THE HANGOVER REPORT – John Cameron Mitchell’s singular, sprawling ANTHEM: HOMUNCULUS defies expectations, with familiarity

Last night, I completed listening to John Cameron Mitchell’s latest concoction, Anthem: Homunculus. Given the current unprecedented time of uncertainty for the performing arts (and all things in life, really), it seemed ripe … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Donald E. Lacy, Jr.’s old school charisma eclipses predictable diatribes in COLORSTRUCK

This past Sunday at Theater for the New City’s subterranean cabaret space, I caught the final performance of ColorStruck, comedian Donald E. Lacy, Jr.’s solo show that ambitiously attempts to comprehensively address … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Axis Theatre Company’s distilled, elegant new stage adaptation of WASHINGTON SQUARE nearly opens

Axis Theatre Company’s new Off-Broadway stage adaptation of Henry James’ Washington Square was supposed to have opened today. Luckily, I was able to catch the final preview performance last night, which also … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ren Dara Santiago’s THE SIBLINGS PLAY ambitiously, powerfully references “Electra” and “Hamlet”

Last night, I caught the sold-out penultimate performance of Ren Dara Santiago’s The Siblings Play at Off-Broadway’s Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. The production, whose last near-term showing is tonight, is yet another casualty of the … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ethan Lipton’s western romp TUMACHO was a winning diversion for our troubled times

One of the unfortunate casualties of the mass theatrical suspensions in New York was Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho, which closed prematurely two nights ago as part of the theater community’s proactive precautionary measure to … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Paul Muldoon’s INCANTATA is ferociously adapted for the stage by Sam Yates and Stanley Townsend

I recently had the opportunity to take in the stage adaptation of Incantata, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon’s elegy to his former partner Mary Farl Powers – herself an artist – who … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The late Michael Friedman’s lovely, mature score is the highlight of UNKNOWN SOLDIER

Last night, Michael Friedman and Daniel Goldstein’s new musical Unknown Soldier opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. For those of you who don’t know, Michael Friedman – a musical theater composer and lyricist … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS: “Mommy Dearest” in Hell’s Kitchen: Ma-Yi remounts Haruna Lee’s SUICIDE FOREST and MCC presents C.A. Johnson’s ALL THE NATALIE PORTMANS

Currently in Hell’s Kitchen, two Off-Broadway theater companies are putting on plays that respectively depict strained mother-daughter relationships, fiendishly calling to mind the infamous 1981 film Mommie Dearest. First up is Ma-Yi Theater Company’s … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jillian Walker’s unruly SKINFOLK excavates blackness, amorphously but with soul

This past weekend, I caught Jillian Walker’s SKiNFoLK at the Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn. The new, loosely autobiographical concept musical (for a lack of a better term) is being presented in collaboration with the … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The music-soaked COAL COUNTRY is documentary theater of the highest order

This week saw the opening of yet another Off-Broadway show, the Public Theater’s production of Coal Country. The new play with music – written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen and … Continue Reading →