VIEWPOINTS – It’s lonely up at the top: The price of success in America

An Olympic hopeful swimmer, a country music superstar, and couple of high-powered private equity deal-makers. Currently on the boards of three celebrated Off-Broadway theater companies are a trio of compelling … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – More of the same from Mark Rylance in NICE FISH, and that’s fine by me

Over at St. Ann’s Warehouse, the odd and surreal new play Nice Fish by Mark Rylance – who also stars in the show – and Louis Jenkins is concluding its … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Two highly-anticipated shows fail to shed sufficient light on the transgender experience

Currently in New York theater, two highly-anticipated shows are valiantly attempting to articulate the transgender experience. Unfortunately, both fall short of painting wholly convincing, nuanced portraits of or sufficiently exploring … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Mint resuscitates Hazel Ellis’s juicy period drama WOMEN WITHOUT MEN

Last night, I caught Mint Theater Company’s resuscitation of Hazel Ellis’s 1938 boarding school drama (but really, a comedy of manners), Women Without Men. No, it’s not told from the … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Playwriting in the first person: Dan O’Brien’s THE BODY OF AN AMERICAN and Clare Barron’s I’LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN

One of the prevailing tips given to writers of fiction is to “write what you know”. This winter, I came across two new plays that took this piece of advice … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Richard Nelson’s rich and stealth-like HUNGRY introduces us to the Gabriels just in time for the elections

After the success of “The Apple Family Plays”, I’m so happy to report that playwright Richard Nelson has committed to embarking on a new series about another fictitious family – … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Youthful energy rules “pop-up” revival of WEST SIDE STORY

Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to the immersive “pop-up” revival of West Side Story, courtesy of Carnegie Hall and the Weill Music Institute, at the … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ed Harris leads The New Group’s solid revival of Sam Shepard’s BURIED CHILD

Last weekend, I finally had a chance to take in The New Group’s revival of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Buried Child at The Pershing Square Signature Center. If Mr. … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sky-Pony’s THE WILDNESS sounds and looks fabulous but suffers from tenuous storytelling

This past weekend, I attended a late-night performance of the new musical The Wildness at Ars Nova (in collaboration with The Play Company). The self-professed “rock fairy tale” makes use … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Do not miss the streaming of Complicite/Simon McBurney’s THE ENCOUNTER, a masterpiece in storytelling and performance

If you have any interest at all in the art of theater or storytelling, I strongly urge you not to miss the streaming (from the Barbican) of Complicite’s production of The … Continue Reading →