VIEWPOINTS – Bringing parodic joy to Broadway: Transporting SCHMIGADOON! to the Nederlander, TITANÍQUE docks at the St. James

This spring on Broadway — in what seems to be reactionary to the fraught times we live in — campy, parodic joy has become the mode du jour, as evidenced … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Kelli O’Hara and Rose Byrne strike comic gold in Roundabout’s bubbly revival of Noël Coward’s FALLEN ANGELS

Last night at Broadway’s newly refreshed Todd Haimes Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company unveiled a rare revival of Noël Coward‘s early-career play Fallen Angels. The production, which emphatically strikes comic gold, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Burning down the house: Wallace Shawn harshly lifts the veil in THE FEVER, James Scruggs uncomfortably interrogates in OFF THE RECORD

This past week, I encountered a pair of caustic Off-Broadway productions that strove to reveal the vast inequities on which our society is built on, namely as it relates our … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – On Broadway, uneven portraits of misunderstood outlaws: Adrien Brody in THE FEAR OF 13, Jon Bernthal in DOG DAY AFTERNOON

With the arrival of the film-to-stage adaptations of The Fear of 13 and Dog Day Afternoon — the former an intimate documentary, the latter an Al Pacino vehicle — Broadway … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Gina Gionfriddo’s hilariously, ruthlessly truth-saying dark comedy BECKY SHAW arrives on Broadway

Last week saw the Main Stem premiere of Becky Shaw, Pulitzer Prize finalist Gina Gionfriddo‘s ruthlessly and hilariously truth-saying dark comedy about a blind date gone haywire, and the aftermath … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – An Andrew Lloyd Webber renaissance: THE JELLICLE BALL and MASQUERADE re-animate warhorse musicals from fresh perspectives

Following Jamie Lloyd’s triumphantly stripped down re-imagining of Sunset Boulevard last season (featuring a knockout, Tony-winning performance by Nicole Scherzinger), the improbable Andrew Lloyd Webber renaissance continues this season with … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Flawed, entitled men exposed in harsh light: Nathan Lane in DEATH OF A SALESMAN, John Lithgow in GIANT

This spring, Broadway has brought us two compelling portraits of flawed and entitled white men, exposing them in harsh and unforgiving light. These would be Willy Loman, as played by … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Propelling drama through movement: Luke Murphy’s SCORCHED EARTH at St. Ann’s Warehouse and YOAH at New Victory

When it comes to theater, many of us often times underestimate how integral of a role movement can play in conveying story and character. In two shows I recently caught … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Women as tough as nails in John Patrick Shanley’s THE PUSHOVER and Libby Carr’s CALF SCRAMBLE

Then currently Off-Broadway, you’ll find a pair of uncompromising — albeit uneven — new dramas by John Patrick Shanley and Libby Carr, respectively, that depict women across a spectrum of … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Commercial gleam on 42nd Street: GOTTA DANCE! at Stage 42 and BLOOD/LOVE at Theater 555

For those seeking opulence in their Off-Broadway theater outings, there are a pair of shows on 42nd Street that may fit the bill. Read on below for my thoughts on … Continue Reading →