THE HANGOVER REPORT – Joyce DiDonato leads a sparkling account of Massenet’s CENDRILLON at the Metropolitan Opera

Last night at the Metropolitan Opera, I caught American mezzo-soprano star Joyce DiDonato take on the title role in Cendrillon, Jules Massenet’s operatic version of the popular Cinderella fairytale. Quite surprisingly, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Transport Group/CSC’s lucid, riveting revival of Tennessee Williams’ SUMMER AND SMOKE makes a strong case for the rarely-performed play

This week saw the opening of a rare revival of Tennessee Williams’ 1948 play Summer and Smoke, courtesy of an Off-Broadway co-production between Classic Stage Company and Transport Group. The play is … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Anna Netrebko debuts a smoldering TOSCA at the Met

Last night, I caught the second cast of Sir David McVicar’s traditional new staging of Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. I had thought the opening cast – which featured … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – “The One Thousand and One Nights” and its huge potential for inspiring seductive theater

There were recently a couple of Off-Broadway productions that continued to explore the theatrical possibilities of the Arabic myth “The One Thousand and One Nights” – Target Margin’s experimental homage … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sharon Washington’s perfectly pleasant theatrical memoir FEEDING THE DRAGON needed some real vulnerability

Closing out Primary Stages’ 2017-2018 season was Sharon Washington’s one-woman theatrical memoir Feeding the Dragon, which recently concluded its run at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Ms. Washington is a fine actress and I had … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mobile Unit’s HENRY V is workmanlike, with a monarch that’s more interesting than meets the eye

Last night, the Public Theater’s Mobile Unit production of the Bard’s Henry V opened at the institution’s downtown headquarters. The run at 425 Lafayette Street is just one of a number … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – George C. Wolfe’s entertaining, high voltage revival of O’Neill’s THE ICEMAN COMETH, headlined by a magnetic Denzel Washington, closes out the Broadway season

The 2017-2018 Broadway season came to a close last night with the opening of George C. Wolfe’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, headlined by charismatic movie star Denzel … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Shaw’s SAINT JOAN is revived on Broadway, solidly if a bit on the tepid side

So the Shawfest continues, and I’m not talking about the one in Niagara-on-the-Lake. On the heels of Bedlam’s penetrating pseudo-revisionist Off-Broadway production of Pygmalion and Lincoln Center Theater’s major, meticulous … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Amelia Roper’s tantalizingly-structured ZÜRICH falls just short of its ambitions

The brilliant Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties isn’t the only play causing fictitious mischief in Zurich, Switzerland. Indeed, the aptly-named new play Zürich by Amelia Roper – currently running Off-Broadway at Next Door at … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The sensational Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard’s TRAVESTIES is hilarious, intoxicating

Last night, the sensational Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard’s Tony-winning 1974 play Travesties opened at the American Airlines Theater. The Roundabout Theatre Company production is a remount of Patrick Marber’s … Continue Reading →