VIEWPOINTS – Immersive alternatives for nightlife merriment: HYPNOTIQUE at The McKittrick Hotel and LIGHTHOUSE at SoHo Playhouse

If you’re looking for alternative entertainment experiences, I’ve got a pair of suggestions for you, both of which blur the lines between nightlife merriment and immersive theatrical presentation. Here are … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Annie Baker’s INFINITE LIFE is a strangely profound, stealthily harrowing meditation on pain and pleasure

Last night, Annie Baker’s highly anticipated new play Infinite Life opened Off-Broadway at the Linda Gross Theater courtesy of Atlantic Theater Company (in a co-production with London’s National Theatre). The play follows … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Both whimsical and existential, THE SHARK IS BROKEN examines the actor’s dilemma via the filming of “Jaws”

This week at the John Golden Theatre, I had the chance to catch up with Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s episodic new play The Shark Is Broken. A hit across the … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – SMALL & A EULOGY FOR ROMAN: A pair of solo shows at 59E59 Theaters that deal with the growing pains associated with male adolescence

Currently at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters, you’ll find a pair solo shows that deal with the growing pains associated with male adolescence (both productions conclude their limited New York runs this … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Double Feature’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM & MACBETH: Exceedingly intimate, immersive revivals that create worlds within worlds

A night after attending Public Works’ large-scale musical adaptation of The Tempest at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, I ventured deep into Brooklyn ti a secret location (warning: brief spoilers here) … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In a farewell to the Delacorte as we know it, the luminous Renée Elise Goldsberry leads Public Works’ integrated adaptation of THE TEMPEST

Last night, I attended a performance of Public Works’ musical adaptation of The Tempest. Now in its second decade, these large-scale, city-embracing/promoting Public Works offerings have become an integral summer-capping tradition … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL leans in on campy parody and theme park spectacle, forcefully inducing nostalgia

This week, I had the chance to catch up with Back to the Future: The Musical which savvily opened at the Winter Garden Theatre earlier this month in time to lure summer … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sandy Rustin’s amusingly nostalgic, tightly-staged THE COTTAGE makes for breezy, diverting summer fluff

Last night, I attended Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage at the Helen Hayes Theatre (note that the limited run is independent of Second Stage’s 2023/2024 season offerings). The 10-year-old comedy has the distinction … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Tawni O’Dell’s new drama PAY THE WRITER goes through the motions and misses the mark

Last night, Tawni O’Dell’s new drama Pay the Writer opened Off-Broadway. The play tells the fictitious story of a successful Black writer and his parallel relationships with his gay literary agent and … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Basketball Off-Broadway: Inua Ellams’ mythically-scaled THE HALF-GOD OF RAINFALL and Candrice Jones’s exceptional FLEX

This summer, a pair of plays with intrinsic ties to the sport of basketball graced the boards of two of New York’s premiere Off-Broadway stages. Luckily, I was able to … Continue Reading →