THE HANGOVER REPORT – Meredith Monk’s CELLULAR SONGS at BAM is equally beguiling and confounding

Tonight, I caught the opening night performance of Meredith Monk’s Cellular Songs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. BAM has long been a hotbed for avant-garde music- and theater-making, and Ms. Monk … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Hammaad Chaudry’s AN ORDINARY MUSLIM is engrossing, an encouraging debut

Last night, I attended a performance of Hammaad Chaudry’s new play An Ordinary Muslim at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop. With this play, Mr. Chaudry is making his professional debut as … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – TACT’s Runyon-esque THREE WISE GUYS, a jovial if inconsequential romp

I had a perfectly pleasant time at Three Wise Guys, which opened this past weekend at Off-Broadway’s ever-busy Theatre Row complex. Sadly, the production is touted to be the final production … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – John Kelly’s TIME NO LINE weaves together a living memoir, creating art in the process

Last night, I caught one of the final performances of veteran performance artist John Kelly’s theatrical memoir Time No Line at, fittingly, La Mama’s Ellen Stewart Theatre. Sufficiently doing justice to his long, storied … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – David Rabe’s disappointing GOOD FOR OTTO gets sentimental, after-school-special style

Last week, I caught the Off-Broadway production David Rabe’s Good for Otto at The Pershing Square Signature Center. The staging is courtesy of The New Group, which currently has a big hit on … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Bruce Norris’s sprawling THE LOW ROAD is spirited and unabashedly critical

Last night, Bruce Norris’s eagerly-awaited new play The Low Road opened at The Public Theater. His latest work spins a sprawling 18th (and 21st) century rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches, only-in-America yarn worthy of Dickens. It tells … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Martyna Majok’s QUEENS is ambitious, if somewhat unfocused

Tonight, Martyna Majok’s anticipated new play queens opened Off-Broadway at the Claire Tow Theater, courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater. I was deeply impressed by Ms. Majok’s breakthrough play Ironbound when I first encountered it as … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Met revives its raw production of Richard Strauss’s ELEKTRA, ecstatically led by Christine Goerke and Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Tonight, I revisited the Metropolitan Opera’s raw production of Richard Strauss’s still-shocking, laser-focused one-act operatic adaptation of the Greek tragedy Elektra. Even if the staging from the late, great Patrice Chéreau this time around … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Signature’s production of AT HOME AT THE ZOO: An incisive reminder of Albee’s singular voice

This weekend, I caught Signature Theatre Company’s sharp Off-Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s double bill, At Home at the Zoo: Homelife & The Zoo Story. If anything, the pairing – first staged … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Stellar vocals save the Met’s clunky production of Rossini’s rarely-performed SEMIRAMIDE

I recently had a chance to catch the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Rossini’s Semiramide. The bel canto opera, one of Rossini’s final operas and one that’s rarely in the repertoire these … Continue Reading →