THE HANGOVER REPORT – Andrew R. Butler’s blazing folk/futuristic RAGS PARKLAND SINGS SONGS OF THE FUTURE is a powerful and soul-stirring new musical

Many of those who know me appreciate how much I adored Dave Malloy’s ravishing musical Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 both on Broadway, as well as its various … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – David Greenspan’s THE THINGS THAT WERE THERE succinctly meditates on loss, memory, and family

Last night, I caught David Greenspan’s The Things That Were There at the Bushwick Starr, in a co-production with the Abingdon Theatre Company. The play is a meditation on loss, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The bewitching Jomama Jones reemerges in the West Village to shed her BLACK LIGHT on our rough times

This week, Daniel Alexander Jones’s Black Light opened at the Greenwich House Theater. In this soulful, categorically-challenged solo musical, Mr. Jones takes on the fictitious persona of the regal Jomama Jones, who, from the void, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Daniel Fish radically re-envisions an OKLAHOMA! stripped of artifice, and it’s bloody brilliant

Tonight at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, I caught Daniel Fish’s radical Off-Broadway reinterpretation (deconstruction?) of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s seminal musical Oklahoma! Long story short, it’s a stunner. What Mr. … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – James Hindman’s POPCORN FALLS is a pleasant if generic farce, for two

This week, James Hindman’s comic two-hander Popcon Falls opened Off-Broadway at the Davenport Theater. Using just two actors in a dizzying number of roles, the play tells the madcap story … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Circa’s HUMANS & SITI’s THE BACCHAE: Joseph V. Melillo’s final Next Wave Festival gets off to a rousing start at BAM

It was with bittersweet sentiment that I embarked on immersing myself in this fall’s Next Wave Festival, which commenced performances last week at BAM’s various venues in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Dylan and McPherson’s GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY makes strange music that penetrates the soul

Finally, a serious new musical this season worth fussing over. That would be the Public Theater’s production of Conor McPherson’s singular jukebox musical Girl from the North Country, which uses the Bob … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Bill Irwin gives a masterful lecture ON BECKETT, from a clown’s perspective

Samuel Beckett is one of the seminal theater and literary artists of the 20th-Century. He’s also one of the most difficult to get right in performance. That’s because Beckett’s works are at … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Heidi Schreck’s WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME is an impassioned cry for the reexamination of the systems that govern us

This past weekend, Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me opened Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop. Despite its critical eye, the work arrives as an inspiring, soothsaying tonic during a … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The dated A LOVELY SUNDAY FOR CREVE COEUR is lesser, perhaps unsalvageable, Tennessee Williams

I recently had to a chance to catch a rare revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur Off-Broadway at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, courtesy of La Femme Theatre … Continue Reading →