THE HANGOVER REPORT – Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL relies on steadfast storytelling and visceral thrills

This past December during a trip to the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky region, I had the opportunity to catch Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s staging of A Christmas Carol. Adapted … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – An overview of ALTERNATIVE HOLIDAY FARE: From mildly off the beaten path, to the thoughtfully tangental, to the wacky remixes

For those of you looking for some alternative fare for your holiday entertainment, there are certainly options beyond the big guns (e.g., New York City Ballet’s production of Balanchine’s The … Continue Reading →

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in Robert Icke's "Oedipus" at Studio 54 (photo by Julieta Cervantes).

VIEWPOINTS – Reorienting classics to speak directly to the present: TARTUFFE at NYTW and the Broadway revisal of OEDIPUS

This fall, a pair of new, high profile productions of classics of Western drama have opened in fascinating new translations that shed new light on classics we thought we knew, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Holding on to fast fading cultural identities: Conjuring the past in MEET THE CARTOZIANS, LAOWANG, and A BODEGA PRINCESS REMEMBERS

This fall, a fascinating common concern of several Off-Broadway plays has been the gradual erasure of cultural identities within the melting pot that is, for better or worse, America. In … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – American womanhood through the lens of absurdity: Peggy Stafford’s EVERYTHING IS HERE and Rice & Roland’s WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?

Currently Off-Broadway, you’ll find a pair of new plays that use theatrical absurdity as the lens through which American womanhood is refracted. In the resulting disorienting environments, everyday realities are … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Slightly dwarved at the Armory, the freewheeling stage adaptation of THE FAGGOTS AND THEIR FRIENDS casts its sensuous spell

The Park Avenue Armory’s massive drill hall is a space that begs to be utilized to its extravagant physical potential. With such an expanse, the possibilities are almost limitless — … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Well meaning Americans pushed to the edge of sanity in Chris Gabo’s THE SURGEON AND HER DAUGHTERS and Scott Organ’s DIVERSION

Currently playing Off-Broadway are two new plays — Chris Gabo’s The Surgeon and Her Daughter and Scott Organ’s Diversion — that depict well meaning Americans pushed to the edge of … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Cunning deviousness at the heart of artistic and political success: Examining the moral corruptness that fuel KYOTO and PRACTICE

This fall, Off-Broadway has delved into the heart of darkness, particularly in two new works that investigate the cunning deviousness that often fuels success and so-called progress. These would be … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jack Thorne’s deeply humanistic A CHRISTMAS CAROL returns, this time starring Michael Cerveris as Scrooge

No holiday season in the city would be complete without at least a handful of stage iterations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on tap. Over the last decade or … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – GOTTA DANCE! takes a nostalgic choreographic trip down memory lane through the various eras of the American musical

This week, The York Theatre and American Dance Machine’s co-production — in association with producer Riki Kane Larimer — of Gotta Dance! opened Off-Broadway at the Theatre at St. Jean’s … Continue Reading →