The tradition dates back at least to Oh, Boy! in 1917, and though it’s since fallen out of favor, it held sway for decades: the notion that an unlikely character getting inebriated was automatically hilarious. Comic drunk scenes were a staple of pre-Code movie comedies, and they populated plenty of plays, too. Fallen Angels, Noel…
Love. Intelligence. Genius, even. Betrayal. Sacrifice. The revival of David Auburn’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Proof, now at the Booth, has all this and more: great structure, superb writing, knockout performances. Proof centers around Catherine (Ayo Edebiri), a slouchy, visibly depressed 25-year-old college dropout, the daughter of Robert, (Don Cheadle) who in his younger days was…
The ultra-violent Titus Andronicus is now enjoying (if you can use that word) a splendid revival at Signature Theatre, in the skillful hands of the Red Bull Theatre Company. And oh, is it sensational! Prepare yourself for the horrific story. Titus Andronicus (Patrick Page) is a Roman general who has returned after a ten-year war…
When I first heard about a show titled No Singing in the Navy, premiering at Playwrights Horizons, the same institution involved with works like Sunday In The Park With George, Floyd Collins, and William Finn’s Falsettos trilogy, I was intrigued. Playwrights Horizons has long been the home for ambitious new musicals and a launching pad for major American theater. So…
Who would have thought watching people behaving badly could be so much fun? Now at the Hayes Theatre, and directed by Trip Cullman with bloodthirsty zeal, this revival of the Pulitzer-nominated Becky Shaw seems even fresher than it did in its Off-Broadway run almost 20 years ago. Playwright Gina Gionfriddo toys with our initial perception…
The woman behind me kept murmuring, “Oh, my God, oh, my God.” She was responding to the parade of indignities and setbacks being visited upon our protagonist in The Fear of 13, Lindsey Ferrentino’s docudrama at the James Earl Jones. She was also perhaps more involved than she’d otherwise have been because that protagonist was…
A deliriously camp send-up that gleefully rewrites pop culture history, Titanique finds Céline Dion commandeering the Titanic’s legacy with a jukebox score and a wink that never fades. Yet for all its riotous invention and winning performances, this Broadway transfer can feel like a tidal wave of gags—so relentless at times that audiences may find…
“What’s a Jellicle Cat?” In 1982, when Cats first prowled onto Broadway, the answer was strange but straightforward. In Cats: The Jellicle Ball, that question lands very differently. Still drawing from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, this revival trades the junkyard for the Ballroom, reimagining the…
The walls of the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway are shaking, as the overpowering revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman takes the stage. Directed by Joe Mantello, featuring a formidable ensemble, this landmark production reminds us why critic Kennth Tynan called it the greatest American play ever written. This cavernous Broadway theatre is…
In August 1972, a Chase Bank robbery gone wrong quickly turned into one of the biggest media circuses in New York City history. Although the vault was half-empty, the robbers, John (“Sonny”) Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile, did collect monies — until a teller tripped an alarm and the police arrived. The robbers then took eight…