THE HANGOVER REPORT – Bekah Brunstetter’s THE CAKE takes on topical issues in the guise of wholesome comedy

Last night, Bekah Brunstetter’s new play The Cake opened Off-Broadway at New York City Center’s subterranean Stage I, courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club. The play tells the story of a … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Massive “DADDY” issues: Jeremy O. Harris’s ambitious new play provokes as it frustrates

There’s little doubt that Jeremy O. Harris’s searing Slave Play, which ran in the fall at New York Theatre Workshop, would make many people’s list of important new plays of the … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s distilled, authentic FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is better than ever

Last week, I had the chance to revisit National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s production of Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s classic musical Fiddler on the Roof at Stage 42, where it has recently transferred for a … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT– In its unfussiness, Les Arts Florissants’ RAMEAU, MAÎTRE À DANSER proves invigorating

This weekend, I caught William Christie’s exquisite 24-member baroque chamber music ensemble Les Arts Florissants perform an operatic double bill by Jean-Philippe Rameau at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. Mr. … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – John Logan and Tom Kitt’s higly anticipated SUPERHERO is curiously pedestrian

One of the most affecting musicals written thus far this century is Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s cathartic Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal. Additionally, one of the most successful plays … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Met’s effervescent production of LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT returns, led by a thrilling Javier Camarena

I recently had the chance to watch the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Donizetti’s comic, light-as-air bel canto opera La Fille du Régiment. I had seen the effervescent Laurent Pelly staging – … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jackie Sibblies Drury’s thrillingly realized MARYS SEACOLE is dazzling, challenging theater

One of the most exciting plays of last year was Fairview, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s audacious examination of the African American identity and a wild– and wildly successful – experiment in … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – The mostly splendid revivals of Lynn Nottage’s BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK and Athol Fugard’s BOESMAN AND LENA light up Signature’s winter season

With last night’s opening of Athol Fugard’s Boesman and Lena, Signature Theater Conpany now has a pair of mostly splendid Off-Broadway revivals under its roof at the Pershing Square Signature Center, continuing … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Women en route to the unknown, literally and figuratively: SPACEMAN & BONNIE’S LAST FLIGHT

This past weekend in the East Village, I caught two new immersive Off-Broadway plays that coincidentally depict women on their respective journeys into the unknown, both literally and figuratively. First … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Daniel Sloss’s hilarious, bloody brilliant X stealthily and passionately addresses the #MeToo movement

This afternoon at the SoHo Playhouse, I caught the final performance of X, provocative Scottish stand-up comedian Daniel Sloss’s latest show (his tenth!). I hadn’t seen this up-and-coming comic before, … Continue Reading →