THE HANGOVER REPORT – Debra Messing stars in BIRTHDAY CANDLES, Noah Haidle’s amiable, predictably sentimental examination of life

Last night, Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle opened at the American Airlines Theatre. Mr. Haidle’s new play begins on one Ernestine Ashworth’s 17th birthday and … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Cast and director imbue Stefano Massini’s clinical, idea-based 7 MINUTES with impassioned specificity

Italian playwright Stefano Massini made a splash earlier this theater season when his epic The Lehman Trilogy played Broadway for a limited run during the winter months (the celebrated Sam … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The York’s traditionally constructed new musical PENELOPE is a pleasant, breezy spin on Greek mythology

This week, the York Theatre Company’s new musical Penelope, or How the Odyssey Was Really Written opened Off-Broadway at the Theatre at St. Jean’s on the Upper East Side. The … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Shaina Taub’s highly anticipated and ambitious new musical SUFFS has great potential but needs some retooling

Last night, the Public Theater’s world premiere production of Shaina Taub’s Suffs opened Off-Broadway at the Newman Theater (note that, due to positive Covid-19 cases in the cast, performances through … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Two decades onward, Richard Greenberg’s Tony-winning TAKE ME OUT returns to Broadway in a punchy revival courtesy of Second Stage

Last night at the Hayes Theater, Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out returned to the Great White Way just about two decades since its original Tony-winning run (has it really been … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – A pair of fierce leading performances and Bill T. Jones’s choreography elevate the otherwise workmanlike PARADISE SQUARE

Last night, the new musical Paradise Square opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The show – with music by Jason Howland; lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare; … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In CONFEDERATES, Dominique Morisseau broadens her playwriting by dissecting institutional racism through melodrama and satire

This weekend at the Pershing Square Signature Center, I caught Signature Theatre Company’s production of Confederates by Dominique Morisseau. Morisseau, one of the preeminent Black playwrights of her generation, is … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – C. Julian Jiménez’s scrappy but buoyant BRUISE & THORN empowers queer youths to envision a fabulously uninhibited world for themselves

Last night, I got the chance to catch up with Pipeline Theatre Company’s production of C. Julian Jiménez’s new play Bruise & Thorn, which is currently playing Off-Broadway at the … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The hyped revival of PLAZA SUITE, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, is a timid, moderately amusing throwback to a Broadway of yesteryear

This week, the much hyped revival of Neil Simon’s 1968 play Plaza Suite (one of the unqualified hot tickets of the current theater season) finally opened on Broadway at the … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Heather Christian’s bizarre, profound, and altogether singular ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS asks big questions from a cosmic perspective

Last night, Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things opened Off-Broadway at the Greenwich House Theater. The immersive production, which comes courtesy of the folks at Ars Nova, was one of … Continue Reading →