VIEWPOINTS – Off-Broadway musicals that think outside the box: The return of MEXODUS, Milo Cramer’s NO SINGING IN THE NAVY

This spring, you’ll find a pair of unconventional Off-Broadway musicals that have caught theatergoers’ imaginations precisely because of their willingness to think outside the box. Read on for my thoughts … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Using music to clarify and comment on the drama at hand: HEARTBREAK HOTEL and COLD WAR CHOIR PRACTICE

In theater, music can be a powerfully expressive tool, as evidenced by two Off-Broadway plays whose central utilization of songs to heighten and comment on the drama at hand are … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – New musicals that are throwbacks: York Theatre’s MONTE CRISTO and Maltby & Shire’s trilogy capping revue ABOUT TIME

This spring, theatergoers can essentially travel back in time by attending two new musicals whose respective craft harkens back to musicals of the 1990s and the aughts. As per usual, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Early Shakespeare and Chekhov, masterfully treated: Red Bull’s visceral TITUS ANDRONICUS and New American Ensemble’s riveting IVANOV

In an intriguing development this spring theater season, you’ll find two largely passed over early works by William Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov receiving masterful treatments Off-Broadway. These would be Red … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – In search of relevance: Deconstructing the classics in Teatro La Plaza’s HAMLET and Peculiar Works Project’s ANTIGONE IN ANALYSIS

Over the past week or so, I was able to take in a pair of productions that searched for relevance in classic warhorses of Western Drama — specifically, Shakespeare’s Hamlet … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Tapping into the universality of domestic discord: Jeena Yi’s JESA and James Caverly & Andrew Morrill’s TRASH

American drama isn’t a stranger to depicting domestic discord, which can be found in many of the works of such playwrights as Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and Edward Albee. Currently … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Working through grief through song: Taking a look at Ruthie Ann Miles’ PERFECT IMPERFECT and the Bengsons’ MY JOY IS HEAVY

For practitioners of music theater, arguably the best way to process emotional trauma is through their craft, particularly through song and the act of storytelling. This therapeutic exercise was exemplified … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Led by a jaw-dropping Jasmine Amy Rogers, the Encores! revival of LaChiusa’s THE WILD PARTY is drop dead thrilling

Currently over at New York City Center, you’ll find an absolutely drop dead thrilling Encores! revival of The Wild Party. Here’s some background. Somehow way back during the 1999-2000 theater … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Solo play revivals powered by masterful performances: Jesse Tyler Ferguson in TRU, Daniel Radcliffe in EVERY BRILLIANT THING

This past week, I had the privilege of basking in the masterful performances of two A-list actors of stage and screen — both Tony-winners — who have taken existing vehicles … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Downtown stalwarts still at it: Wallace Shawn & André Gregory’s MOTH DAYS, and Martha Clarke & John Kelly’s BUGHOUSE

Currently Off-Broadway, you’ll find a pair of productions that find stalwart downtown theater-makers — namely Wallace Shawn, André Gregory, Martha Clarke, and John Kelly — still at it. Here are … Continue Reading →