That is not to say that this play is typical in any ordinary way. The skeletal plot and outline of this work is just window dressing for the…

  • Vivian Reed Sings “Standards & More” at the Metropolitan Room

                                                                                      Photo by Lou Montesano..                                                       by Marc Miller Vivian Reed’s set at the Metropolitan Room runs about an hour twenty, and how she gets through it is anyone’s guess. A hard-working, old-school cabaret veteran with Broadway experience (a Tony nomination for Bubbling Brown Sugar), she displays an amazing, rangy voice, dances, growls, exhibits effusive…

  • Quietly

    Declan Conlon, Robert Zawadzki and Patrick O’Kane                                                                                                                  By Eugene Paul   The Irish have kept records, daily records, of their day to day struggles killing each other.  If you want to look up who was killed on what day by what means you can do it. Pick a date significant to you and…

  • The Mushroom Cure

                                            by Nicholas Linnehan “I love you but I hate your mental illness!” The harsh stigma around mental illness still plagues us today. How often have we heard someone say “I’m a little OCD when it comes to that? But for people suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it’s a very different beast all…

  • Simon Says

    Anthony Goes and Brian Murray                                photos by Maria Baranova   by Eugene Paul Simon is who James, (Anthony J. Goes) becomes when he’s channeling.  Channelers are those rare creatures who fascinate us by their capacity to go into trance states in order to contact individuals who have lived other lives in the past.  James had…

  • Two by Tennessee Williams – 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Kingdom of Earth

    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’…

  • Good

    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,…

  • Wheelhouse Theater Company’s production of Romeo and Juliet

    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,…

  • Confusions

                                 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…

  • Hello, Dillie

     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…